Are Your Car Tyres Wearing Out? Understanding When to Change Them

Owning a car means inevitable wear and tear, including worn-out tyres. Every trip you take on the road brings you one step closer to needing that all-too-familiar service.

Before you know it, you might find yourself slipping on the road due to tyres with no tread left. Even worse, you could experience a puncture or blowout, forcing you to change your tyres prematurely.

Determining the exact timing for tyre replacement can be tricky. However, here are some guidelines to help you understand when to replace your car tyres.

Examining Tyre Tread Depth

If your tyre tread is heavily worn out, then it's time for a change. The question is: how do you gauge 'worn out'? 

Tyres with a tread depth of 1.6mm or less have reached the end of their safe operating life. Beyond this point, the tyre's grip on the road weakens, raising the risk of losing control. Therefore, it's advisable to replace your tyres before reaching this state, ideally when about 3mm of tread remains.

You can measure the tread depth between blocks for an accurate reading. Don't have a tread depth gauge? No problem! Use a 20c coin to measure. If the platypus' bill doesn't touch the tread, you've less than 3mm remaining.

Replacing Tyres due to Punctures

Not all punctures warrant tyre replacement. Most nail or screw punctures are repairable. However, it's unfixable if the hole is on the shoulder between the sidewall and the tread or in the sidewall itself. Also, holes larger than 2mm in diameter will most likely not seal properly, necessitating a tyre change.

Tyre Blowouts

Hitting a curb or pothole with enough force can cause your tyre to blow out. Once your heart recovers from the shock of a blowout, it quickly becomes clear that such damage is irrepairable.

Dealing with Expired Tyres

Just like perishables, tyres have an expiry date! They can suffer from dry rot, leading to cracks along the sidewall, bead, and between tread blocks.

Generally, tyres should last around six years from their date of manufacture. If you are wondering how to identify their expiry, look on the sidewall for a sequence of four numbers at the end of the DOT code. These numbers indicate the manufacture date, marking the start of their six-year lifecycle.

For instance, '0620' indicates that the tyres were made in the sixth week of 2020 and would, therefore, expire in the same week of 2026.

Correct Way to Replace Tyres

Maintaining similar or close tread depth across all four tyres ensures optimal performance and handling. Ideally, you should replace tyres in pairs at the very least. For 4WD or AWD vehicles, it's highly recommended to replace all four tyres together.

Looking to replace your tyres?

You can quickly and easily book in with a local tyre specialist through AutoGuru.