Quote:
Originally Posted by darklord700
Anyone knows what's the minimum thread depth for winter tires to be effective? I have a set of 6 year old X ice 1 with about 5/32" left and I'm wondering if I should bother putting them on this year. Thanks.
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Bear in mind that at 2/32", your tires are legally bald, so you are getting close the edge anyway.
That being said, this article (
http://www.apa.ca/tire_wintertireratings.asp) states that:
Quote:
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A new winter tire is delivered with between 10/32 and 13/32 tread depth. The wear bars moulded into the voids in the tire tread indicate the absolute wear limit of 2/32 of an inch tread depth. That's not considered safe for winter conditions. At the start of winter, experts recommend a minimum of 5-6/32 of an inch. Before installing your winter tires for another season, you can take a few minutes to measure the remaining treadlife by using a Canadian quarter with a caribou on it. Place the quarter, muzzle first, into the gap between the tire treads. If the muzzle is entirely buried, the tread measures at least 6/32nds of an inch, and is safe enough for another 10,000 kilometers. If the caribou's muzzle is entirely visible, or the edge of the coin ahead of the muzzle is visible when inserted between the treads, the tire is likely getting close to its legal minimum tread depth of 2/32nds of an inch, and should be replaced. An expert can confirm the reading for you using a tread depth gauge, or you can purchase one yourself; they're not expensive.
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So maybe you should consider getting new tires.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bertuzzied
I changed to winters about 3 weeks ago. How damaging is it to winter tires in 20c weather? it's the first time i ever bought true winter tires. I always used the Nokians WRs in the winters before.
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Neither here nor there really, but I ran Nokian WRG2 SUV tires on my CR-V (claimed, by Nokian at the time (although their website doesn't appear to still so state) that it is an all-weather/all-season tire that doesn't need to be removed in the summer).
I was shocked at how quickly the tread wore down--in 3 years (driving no more than 21,500 miles in that period) the tires were pretty much toast. Plus, one of the tires had some sort of deformity in it that caused the car to vibrate at speeds over 70 mph---Kal-Tire could never figure out the problem and wasn't interested in fixing it.
So I'm not a big fan of Nokians (or Kal-Tire, for that matter).