What is the point/use of Surface Inputs?

I have been on ROBLOX since 2009 and I never found use for it except changing motor speed. Can anyone explain me their purpose?

I'm not too sure of what all the surface inputs are for. The wiki only gives a description of what a few do, so the rest remain a mystery.

Here is the wiki link if you're interested: http://wiki.roblox.com/index.php?title=SurfaceInput_(Enum)

All of the uses of surface inputs can be found here

http://wiki.roblox.com/index.php?title=Brick_surface_types

Each surface input does something different. They're not just meant to look good they all mean something different.