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4mm

3mm

2mm

legal limit

as soon as I sense a loss of handling

[cem_devecioglu]

Turkeys weather and road conditions are highly different than UK..  so needs a bit of explanation ..


here the tyres can harden long before they reach 3-4 mms..  because the spring and autumns are hot and summer is like hell ..


on many places we hit totally melted tar in summer time and no need to be in south region.. so if I remember correctly I discarded hardened tyres even with 5-6 mm depth in the past   ( I hate making sideways and donuts with expensive tyres) ( and usually check tyres surface for grip and softness with my fingers)


however, when I discovered that sanding tyres bring some grip back,  I started to use the tyres until 4 mm depth and until they harden again..  below 4 mm sanding is meaningless as each sanding session nearly moves around 1 mm..




ps: the first sign for me is the grip loss when braking

[cem_devecioglu]

and a note : I never measure summer tyres performance when the rain just started as it highly effects grip

[Kevin Wood]

Serious amounts of standing water aside, I don't find tyres get significantly low on grip until the legal limit, so I would say you hit some standing water that wasn't noticed or some diesel. Diesel spill on a damp road will do it.

Of course, some tyres will go off earlier for other reasons, and develop handling issues before reaching the legal limit, but the tread is there mainly to disperse water, so it stands to reason that low tread depth affects mainly the ability to deal with standing water.

[plym ian]

Change mine when I see the cord coming through like to get my moneys worth 

I change them when it gets to the limit tbh, as I dont drive fast enough to loose grip

[flyer 0712]

Six years ago while on the A6  heading south towards the  Barton -le-clay  r/a in the pouring rain  in befordshire I came to the roundabout in my miggy  slowed down then proceeded clockwise towards Luton and I lost the back end of the car completely..This spun my car backwards on to the r/about and back off again facing the wrong direction and thus having a head on collision with an on coming vehicle and writing both vehicles off..thankfully no one was injured.The police did their bit,,breath test  ect...and on inspection by them to the road surface they said that their was oil spillage beneath the water on the road and thats what caused the car to loose it...my tyres were,,on the front brand new two days before and the rears were 3 months old.so my point is that no matter how good your tyres are...expect the unexspected and even then you may not be able to do anything about it....

[LFF64]

I have just bought two new tyres they cost me £17000 though  but they do come with a few extras namely an Insignia Elite Nav 163 sport tourer in flip chip silver 

[TheBoy]

As soon as I notice the handling has gone off. This tends to happen at around 3mm (wet or dry) with most tyres, notable exception being TT's, which were nigh on bald, way below legal limit  .  Note to self, check tyre tread more regularly 

[TheBoy]

Autogrip FS1xx aside. These are "budget" grip for about 2k, then after that will kill you at the first hint of dampness. A truly shocking tyre (and not just on Omegas, as Terry the chip man will vouch after being tight enough to fit a set to his Audi, and learning that new alloys are far, far more expensive to replace)

[05omegav6]

As soon as I notice the handling has gone off. This tends to happen at around 3mm (wet or dry) with most tyres, notable exception being TT's, which were nigh on bald, way below legal limit  .  Note to self, drive more progressively 

Fixed

[biggriffin]

I have just bought two new tyres they cost me £17000 though  but they do come with a few extras namely an Insignia Elite Nav 163 sport tourer in flip chip silver 

Is that a rare silver like z157 omega

[YZ250]

Stating the obvious here but loss of traction on one side only, under braking, normally slews the back end of the car. The way the car slewed will tell you which wheel gripped. As said, a wet road, a bit of diesel on the road and bingo, you have a slide. Happened to my daughter, she was approaching traffic that had suddenly stopped, she braked, nearside wheel hits wet leaves, offside wheel grips, front of car slews to the right, she counters steers, then counter steers opposite way and had a back end slider on the go. 
She did end up in the ditch but was thankfully unhurt. 

Much much more fun to hit uneven Tarmac/wet leaves etc mid bend at speed in the wet. The dash lights resemble disco lights. 

[aaronjb]

Where's the option for "when they look like slicks"?

[Kevin Wood]

Where's the option for "when they look like slicks"?

Oh, those need a session with the stanley knife.

[aaronjb]

Amazingly got me through a winter looking a lot like that on the turbocharged MR2  Yoko Neova LTS (Lotus specific fitment) tyres, amazing things..

[05omegav6]

Certainly nothing an hour with a soldering iron couldn't sort