When do you change your tyres?

thescouselander

I reckon I'll be needing some new tyres soon as the fronts on my car are at about 3mm. I was wondering what everyone else does when deciding to replace tyres - do you leave it to the legal limit or change sooner?

Personally I've found tyres can become noisy when too worn and obviously wet weather performance will be degraded but on the other hand tyres are expensive to replace. Help me decide when to change.


[purplesignup][/purplesignup]

neilmcl

Well the tyres are designed to be usable up until the legal limit (and below) else they wouldn't be able to be sold but there is school of thought, proposed mainly by safety organisations, that you should change them earlier. Personally I think 3mm is a little too early, I give them until they're just about at the wear indicators on the tyre before changing.

Bear in mind though we're coming into the autumn/winter months so this will be the time when you need your tyre grip and stopping power to be at their best. Your choice at the end of the day.

ilikewatch

Living in an area where every other house seems to be having major building work done by incompetent idiots I tend to change my tyres when they have 7-8mm of tread left and get an unrepairable puncture from a nail or screw. Generally the speed at which they get damaged is directly proportionate to the cost of the tire - Continentals last 2-3 weeks, budget Chinese brands can last several months.

AdrianC

At this time of year especially, no-brainer. Change them sooner rather than later.

facade

ilikewatch wrote: »

Living in an area where every other house seems to be having major building work done by incompetent idiots I tend to change my tyres when they have 7-8mm of tread left and get an unrepairable puncture from a nail or screw. Generally the speed at which they get damaged is directly proportionate to the cost of the tire - Continentals last 2-3 weeks, budget Chinese brands can last several months.

If you buy them from ATS they sell tyre insurance for around £10, which would either patch them for nothing or replace them free if there is more than 6mm of tread left. (I'm sure other places do the same), sounds like you would benefit from it.

I know what you mean about the screws though, that is why you never drive on cross hatching, as that is where all the debris ends up, and most people think it is illegal to drive on, so they don't sweep up the screws with their tyres.

To answer the OP, I change mine when they reach the wear markers.

Joe_Horner

Normally as soon as it's convenient after there's around 2mm left - the last 0.4mm or so to the limit gives a month or two of leeway in case I can't for any reason.

worried_jim

I change mine half way through the race.

arcon5

When I see cord on an inner or outer edge I'll start shopping around

Joe_Horner

arcon5 wrote: »

When I see cord on an inner or outer edge I'll start shopping around

Is that to give time to decide before the steel shows? :rotfl:

uknick

ilikewatch wrote: »

Living in an area where every other house seems to be having major building work done by incompetent idiots I tend to change my tyres when they have 7-8mm of tread left and get an unrepairable puncture from a nail or screw. Generally the speed at which they get damaged is directly proportionate to the cost of the tire - Continentals last 2-3 weeks, budget Chinese brands can last several months.

Change at 8mm? Mine only come with 8mm from new.

arcon5

Joe_Horner wrote: »

Is that to give time to decide before the steel shows? :rotfl:

It certainly is.

:cool: