The tire puffing is why the droop gauge number is innacurate, and we use droop over ride height in VTA and USGT. the TC tires are belted so thier size stays pretty much, but the VTAs and USGT tires are not belted currently. If i have new tires at 65mm and u have old ones at 69mm, to get the same amount of droop over ride height, we will have 2 totally different gauge numbers. my rule of thumb is if your over 68mm ur close to needing new tires.

if u ever wonder why folks can get away with no glue its from having fresher tires.

ultimately, you can fight the aged tires, and make setup changes to compensate, but at the end of the day its a bandaid for the inevitable.