Tires: Camry Orig Equipment Tires Tread Wear, treadwear rating, bridgestone tires

Question
My 2007 Camry came with Bridgestone tires with a Tread Wear of 260.    Is this low Tread Wear tires normal on a new Camry?   My 09 Dodge has a Tread Wear 500 on the OEM tires.   My Camry tires are worn out at 26,000 miles which I guess is what is to be expected out of TW 260.

Answer
Dear Bob,
Thank you for using AllExperts!
I have noted over the years that original equipment (OE) tires generally have lower UTQG treadwear ratings vs. tires in the replacement market.  OE tires generally don't have a reputation for long tread life.  As you will see from the explanation below (link) it is difficult to correlate a treadwear grade to an actual mileage achievement as there are so many factors that affect mileage.  It might be reasonable to expect, however, that a (Bridgestone) tire rated for '250' may get approximately half the mileage of one rated at '500' (example).

Although the OEMs could certainly specify a higher treadwear rating from their tire suppliers, it doesn't seem high on their list of priorities for overall tire performance. Chrysler/Dodge seems to be a rare exception for OE tire grades as you've pointed out. Tire COST certainly is a priority for OEMs...and low rolling resistance, low noise generation, and smooth ride are others.  

Tire manufacturer's have a lot of leeway in assigning a UTQG treadwear grade and many grades are conservative, as an exaggerated grade could get them in trouble with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the agency that governs the UTQG program and monitors/tests a few tires each year to keep everyone honest.
Here's a basic explanation of the UTQG treadwear procedure:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treadwear_rating

DT