Knowing the tread depth number left on your tire gives you a mental reminder of how quickly that replacement time is coming. Ask your automotive maintenance shop, when you trade out your tires for the season, to measure the tread depth and give you their calculation of the time left. Tire manufacturers and safety regulatory bodies say a tire must be replaced when the tread depth reaches 1.6mm or 2/32 of an inch.
Summer tires should be replaced at 3mm tread depth and winter tires should be replaced at 4mm tread depth.
We Canadians love to drive our cars. Canada is the second largest country after Russia, meaning we have lots and lots of kilometres of highways and roads.You can use the number of kms you drive per year to give you an idea of how long your tires will last based on your driving habits: Divide the number of kms you’ve driven by the number of years you have driven the vehicle. Look up the tire’s make and model to see how many years of service you can expect the tires to give.
Does a particular choice of tire increase its longevity? How long should your tires last? Some tires are built to reflect a warranty of approximately 100,000 km while entry-level tires have a warranty of approximately 60,000 km.Specialty tires are built for different driving conditions; high-performance tires are engineered to heat up quickly to grip the road making their life expectancy shorter.
All-terrain tires are made with rubber compounds designed to withstand off-road conditions which means they must be changed more often than regular tires.
How the tire is driven. Running the sidewalls of your tires against curbs and hitting potholes can reduce a tire’s overall life. Pushing the limits of your high-performance tires will lessen their time on the roads.
Tire rotations and alignment. Change a tire’s position on your vehicle every year to lengthen the life of your tires. Tire rotations are normally done when you switch the tires seasonally.
Underinflated tires. Did you know that driving underinflated tires leads to more sidewall flexing which causes them to run hot? It is especially important to have properly inflated tires if you are driving on highways a lot because they run even hotter at high speeds.
Underinflated tires driven at highway speeds, can lead to tread separation or even blowouts, and we don’t mean the hairdo kind.
Summer and winter tires. Do you divide your tire-usage time between summer and winter tires? That too, will extend the life of each kind of tire.
The age of the tire. Have you ever pulled an old rubber-jar-sealer out of a box after a few years? It has given up its ability to remain in its original form. It sticks to the jar and pulls apart. In some cases, depending on the rubber’s composition, as with vehicle tires, it turns brittle and hard over time as the components degrade.
Even if a vehicle has been sitting quietly waiting for you in someone’s dusty garage, the rubber breaks down, and the reinforcing cords lose their strength, increasing the tire’s risk of failure.
There's no definitive answer for how long your tyres should last, but it’s recommended that you should always replace your tyres once they are ten years old. The advice for how many kilometres your tyres last varies widely from 10,000 to 50,000 kilometres.
The lifespan of your tyres will vary depending on a number of factors including:
Even if your tyres look like they're in good condition, it’s recommended you replace them after ten years from their manufacture date. This includes spare tyres. Even if you think your tyres could last a little longer, it’s better to be safe than sorry.
Regardless of how far you drive, once your tyres are five years old you should get them checked yearly. After five years a tyre will begin to deteriorate, as it dries out and the rubber loses its suppleness. This happens whether you drive a lot or very little, and also affects your spare tyre. Your mechanic should check your tyres as part of your regular service, or you can get them checked at a tyre shop. Many tyre shop offer a free tyre health check.
There are some easy ways to check your tyre's condition, as well as some simple steps to lengthen their lifespan so you can save money on tyre replacements.
Tyre tread is the rubber on the tyre that makes contact with the road or ground. The grooves on your tyres is the tread pattern. The tyre tread is the raised section that touches the ground when you drive.
As a tyre ages and wears down, the tread is worn off. This reduces its effectiveness and safety. The grooves in the tread are specially designed to keep you safe in a range of driving conditions. In fact, there are a variety of different tread patterns for this reason: some patterns are optimised for driving on snow, or to reduce noise or increase grip.
The grooves in tyres also allow water to be expelled to prevent hydroplaning. If the depth of the grooves wear down too far, your tyres can’t expell all the water they encounter. This creates a thin barrier of water between the tyre and the ground, causing the car to skid across the wet road.
An easy way to check your tread pattern is to put a coin into the groove to see how deep it is. If you stick a 20 cent coin in and the tread isn’t touching the platypus’ bill, it’s too shallow. You can also check by running your hand over the tread and making sure you can feel all the grooves.
If you aren’t sure, take your car to a tyre shop for a checkup.
Look for a tread wear indicator on your tyre, usually marked by a triangle on the sidewall of the tyre. Inside one of the grooves in line with that triangle, you will see or feel a raised section which indicates the minimum depth of the tread. If the rest of the tyre is level with this raised section, your tyre is due for replacement.
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Park your car away from direct sunlight. This will minimise the damaging effects of UV rays on the rubber. If you don’t have an indoor parking spot, try to park in a shady area.
Check that each tyre is wearing at a similar rate.
To keep your tyres wearing evenly, rotate them regularly – including the spare if it’s a full sized tyre – so that the front tyres are placed on the rear of the car and vice versa. You should do this every service or every 10,000 kilometres. Your front tyres will wear more quickly because of the position of the steering, so it’s important to rotate them regularly to spread the wear evenly.
Your wheel alignment will affect how long your tyres should last, and the way your car handles. Your mechanic should do this as part of your regular service, but if you're concerned that your wheel alignment is off, take it in to the mechanic or tyre shop for a check and re-alignment.
This should be obvious, but drive carefully. Don’t be a wannabe stuntman: aggressive cornering, burnouts and hard braking will all wear your tyres down quickly (not to mention the safety concerns).
Aside from the safety and legal issues, higher heat generated from high speeds wears tyres prematurely.
The heavier your car, the more pressure you are putting on your tyres, so don’t overload it by driving around with a boot full of junk. Make sure to remove any heavy items you don’t need in your car.
It’s easy to find your tyre’s correct correct operating pressure, usually measured in pounds per square inch (PSI). Check inside the driver’s door: there should be a placard there that will show the front and rear tyre pressure recommendations. Depending on the car, these may be different. If the placard isn’t in the driver’s side door frame, look inside the fuel door, the glove box or your car’s manual.
Check your tyre’s current pressure by heading to a petrol station with a tyre inflation service. Many of them offer it for free, or sometimes you may need to pay a dollar or two to use it. Attach the hose to the valve on each of your rims and the machine will do the rest of the work.
Depending on the machine, you can either set the PSI you want, or manually fill it. Aim to check your car's tyre pressure monthly.
Bonus Tip:Take the valve caps off your tyres before putting your money in the machine to avoid running out of time!
It’s important to remember that there is no one final answer to how long tyres last. If you aren’t sure if your tyres are roadworthy, take them to a professional to get them checked.
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For summer tires, the limit is 1.6 mm of residual tread depth, and for winter (or all-season tires used in winter) - 4 mm. Modern summer tires can travel from 40,000 to 70,000 km, depending on driving style and vehicle characteristics. An average motorist rolls such a mileage on summer tires in 2-3 seasons. Moreover, wear implies not only a decrease in tread depth. Over millions of deformation cycles, the strength of the carcass and its adhesion to the layers of the rubber compound are violated. In short, every 2-3 years you should buy a new set of tires.
In case of irreparable damage to one of the tires and a relatively high total mileage of the kit, it is also worth considering replacing it. Well, or about buying at least a pair of new tires, which, for any type of drive, should be installed on the front axle. We put two tires back - the most decent of the remaining ones.
Many motorists drive only a few thousand kilometers a year.
This does not mean that the tires will serve you for several decades. According to Russian requirements (GOST 4754-97), the service life of passenger car tires is 5 years from the date of manufacture. And for example, Continental recommends that all car tires (including the spare tire) older than 10 years old should be replaced with new ones. Therefore, with small runs, you can navigate for ten years. The date of manufacture of the tire is indicated on the sidewall. Usually it is an oval with four numbers. The first two are the ordinal number of the week in the year, the last two indicate the year.
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Tires should be rotated periodically in accordance with the vehicle manufacturer's recommendations - information on this can be found in the owner's manual.
We can advise you to carefully use the tires and, most importantly, to store them correctly in the off-season.
First of all, during storage, it is important to exclude direct sunlight from hitting the tires, which greatly age the rubber. Tires without rims should be placed vertically, and stacked on rims.
And before installing tires on a car at the beginning of the season, evaluate their condition. There should be no cracks in the tread and sidewalls. The tire should not be dry, it should remain rubbery and not look like baked plastic.
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Winter tires have a much shorter life span. They almost always fail due to the wear of the treadmill, because the tread of a new tire is 7–8 mm, and only 3–4 mm remain working height. If the tires are studded, then with such wear there are very few metal elements left, and the tire will not provide adequate safety when driving on a winter road. However, not only spikes, but also Velcro, with such a degree of wear, also lose most of their capabilities.
The real life of winter tires rarely exceeds 30,000 km. "Bald" winter tires without studs can be re-rolled in summer, but their grip on hot road surfaces will be very poor. This must be taken into account, especially when braking.
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So: tires that have not yet worn out along the tread (that is, up to 1.6 mm tread depth for summer tires, 4 mm for winter tires) are changed either ten years after the date of issue, or when the rubber layer cracks tires or damage.
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.. According to manufacturers, car tires should last up to 10 years, but this is the maximum period. The recommended service life of tires is no more than 5-6 years - in practice, after such a time, it is necessary to change the rubber, since it loses its consumer properties. This is very important, as is seasonal replacement, as worn tires greatly increase the risk of an accident, especially on wet or icy roads. Where you can confidently drive at a speed of 70–80 km/h on new tires, it is easy to lose control on worn tires already at 55–60 km/h. Therefore, every motorist needs to know about the service life of tires so that the operation of the car is not only comfortable, but also safe.
The specified service life of 5–6 years is rather arbitrary. More important is not the date of issue of rubber, but the degree of daily wear and mileage .
The main factor influencing tire life is vehicle type , which determines its load capacity.
We are talking about what the maximum load a car can carry and whether its tires can withstand, which can be understood by their load capacity index.
Overloading the machine by 20% reduces the service life by 30%, so the vehicle must not be allowed to carry loads that exceed its carrying capacity.
In addition to the type of car, the list of factors that affect the life of tires of any type includes:
It is important to keep your car's tires at the correct pressure throughout the seasons.
Regarding the correct rearrangement of tires, we prepared a separate and detailed material, which you can read at the link.
Based on the list of influencing factors, we can conclude that reduces the life of tires:
Critical tire wear can be determined by special indicators that are carried out during tire production. These are transverse protrusions (lintels), reaching a height of 1. 6 mm.
When the indicators become visible, the tire has begun to wear out.
Indicator location is indicated on the sidewall of the tire using the symbols in the shape of a triangle or the letters TWI meaning Tread Wear Indicator (i.e. "tread wear indicator").
Critical tire wear is indicated by:
Summer and winter, passenger and truck tires have their own minimum residual tread depth, which is determined by wear indicators. You can measure this value with a special depth gauge: if it is below the set limit, then the rubber needs to be replaced.
Measuring is difficult due to uneven wear. In this case, it is necessary to determine the suitability of rubber in the area where wear is most pronounced . When the tread edge wears out on one side, we can talk about a violation of the camber angle . In this case, you need to contact the service station.
Tires also have numbers that wear out as they wear, which also helps to determine its degree.
Learn more about the types of wear and how it can threaten you can find in the article.
The average load capacity of passenger cars is 2 tons , and the tire mileage is about 45 thousand km. Depending on the driving style, the characteristics of the car itself and the season, you can drive on passenger tires from 40 to 70 thousand km .
Summer tires tend to last longer than winter tires because the operating conditions are less severe. All that summer tires can face on the road is high temperatures, hot or wet asphalt. The last to be determined is the safe value of the residual tread depth - for summer tires it is 1. 6 mm . With a shallower groove depth, water drainage becomes impossible. Although the behavior of the tire on the road becomes unsafe already at a tread depth of about 3 mm.
Summer tires are more rigid than soft and elastic winter tires. The peculiarity of the composition and less difficult operating conditions explain the longer service life: an average of 5-6 years with careful driving on a flat roadway.
Winter tires are given much less time and almost always fail due to tread wear, because the tread of a new tire is 7-8 mm, and only 3-4 mm of working height remains.
In the case of studded tires, very few metal elements are retained with such wear, so it can no longer provide proper road safety.
Friction (not studded) tires with similar wear also lose most of their performance.
In reality, winter tires have an average mileage of not exceeding 30,000 km .
Some motorists decide to re-roll "bald" tires in the summer, but this is dangerous, because the grip on the heated road surface will be very low.
So, the service life of winter tires differs depending on their type:
You can find detailed recommendations on choosing winter tires for your car here.
The remaining tread depth for winter passenger tires is 4 mm . The value was chosen taking into account the fact that to ensure safe driving on winter roads: snowy, icy, covered with wet snow. In the latter case, a phenomenon akin to aquaplaning occurs - slashplaning, i. e. sliding on snow slush (slush), which occurs at speeds above 50 km / h. The wheels seem to "float" over the road at high speed.
The tread must have sufficient height to ensure that the slush is quickly removed from the contact area with the road. This is due to the fact that the thickness of the layer of wet snow can be several centimeters. Grooves that are too shallow just won't do the job.
It has also been proven that directional tread tires resist slashplaning better. The direction of rotation is usually indicated by an arrow and the word Rotation.
Light truck tires are designed for light trucks, pickups, buses and light commercial vehicles that have load capacity from 2 to 4 tons . The average mileage of tires used on them is 60 thousand km . This is due to the fact that such tires belong to the category of commercial tires with a reinforced structure.
To prolong the life of your light truck tires, we recommend checking the pressure at least once a week, preferably every morning before driving. Measurements must be made on cold tires , i.e. not less than 3 hours after the end of the trip.
The choice of the right tire size depending on the season also helps to increase the resource: appropriate wide models are more suitable for summer, and winter and narrower ones are better in winter.
Trucks have the largest load capacity - more than 4 tons . Accordingly, their rubber has the greatest resource, which is 65–70 thousand km . In this case, the residual tread depth is 1 mm .
Increased wear resistance is due to the fact that truck tires are primarily designed for intensive use, often daily throughout the year. The decisive role in the service life of such tires is played by:
The issue of service life for such tires is also important because it affects the cost per kilometer (CPC), which is important for evaluating the performance of rubber, optimizing fleet costs and determining the profitability of freight transportation. Recall that the indicator is calculated according to the following formula:
UPC = (Tire cost + Maintenance costs - Carcass price) ÷ Mileage (km).![]()
From the formula it becomes clear: the greater the tire mileage, the lower the UPC, which means more profitable freight transportation. Therefore, companies conducting such activities seek to increase the resource of tires. This is possible by following the basic recommendations that are suitable for all tires:
When choosing truck tires, you need to take into account the operating conditions of the truck and the category of goods transported, depending on what they buy:
It also matters the type of axle where the tires will be installed: trailer tires cannot be placed on the steering axle due to an incorrect operation model and the load calculated by the manufacturer. These actions can not only significantly reduce the life of the tires, but also be dangerous for driving on the roads.
It is equally important to follow the recommendations for driving, in particular, do not drive at high speed with a heavily loaded car, move smoothly, do not accelerate too quickly.
For agricultural machinery, tire life is just as important as for trucks.
The cost of operating rubber here reaches 20% of the total cost of per car. And during the service life of equipment , rubber has to be renewed 3-4 times .
Due to the operation in difficult field conditions, tires for agricultural and special equipment have an increased resource. High wear resistance is provided by a multi-layer construction (6–24 layers) of the sole and sidewalls, reinforced reinforcement, a special tread compound and stiffeners.
But even with a special design, tires for agricultural machinery usually last less than for passenger cars - sometimes is less than 5 seasons , which is explained by difficult operating conditions. To extend the service life, you must follow a number of rules:
When driving, pay attention to whether the vehicle is pulling to one side. If this happens, then a swap is required.
