AlexM

Hi All,

A quick question - what amount tread depth is the minimum before replacements should be considered?

The legal minimum is 1.6mm, but that would seem to be far too little for a performance car. I remember reading that worn tyres are more likely to puncture, and will certainly aquaplane much earlier.

I've got 3.5mm (back) and 4mm (front) left after 12000 miles on the original RE010s - at what point should I be looking to change?.

Thanks in advance.

Alex

Tim Bomford

Alex. You are correct 1.6mm is the law.
Tim

AlastairB

Alex,

I've always replaced at about or before the 2mm-2.5mm mark - I don't see any point in trying to squeeze a tiny extra bit of life from the tyres, when wet grip is already reduced.

I guess a lot depends on a tyres tread pattern and how gracefully it degrades in (wet) grip as the tyre wears.

Cheers
Alastair

Bob Rawle

Alex, interestingly I have just replaced my tyres. I got 19000 from a set of SO2's including two track days. The depth of tread left was definatly only 1.6 and that was being generous. I suffered virtually no loss of grip except when there was surface water, in fact dry grip was much improved and cornering much more poised.
The old tyres now sit in the garage ready for Donnington !!

I would say that my original spec tyres were terrible at or about the level you have left though so its for sure down to the tyre type as to what happens.

Bob

marc861

Alex,
I change my tyres when the tread has worn down to the 1.6mm indicators on the tyre, which is normally around 15K miles. I could'nt justify the cost of changing them before that! Also like Bob said, the only noticeable loss of grip with the worn tyres was when driving through standing water.

BHORT

I think that it is 1.6mm across the whole tyre. It used to be 2 mm across 3/4.

Brendan

AlastairB

I've checked and it is only the central three quarters that count, tho it must be round the whole circumference.

I got the info here

CharlesW

I agree with Bob on this. I got 20000 miles out of a set of S02's with tread down to less than 2mm, but not quite down to the indicators. I experienced no loss of grip, except in standing water, and that wasn't drastic. I have them sitting in the garage ready for more abuse at Knockhill.

AlexM

Dear All,

Thanks for your replies - I guess I'll not be needing to change them for a while yet. Damn!.

Rgds,

Alex

Jon Stewart

I was horrified this morning to notice the outside few cm's of my rear SO2's are completely bald. The rest of the tread is fine (about 3.5mm). Can anyone clarify what the law is on this?

AlastairB

Jon,

If memory serves, the law states that the tread must be 1.6mm across the central three-quarters of the tread.

Cheers
Alastair

Nick

I found that my ex-SO2's got bald shoulders very quickly in their life. This had a bad effect on cornering.

Alex
How have you managed to wear the rears more than the fronts? Have you rotated them? Do you drive a lot of Mway?

AlexM

Nick,

Yes they were rotated about two months ago, so my more worn fronts are now on the rear. The difference in tread depth isn't huge though.

The tread wear isn't too bad on the shoulders in terms of tread depth, but the rubber looks a bit 'distressed' for want of a better term. I do very little motorway miles as a proportion of the total, mainly crawling around town with the occasional A-road blast.

The wear rate seems to have slowed quite a lot over the last 4000 miles - does the RE010 have a dual compound tread, or is it just getting harder with age / accumlated heat cycles?.

Cheers,

Alex

Trout

iTrader: (1)

Just out of interest - I have S01s on my Scoob as from new. They have now done about 14,000 miles (many motorway) and although they have about 4mm of tread on them, grip is technically and actually s**te (as Mr Firefox would say!).

It is interesting 'cos when Simon Ryan took identical car, with identical tyres at 10k miles to the Evo test, the test driver said he couldn't drive he car as the tyres had so little grip.

My tyres are fine if it is bone dry, but any dampness and there is no roadholding - so if you have S01s change them early.

S02s coming very soon

David