Do you know what to look for?
If you answered “No” to either, then let me help.
Fortunately, tires can speak volumes about their condition as long as we can decipher what they are saying.
Tread depth is how most people will tell if a tire is at the end of its life. This is only one possible symptom to diagnose a tires condition. Tires start with many different tread depths so saying what tread depth you should have at any given point is useless. The issue is when your tread depth gets low. Most experts will declare your tires “bald” at 2/32nds of an inch of remaining tread depth. Several states that do vehicle inspection will fail your inspection if your tires are at or below this point. At this point your tires are unsafe and will not provide adequate traction. It is very simple to measure the depth of your tires. You can simply stick a penny, Lincoln’s head in first, into the tread and if the tread goes above the top of his head you are still above 2/33nds of an inch, if not, then replace tires asap. There are also “wear bars” that are molded into the tread so you can know that you are at the 2/32nds level. Another way is to get a tread depth gauge available at any auto-parts store for a few bucks. This tool will tell you the exact depth of your tread. I recommend that you consider replacing once you get to 4/32nds of an inch and must replace at 2/32nds. I also recommend that you replace in pairs (front pair or rear pair). You also want to make sure that the tread is wearing evenly. If not this will effect the life of your tire. Uneven or unusual wearing can point to other problems with your vehicle such as alignment or proper inflation as I previously mentioned.
Many tires come to the end of their life long before the tread is all gone. “So how can you tell,” you ask? There are a couple things to look for.
Age is another thing that can lead to unsafe tires. Tires should be replaced at around 6 years of age regardless of the remaining amount of tread. Tires all have a code stamped on them from the factory that gives its week and year of manufacture. So 6 years after this date is when you need to replace tires. If you recently purchased new tires it would be worth checking how old they were when you got them. Sometimes you are not getting brand new tires when you think you are. So check that date code. Its on the sidewall and you may have to look on the side facing the car rather than the side facing out for the world to see.
In the photo below I show this date code which is the last part of the DOT CODE. The first 2 digits represent the week of the year and the second 2 digits the year. In the picture this tire was made in the fist week of 2008.
Checking for signs of distress is will also let you know how safe your tires might be. Cracking anywhere along the sidewall and especially where the side wall and the tread meet is a sign of a tire gone bad. Any other deformities you can see in the tires such as bulges, blisters, cuts, and gouges should be replaced immediately.
I wanted to post this information now and I hope to this return to this post with some photographic aids on some examples of tire defects I mentioned above.
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