[Gary Dillard]

10 years ago we set up a traction testing rig at the championship for teams to test out there treads; it was basically a spring scale mounted to a frame that you hooked on to the back of your robot, and we recorded the max static force on a carpet sample. We were using green brecoflex continuous belts at the time which were (and still are) pretty expensive and they had the most traction, but not by much. Roughtop tread is basically the same material. Wedgetop tread, which many teams were using then, was a pretty close second; I think the results were within 5% so it could well have been in the scatter of the data and I would consider them equal. Just from observation and qualitative testing, the wedgetop seems to do better on smoother surfaces (like this year's ramp) so I would probably lean that way if the game required it.

I can't speak to tread wear; they're all relatively inexpensive to replace so I wouldn't make a decision based on that if I could choose based on performance.