Tread wear
There are plenty of opinions on how to assess the real state of tyre tread, to work out whether a tyre is still fit for use or whether it is already time to replace it. Sellers of part-worn tyres often quote completely incorrect “wear percentages”, trying to pass off wishful thinking as fact. In reality there is nothing complicated about assessing the tread: you just need to measure its depth correctly, and work out the percentage of wear correctly.
As a rule, when selling part-worn tyres, sellers lure the buyer in with a low wear figure, quoting imaginary percentages - 10, 20 or 30. In reality, in the vast majority of cases, the actual wear turns out to be greater than was claimed. Often this has less to do with a wish to deceive the buyer than with the wrong approach to assessing tyre tread wear. But the main problem is not even the absolute wear of the tread, but how even it is - the pattern of wear itself can tell you a great deal about a tyre’s past and about whether it is still fit for further use.
Assessing tyre wear correctly is useful not only when buying part-worn tyres, but also when deciding whether it is time to replace your tyres with new ones.
Articles in this sectionIn reading order.
- How worn is the tyre?Most often it is the remaining tread that is considered the most important parameter of a part-worn tyre, but how informative is that measurement really?484 words
- Real tread wear on a tyreIt looks like a simple question: what is the wear (in per cent) on a tyre with a tread block height of 4 mm? In cases like this sellers usually write a “modest” 30%, but what is the truth?617 words
- Uneven tread wear on a tyreA proper check of part-worn tyres before you buy will help you work out how evenly the tread has worn across its full width.742 words