At what point do you get your tyres changed?

[wingman]

Even on the rears?

e; replying to nasher.

 

[Hades]

I think I must drive like a granny. I only replaced the tyres once on my old Golf mk4 V6 after around 35k miles. Got the car on about 15k and replaced them around the 50k mark.

I just replaced the fronts on my Golf mk6 GTI after about 10k miles of ownership and they were fairly worn when I got them... still not down to the wear marker either.

The Corrado had new (soft Pirellis) tyres when I got it 4 years ago and about 10k miles. I'll get at least another 10k to 15k miles out of them based on how little they have worn. I drive that the most spirited out of the three but even then it's only occasionally.

I drive like Miss Daisy

 

[Clarkey]

My 3 series used the front tyres up at pretty much the same rate as the rears. I just can't imagine a tyre lasting 27k unless it was hard as plastic and had the grip of a bar of soap.

 

[wingman]

I think some here are God like drivers who light up the rears/fronts at every opportunity and scoff when others actually manage better wear

 

[wingman]

My 3 series used the front tyres up at pretty much the same rate as the rears. I just can't imagine a tyre lasting 27k unless it was hard as plastic and had the grip of a bar of soap.

I'm not asking you to imagine anything. I bought the car on used Dunlops (in all honesty I don't recall the exact mm, but not new afaik), and have proceeded to complete 15,000 miles, and they have currently 5mm left.

 

[Nasher]

Even on the rears?

e; replying to nasher.

Maybe. But on a FWD car the rear wheels are only there to keep it in a straight line.

 

[Clarkey]

Thats why you always swap them to the front when getting new ones, otherwise they will end up getting old, hard, cracked and rubbish.

 

[pastymuncher]

Around 2.5-3mm as the roads here are awful at draining water, or if one tyre on a axle needs replacing I will usually change the pair.

 

[Jono8]

I am getting close to 10k miles on my new ST now and approaching 3mm on the fronts so will need changing in a month or two. Rears are still around 5mm though.

Actually just checked and they haven't worn as much as i expected since I last checked. Still on average around 4mm across the whole of both front tyres.

Probably still got a good few more thousand miles in them.

 

[snapdragon69]

In my experience, modern tyres are like slicks with 4 wide circumferential grooves. They grip well right down to 1.6mm apart from in snow/slush or deep water at speed as they seem to rely more on compound that sipes.

Having said that mine are at about 3mm in the centres and if we get a snowy winter, I plan on getting the new and highly-regarded C-A-A rated Nokian Weatherproof, if not, I'll swap them for weatherproofs around April time.

 

[OpenToSuggestions]

Which part of the A50? I drive between J24 M1 and Uttoxeter and have no such issues.

A50 a few miles in from M6 up to J1 A50. The Uttoxeter-Stoke side is rippled concrete with lots of standing water .

 

[theone8181]

I change mine about 3 mil ish. I do get about 15000 out the rears on a 911 turbo and even more from the fronts My bigger problem is that they wear out on the inner edges while having 4 mil at the outer edges but thats the geometry setup of the cars (and how it should be).

 

[GinG]

About now:



Was caught out as have been doing over double my usual driving now I use the car for work. Brand new set of Bridgestones on the front courtesy of work expenses

 

[Nasher]

I change mine about 3 mil ish. I do get about 15000 out the rears on a 911 turbo and even more from the fronts My bigger problem is that they wear out on the inner edges while having 4 mil at the outer edges but thats the geometry setup of the cars (and how it should be).

To much negative camber causes that. Tyres on road cars should wear evenly (or as near as can be on our crappy road surfaces).

 

[Goksly]

Are you saying that in a country with no legal minimum you'd continue to run them until the canvas appeared?

Bit of a daft statement.

I change them as close to the limit as possible. That limit was put in place, I'm assuming, based on numerous tests - so doing it before (imo) is just wasting money.

 

[Junglist]

When they cause a problem with the MOT.

/Poor.

 

[Third Opinion]

When they get to the wear indicators seems fine to me. Unless the car feels a bit slippery then it is an early change.

 

[[TW]Fox]

I change them as close to the limit as possible. That limit was put in place, I'm assuming, based on numerous tests - so doing it before (imo) is just wasting money.

Numerous tests demonstrate a significant difference in wet braking ability between a tyre on the legal limit and a tyre on 3-4mm.

You are massively compromising the safety of your car by running tyres to an arbitrary legal limit.

In wet conditions, it took a Ford Focus 91m to stop with 3mm of tread. In the same car with the legal limit of 1.6mm of tread it took 135m to stop - 50% further. These investigations were undertaken by Auto Express

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jHmZcYACtI

 

[bainbridge]

When a tyre gets near the limit indicator it is replaced.

That's what it is there for.

 

[Phemo]

I must drive like an old man. Granted I only have a 320d but I just checked when I had all 4 of my tyres changed - 11th of December last year - and I've done 35k on them so far. Just checked my tread and the rears have 4mm tread left and the fronts have 5.5mm so should be good for a while yet.

My car lives pretty much entirely on a motorway and only has 16 inch wheels so that must be why but it still seems bizarre the fronts have worn that little over the last 35k. Still, I'll replace them when they're around the 2-2.5mm mark.