at what tread depth do you replace your tires

[EarleyBird]

I usually go to, or a little past, the wear marker. But just FYI, a friend of mine was headed to work one morning a few years ago when a guy with a head injury wandered into the highway. He hit the guy and killed him, deemed no fault of his own. He called 911 and when DPS showed up they did a full inspection of his truck. The biggest thing they looked at was depth of the tread on his tires. He said they measured it more than a few times. He said one trooper told him he was lucky his tires were legal. This was in '15, I think. Since then I've been a lot less reckless with how far I run them before replacing.

[cj_sandman]

I can’t believe you got 55 out of them. Good on ya.

[BTLowry]

There is a dept gauge market between each thread on the tire. When the thread gets down to that marker its time

Here I been leaving mileage on my tires as I change them when I see the thread. Learn something new every day. There is a marker on the thread


























Couldn't resist, I know you meant tread

[TacticalCowboy]

When there's thread showing

[Buck Slayer]

When it won't pass inspection or I know I need tires and can catch a good sale.

They're checking your tires?! You gotta "know a guy man"

[TX CHICKEN]

The biggest difference I notice, and why I change my tires at 1/8" or so, is loss of traction when off pavement. I realize that most people with 4x4, buy one in case the HEB parking lot gets slick, but some of us actually go into the dirt and mud.

This is why I usually wait until August or so to get new tires!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Cottonfish]

I start tire shopping at about 5/32, beyond that most tires get "greasy" feeling and their handling/traction characteristics degrade, especially in wet weather. I can't tell you how many vehicles I look at in the field that have suffered collisions due to loss of control, and the tires are at or beyond the wear bars (usually 3/32 or less). Tires are also seem much more prone to pick up punctures when the tread is thin.

Stu

[CEO]

I usually just eyeball mine.

My wife though, she was born with a gut feeling when her tires are about to kill her. Once she starts telling me that I know she's reached the halfway point on a set.

[bowhuntertex]

I swap mine out when I can use them on a drag car as slicks.

[bowhuntertex]

Oh and if you want a mud tire that will get to 60K-65K go with the coopers. they will outlast nitto's all day long.

[jdg13]

I usually wait till I can see the air and the paper license plates have fallen off

[Jon Stewart]

I know there is good hearted humor on this thread but to the OP. I would change those tires out. I am a snow bird from Michigan who travels to New Mexico then back to Texas every winter. The highways are wide open in Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico. Tire stores are few and far between so I made sure I had good rubber meeting the roadways out there.

I story about NEW tires. Wife and I bought a new truck in 2011. We drove to New Mexico in December and upon arrival we had 5000 miles on the truck and tires. The very first trip to the desert I had two flats. The roadway conditions were nothing more the wide, graded gravel/sand roads. The truck was brought in off the desert with a flatbed to the Ford dealer in Las Cruces. The next day I made my way to the dealer and was told because I didn't buy road hazard protection on the tires when I bought the truck the tires were not covered under any warrantee. I called Goodyear and was told the same thing. Fortunately the manager of the service department was a friend of my buddy so he sold me 4 tires for the price of 3. That cost me $900.00 for tires for a truck with 5000 miles on it.

[bowhntrmatt]

I feel like the odd man out. The last thing I would want is a blow-out or even an inconvenient flat.
My last set got replaced once I felt they had gotten really noisy and didn’t handle as well. I’d say tread depth was still decent, though they did have around 50k on them. I’ll never be the guy that waits til I HAVE to replace them. My families lives are worth more than that.

[BrianL]

I change mine at 50%. I can still get $50-75/tire selling them, and I use the top 50% of tread. Tire are the most important thing on your vehicle. I changed my thoughts on this after hydroplaning and totaling my truck into a line of trees. No one could believe I survived that wreck after seeing the truck, but I walked away.

[AgHntr10]

When they look like this I start shopping around