It is a known fact that car tires' quality/tread depth directly affect the braking distance. I am a little confused about the exact reasons. I can understand how tires with worse quality can lose traction completely and start skidding, but if the contact is maintained, where is the difference coming from? Can tires skid a little and then recover traction (then this intermittent skidding would make the difference in the braking distance)?

Thank you.