Tyre Treads & When You Should Change Your Tyres
The legal minimum tread depth for car tyres is 1.6 millimetres. Most of us are aware of that. However, did you know that it is recommended to change your tyres before that? Most tyre manufacturers and tyre fitters recommend replacing your tyres when they have a tread depth of 3mm.
Exact stopping distances will vary by tyre brand and model, but a tyre with a 3mm tread will stop you well before the same tyre with only 1.6mm. According to Continental’s testing of their car tyres, their tyres will take 91 metres to stop when travelling at 70mph if they have 3mm of tread left. The same tyres with a tread depth of 1.6mm would need 135m to stop. Not only is that an extra 44 metres, it means that the tyres with 1.6mm tread would be travelling at 50 mph at the point that the 3mm tyres had stopped. It is easy to see how that increases the likelihood of an accident.
It is easy to ensure this doesn’t happen with regular checks of your tyres’ tread depths. You should check each tyre in three different places around the circumference and across the width of the tyre. If you have a spare tyre you should also check that one. If you don’t have a tread depth gauge, you can use a simple 20 pence piece as the outer edge of the coin is roughly 3mm.