Tire Facts, or BS

Stinky

Stinky

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I went down to Discountire to get a screw removed from my wife's tire....it was sorta interesting.  My front tires are how would you say...bald.  One is at the wear-bars and the other has a bit more.  I have 4 snow-tires just waiting to go on, in 2 months.  I want to wait 2 months and then, I don't want a pair of tires laying around rotting away in the sun over the winter.  I was in there 2 months ago and bought 2 tires for the rear of the car.  My tires really didn't have that much less tread on them than now....by their records, that was 9K ago.  Let's just say, we've had a good summer.  

We drove to San Antone to see my Grand-Daughter graduate from BMT (about 3,200 miles).  Then, we drove the East Coast (5,181 miles).  I watched them along the way, and they really didn't wear that much.  I was prepared to buy tires in Texas, South Bend, but they really didn't wear on the highway.

So, Discount gives me the hard-sell.....They check my spare,  they check my wipers and they use an electronic-gizmo and measure my tread depth and get the age.   "Here at Discount we judge the safety of a tire 2 did ways, age and depth.  Your front tires are 6 years old....., at 10 years, they will disintegrate (or something like that), blah, blah, blah, and they are bald (not their words)."  They then show me a chart w/stopping distance on it related to tread depth, and as depth decreases, distance increases.  The lady couldn't believe that I didn't want new tires....again, in 2 months I don't want them wasting away, when I switch to the winters.  Oddly, my 2 month old tires, are sorta in-between on the chart, and not that great.

As a side point, my Brother-in-Law just had a tire disintegrate on the way to work, he lives in Yuma, and his truck mostly sits.  His tires were 3 years old.  

Here is the Q....is that chart BS?  I've believed that all my life, that bald tires  have diminished traction.  Has anybody seen any real factual data on that?  Or, is it a wive's tale?  It is commonly accepted, but is it true?  BTW, I am not talking about sand, rain, or ice.  I am talking about dry pavement.

Funny, I am just sitting there passing the time and they do the same thing to a nice-lady.  She brings it up, and the guy tells her that he doesn't know how to measure a tire's tread-depth w/a Penny (I consider that to be common-knowledge) as he pulls a tread-depth caliper? out of his pocket.  Later ,she tells somebody on the phone that a nice salesman was taking such good care of her.

 
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There are always exceptions. 

 
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They are in the business to sell tires. If you were loaning your car out to your kid would those tires be 'good enough'? 

I had a similiar experience with another large chain when I tried to have a tire fixed. They told me that wires were showing on several tires and they all had to be replaced. I was lucky as they had a set in stock at a price of $2,000. When I asked them to show me the wires showing I was walked out to the service area and shown four tires that had low tread but not a single wire anywhere. I told them to put the wheels/tires back on the car and I would take it somewhere else. They told me it was against the law to let me drive on those tires and refused to remount the wheels. One quick call to the sheriff quickly convinced them mount the wheels and give me my car back. F lesser scnab tires.

 
Tire shops are in the business to sell, not fix anything now.  They have lists of lists of reasons and scare tactics to get you into a new $2000 set of tires.  Tires are a consumable and they have the upper hand.

On a side not have you ever wondered where all that tire tread rubber goes?  I did a little googling a couple years ago and it just does not magically disappear.  



When tire tread rubber wears off, it can end up in a few places:








  • Asphalt
    A small amount of rubber can chemically bond with asphalt because both are made from petroleum oils.






  • Soil, plants, and bodies of water
    Larger particles of rubber can fall to the side of the road and be washed away by rain, or smaller particles can become airborne and blown away by the wind. These particles can then end up in soil, on plants, and in lakes, rivers, and streams.






  • Microrubber
    According to Phys.org, the amount of microrubber in the environment is large and highly relevant. Calculations show that 93% of the polymer-based microparticles released into the environment are from tire abrasion, while only 7% are plastic. 





     















    Where does the rubber from worn tires go?

     


     










    A little rubber becomes chemically incorporated into asphalt roads, because asphalt and rubber both are made of petroleum oils. But the vast majority wears off as small particles that are rinsed off the road by rain, or blown off by wind, ending up in the soil, on plants, and in lakes, rivers and streams.May 20, 2013






















 
48 tires in rotation at the house. Hate tires.  
 

How bald-what are the driving conditions

-cord showing-replace 

being conscious of your tires, condition, age, psi. Etc. already puts you WAY ahead of just about everyone else on the road!
 

Are F1/indy tires “bald”?

 
Age is the biggest killer...over  5 yrs is still rolling the dice. If they are  "cheaper" tires, it's really rolling the dice....had a 4 yr old Cooper redesign the bed of my truck.   1. No cheap tires  2. No old tires. 

 
The are at the wear bars...meaning that I have 2/32 of tread left on one and 3/32 on the other.  They are 6 years old.  I am sure I can get 2 months out of them.

But, the question is....has anybody seen any data on tread depth and how it relates to stopping distance. 

On the last trip, we went to NYC.  Trust me, I had plenty of "Panic-Stops" there.

 
Tread depth makes sense for wet weather conditions, dry heat in AZ, etc. seems like BS.

Run those another 2 months and don't worry about it.

Tire shops sell tires.

 
Stinky said:
But, the question is....has anybody seen any data on tread depth and how it relates to stopping distance. 

On the last trip, we went to NYC.  Trust me, I had plenty of "Panic-Stops" there.
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I think what will change your braking distance is the age of the tires.  The older they get the less traction they have. If I remember correctly that was the reason for Paul Walkers Porsche losing traction and killing him and his passenger. 

 
I wouldn't doubt the stopping distance data...makes sense! 
Now can you get 2 more months out of them.....sure....until you can't....risk management!

I mean it's only your  :fl: car right!!

Years ago, a friend of mine wife was talking to me about buying their daughter her first car.... we had just bought our daughter her first car. She mentioned a budget of $5K to $6K.....I looked at her and said your husband is wearing a $12K Watch.....and you want to put your first born in some cheap ass 20 year old car.....I had to walk away!  :bangin:

They ended up buying her a very nice (only a few years old) VW Bug.  :makerain:  

 
I try to stay away from big chain stores when buying tires.   Plenty of smaller tires shops around that don't try to upsell you. 

If the tires are balding you are on borrowed time.  Less tread means less traction which could result in stopping issues.   

If you not going to be doing much driving over the next few months throw the snow tires on.  A few months of driving in the summer time is not going to hurt them, unless they have spikes or something special. 

 
There is plenty of merit to the older tires increasing stopping distances even in the dry. As the tire wears and ages, the tread thins and hardens and is not able to 'grip' into the surface as well as a newer tire.

I completely understand the wanting to wait the 2 months tho, nothing like putting some fresh rubbers on then just letting them sit and get weathered.

But there's not many things better than the smell and feel of fresh tires on a vehicle, imho. Having a tire machine and balancer at work is handy so I don't have to deal with the sales tactics of the stores. I look for the best price online and at the stores. If it's at a local store, I just walk in, tell them I need 'xx' tires on a cash n carry and walk out with them without all the upsell BS.

 
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ROBERT L said:
I think what will change your braking distance is the age of the tires.  The older they get the less traction they have. If I remember correctly that was the reason for Paul Walkers Porsche losing traction and killing him and his passenger. 
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Ya... that's why

 
i absolutely HATE to be stuck on the road having to change a tire. every car i've bought used, immediately go to discount and put 4 new tires on and the best as the spare (when you can).

my kids, wife, spare vehicles all have good tires and when they get down to where I think they aren't safe they get new michelins. 

to me its not worth the hassle. I have recently bought some new oem take off's, tires and wheels, bolt them up and roll for a great price. might look into that.

what kind of vehicle you talking about?

 
I've been trying to find this on the net.  I found one l place where they said that traction actually goes up as a tire wears, but there was no source for their data.

I found Discount's chart online...their tests were conducted with 1/16" of water on the road...so-what.  My question related to dry roads.

Walker was driving TWICE the speed-limit.  

Again it looks like they are making it up.

I did stumble on to something where BFG shaves the tread on their racing tires to ABOUT 4/32".....Hmmmm.

 
Fwiw, I searched around and could not find anything that was backed up by data.

 
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