Tire tread can affect the safety and performance of your vehicle while driving. While you may not think about your tread every time you drive, it`s important to check back from time to time to make sure your tires are in good condition. Are you ready to talk about tire tread depth? Let`s dive in. I asked the manager how to measure tread depth with a focus on regulatory compliance. He explained that tread depth is measured wherever the tire touches the road. I have to measure every groove, even the one on the shoulder, and it should not be less than 2/32. «I asked him to show him how to measure the tread depth in the shoulder, and he showed me a tread depth gauge like mine. I was surprised by what he showed me and asked me if there were any wear indicators in my shoulders. He said there was none. I pointed out that the depth of the grooves in the shoulders was less than the deep grooves in the tread, even on a new tire. He agreed, explaining that the rubber material used on the shoulders is different and wears more slowly than the rubber between the shoulders. I started wondering if he was telling me the truth when he got into a sales pitch. Here are the remaining tread proportions for my tires: However, extensive ADAC research has shown that the legal minimum tread depth only describes the tire`s safety margin.

For summer tyres, the remaining tread depth shall be at least 3 mm, for winter and all-season tyres at least 4 mm. A smaller tread depth can be critical on wet surfaces, mud or snow. The law is clear: if your tyres (whose tread depth is usually between eight and nine millimetres when new) are worn to the minimum allowed mark of 1.6 mm, they are no longer considered safe to drive and must be replaced. The tread depth of the tire is a vertical measurement between the top of the tread and the lowest groove. In the United States, the tread depth of the tire is measured in 32 inches. When the tires are new, they have tread depths of 10/32 to 11/32. In the United States, tires are required by law to have easily recognizable tread wear indicators. If the tread pattern wears out, it eventually becomes the same as the tread wear indicator. At this point, the tire needs to be replaced. It has too little tread to provide traction. If safety wasn`t convincing enough, remember that it`s also illegal to drive with bare tires.

Whether summer, winter or all-season tires, the remaining tread depth is extremely important. In order to prove this and define the minimum safety depth of the tread, ADAC experts carried out a test with winter tyres of type 185/60 R14, which are in new condition with different tread depths. The driver can check the tread depth of his tire by sliding a coin into the circumferential groove of the tire. Checking the tread depth of an average car can take as little as thirty seconds. He told me that he agreed that the shoulders of my tires were worn, but that he did not consider them illegal or dangerous. He encouraged me to pump my tires too much so that the center of the tread wore out more than the shoulders. It recommended 40 PSIs despite the automaker`s recommendation of 30 PSIs. I agreed and went home. To lengthen the tread, avoid sudden maneuvers and driving at high speeds when your vehicle is loaded. The tire works harder in such cases and more rubber rubs and falls on the road. The legal limits for tread depth turned out to be harder to locate than I could have imagined, but after about 30 minutes, I found this text in the Code of Federal Regulations: www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/49/393.75# Finally, tread depth laws in California only apply to pneumatic tires. These are tires that are inflated or can be inflated with air.8 If the tire is not inflatable, such as a wooden wheel on a horse-drawn carriage, it is exempt from tread depth requirements.

This is flatter than the legal limit for tread depth in many other states. Another 42 states require a tread depth of at least 2/32 inch. California and Idaho are the only states that require 1/32 inch. 6 other states, including Montana and New Mexico, do not have a minimum score. There is also no federal law that requires a minimum tread depth in tires. If you notice a shallow tread depth on your set, don`t worry. At TireMart.com you will find the perfect set of tires for your vehicle. Check out our offers and get the best tire prices available online. You can use different methods to measure the tread depth of your tires. For the most accurate measurements, you get a tire tread depth measurement tool sold at popular auto parts stores. The tool looks a bit like a syringe, and you can also use it in the same way.

Tyres with a tread depth of 4 mm do not even reach half the performance of the new winter tyres. You can easily guess how well the tires perform with a minimum allowed tread depth of 1.6mm – they simply have nothing to bite into the snow. There are some driving habits you may want to give up in order to extend the life of your tires: But when the tires even show wear, he thinks a tire with a tread depth of 4/32 inches still has wear. Jones said his customers usually don`t worry about tread depth, but about symptoms like lack of traction or aquaplaning. The usual explanation is uneven wear, even if there is still some profile, he said. Be careful when measuring the depth of your tread. Place the penny in several places around the tire. It is not uncommon to have uneven wear of the profile.

Measuring in multiple places will compensate for this. Consumer Reports has conducted several tests to answer the question of when tires need to be replaced. They found that a tire with about 1/2 of its tread loses about 15% of its traction on snow. The speed at which a tire would start with the seaplane also dropped by about 8 percent. The wet braking distance was also increased by about 3 to 6 feet once the tire had left half of its tread. The braking distances of new and used winter tyres on dry surfaces are also different. As counterintuitive as it may seem, the shortest braking distance was provided by the tires with the smallest tread depth remaining. The reason is simple: the flattened blocks of the tread are less deformed during braking and more of the tread comes into contact with the road. Nevertheless, an absolutely dry road is something that is not really common, even in countries with mild winter climates, and this local victory cannot be considered a practical advantage! At home, I started to wonder if 40 PSI was a good idea, given that it`s 33% more pressure than what the automaker recommends.

I was also wondering why the flat tread grooves in the shoulders of the tires do not have wear indicators and whether their absence contradicts the claims of the head of the tire service center about the depth of the shoulder tread and the legal limits. However, insufficient tread depth has additional consequences. Studies have shown that the required braking distance on wet surfaces increases steadily as the tire wears towards this 4/32 mark. Once the tread depth exceeds 2/32, the extra space that may be required can stop by 80,000 pounds. can mean the difference between a routine stop and a rear-end collision. It is certainly a double-edged sword, because on the one hand, the fleet feels the need to press every kilometer by thirty seconds of tread depth, but tires with a marginal or «illegal» tread depth can also be a smoking gun in the event of an accident. Therefore, Mr. Dawson of Tire Source preferred CR to promote the minimum tread depth of 4/32 inch rather than the tire industry. «In my opinion, this is equivalent to the toothbrush manufacturer saying you should replace your toothbrushes every 30 days.

It sounds selfish. The fact that a mainstream publication is recommended (minimum tread depth) carries more weight than if we, as a tire industry, said so. Emergency tyres temporarily fitted to a disabled vehicle need not necessarily reach the minimum tread depth.6 However, these tyres cannot be used as a permanent solution. If used for too long, they may be subject to California minimum profile laws. Retreading is also affected by the depth of tread that remains on the tire before retreading. In the case of a new tire that eventually becomes a «virgin» carcass, I have personally seen hundreds of carcasses that have been rejected because the fleet has left the tire running up to the 2/32 limit. This is really the perfect example of being wise and stupid because the difference in cost per kilometer between a new tire and a retread increases with each price increase. If fleets want to conserve carcasses and control tire costs, they must work with their retreading suppliers to ensure that the traction point protects the integrity of the carcass. The test procedure for tyre treads on other axles is similar. However, he uses the penny test instead. Motorists can grab a penny from Abraham Lincoln`s chest and slip his head into a circumferential groove. The distance between the edge of the penny and the tip of Lincoln`s head is 2/32 of an inch.

If its entire head protrudes on the sides of the tire groove, the tread is too worn. The tread depth of the tire is too small for vehicle code 27465(b). In terms of braking efficiency at 80 km/h on wet roads, tyres with a remaining tread depth of 4 mm lose 7% of the braking distance.