Tire wear

[k12Marine]

How do you judge when to replace the tires. Depth gauge, wear marks etc? Thanks in advance for the advice.

[Joe Frickin' Friday]

Look for wear bars in the tread grooves. click here for a discussion that took place last summer, including photos..

 

Note that the rear Metzeler Z6 tire is notorious for not having any good wear indicator in the center of the tire.

[Paul Mihalka]

When I'm staying close to home, just commuting and Sunday rides, I ride the tires until the wear bars (sometimes only one) start showing. When I plan to go on a trip, I make SURE, with a lot of reserve, that the tires will make the whole trip. This may mean that I take off a half worn tire, and I may remount it when convenient. It is nice that now I have two rear wheels, so before a long excursion (Gunnison?) I mount the wheel with a new tire, and when that wears out I just swap it back.

[BMWRich58]

Here's a cross section of a Metz Z-4 with barely 2K miles on it. About 1cm total of rubber/thick is what makes up the tread/tire

(This particular picture shows a patch plug installed)

 

[DewNMoon]

Old trick

 

Use "Lincoln's" head.

Put a penny into the tread...If youcan still see Lincoln's head your tread depth is too thin and time to replace the tire. .01

[Boffin]

Here's a cross section of a Metz Z-4 with barely 2K miles on it. About 1cm total of rubber/thick is what makes up the tread/tire

(This particular picture shows a patch plug installed)

 

 

It's worrying just how little rubber there is between the bottom of the tread groove to the right of the plug and the steel bands

Makes you think hard about squeezing the last little bit out of the tyre.

 

Cya, Andy

[BMWRich58]

Here's a cross section of a Metz Z-4 with barely 2K miles on it. About 1cm total of rubber/thick is what makes up the tread/tire

(This particular picture shows a patch plug installed)

 

 

It's worrying just how little rubber there is between the bottom of the tread groove to the right of the plug and the steel bands

Makes you think hard about squeezing the last little bit out of the tyre.

 

Cya, Andy

 

Exactly...

[taters]

go to pep boys and get a tire gauge.$5.00 when the tread measures less than 2/32 replace them

[Limecreek]

I'll watch the bars and the miles. Tires, for me, wear out right around 4200 miles for the rear and 5800 for the front. My wear out mileage has been very consistent for the Avons on Texas roads, on a GT, with me as pilot.

 

I will always err on retiring a tire early in it life cycle. Tires are inexpensive, --my body parts are not.