Min tyre thread

Shelflife

Hi

im wondering what tyre depth can you let your tyres go to without compromising your own safety. I realise that the legal limit is 1.6mm.

im more worried about my safety than driving them till they fall off.

VW Touareg diesel is whta i drive just in case that makes any difference.

VeVeX

Shelflife wrote: »

Hi

im wondering what tyre depth can you let your tyres go to without compromising your own safety. I realise that the legal limit is 1.6mm.

im more worried about my safety than driving them till they fall off.

VW Touareg diesel is whta i drive just in case that makes any difference.

Most tyre manufacturers state that the performance of a tyre is reduced when the thread depth is below 3mm.

http://www.rospa.com/roadsafety/adviceandinformation/vehiclesafety/tyresafety/tread-depth.aspx

corkgsxr

I couldn't tell ya exactly but probably about 2mm. They get abit **** in the wet then.

I never really go right to wear marks

hoodie6029

http://ext.volkswagen.ie/tyres/
check this out. Quite interesting.

CiniO

Shelflife wrote: »

Hi

im wondering what tyre depth can you let your tyres go to without compromising your own safety. I realise that the legal limit is 1.6mm.

im more worried about my safety than driving them till they fall off.

VW Touareg diesel is whta i drive just in case that makes any difference.

Legal limit is 1.6mm

Safety limit depends on the conditions you are driving at.
On dry good surface road, I wouldn't mind driving on tyres without any tread. - pure slicks.

On wet road, below 3mm I don't really feel safe, as in case of emergency grip might be greatly reduced.

Also at higher motorway speeds on wet road, even below 4mm might not be enough to prevent aquaplanning.

On winter tyres when driving in snow - 4mm tread is absolute minimum to get any traction from them. Also age matters greatly, as winter tyres are made of soft rubber, but with time it becomes harder, and grip on snow decreases.

holdmybeer

corkgsxr wrote: »

I couldn't tell ya exactly but probably about 2mm. They get abit **** in the wet then.

I never really go right to wear marks

Tyre depth is measured by the aquaplane line in the tyre, new is 8mm, which allows grip in the wet so when the depth is low only the tyre is gripping without being able to displace the water.

CJhaughey

First time for ages that I let my tyres get close to 1.6mm and they are scary to me at that tread depth.
Usually change them at 3mm or so because wet performance has dropped off so much by then.
Hitting standing water with 1.6mm tread depth is downright scary, you have to drive very carefully with tyres this worn.
IIRC Germany has 3mm as its minimum tread depth.