john john,
Keep in mind that what I'm about to say is based strictly on mainline type aircraft, the 727 & 737-200/300/400 specifically, so may or may not apply to the tires on smaller planes.....
I've never seen a tire changed for what would be considered a normal wear pattern on your car - the tread pretty uniformly worn to limits around the circumference of the tire. And it's that type of wear - relatively uniform - that should be caused by using shorter runways with greater break application (plus the normal wear from taxiing).
What generally causes a tire change (other than damage from running over something) is a spot worn to the point of requiring the change, caused by the initial contact with the runway on landing when the tire is not rotating. On contact, the rubber is ground off till the tire/wheel comes up to speed and at some point one of these spots will be worn down enough to cause a tire change. Note that this wear is the same regardless of runway length since it happens at touchdown/spinup.
One factor that would affect RJ's more than bigger aircraft is tire size - specifically diameter. Takeoff/landing speeds are similiar to mainline aircraft, yet the tires have a much smaller diameter. Put those two together and you get much higher tire rotational speeds (RPM) on takeoff/landing than with larger aircraft. Any damage/weakness would be more likely to result in tire failure when the rotational speed (and thus stress) is greater.
Jim