Minimum tread depth before you change?

[Benny06]

My rears (PE2's) have about 3-4mm of tread left on them at the moment. The back end is getting a bit lively on round abouts and sometimes on bends too. This could of course just be their limit however when I got the car 2 months ago I deffinatley had more grip at the back end.

So was considering changing these for Hankook V12's as everybody seems to rave about them and they're much cheaper than PE2's. As long as I have the same amount of grip I'm not fussed about ride/comfort!

What's the minimum tread you'll run your tyres down to before changing them?

 

[Xanda73]

I'd be checking rear suspension, esp shockers. Nothing wrong with your tires.

 

[adam1942]

shouldn't effect it to much in the dry but in the wet I keep to the nubben on the tyre and replace at 3mm although it shouldn't be "lively". legal limit is 1.7 I think.

 

[Dave..]

Legal limit is 1.6mm of tread.

The amount of tread has very little effect on dry grip. If anything as the tread wears down, you should get more dry grip as theres more rubber in contact with the road.

Tread only comes into effect when you're trying to deal with standing water. i.e. a road with a layer of water over it, not just a wet road. The tread pattern and circumferential grooves in particular, help to remove trapped water from under your tyres, and therefore getting rid of aqua planing.

 

[Benny06]

Ahh right I see.

The other day I had quite alot of stuff in the boot my jack, axle stands and lots of other tools and unspringly the back kicked out a scarey amount. However on the way back from a friends last night I though't I'd see how it was handling with an empty car and just me in it. The back end did still start to slide slightly.

What should I be looking for? Total novice (apart from standard things like top ups for fluids) when it comes to car maintenance.

Edit: Thinking about it I had a free health check done at Renault, recieved a massive list of things that didn't need doing and no mention of shocks on their at all...

 

[iimushroomzii]

I always run mine down to the legal limit then change.

 

[Gaz_]

I find as they are getting towards the legal limit the car tends to tramline quite badly, as mine is starting to now, think i'll change all the yoko's it came shod with for some conti sportcontact 3's