Advice needed on tyre tread depth difference-is it dangerous

[132]

All,

I need some advice on a approved, used Mercedes I have just bought my wife. When I viewed the car, I noticed that the offside tyres were both at approx 3-4mm. rather strangely, both near side tyres were like new i.e. 7-8mm. I am not an expert, but I did raise a concern about how the car would react if e.g. it hit a lot of standing water.

In your view, is this dangerous? The Mercedes guidelines are simply that each tyre must be more than 3mm.

I thank you in advance for your thoughts.

132

[Hugo a Gogo]

I would swap them around, put the 7mm on the front, get new ones on the back

[132]

Good idea, but the car runs different sizes front and back, so the real issue is tread depth difference from left to right.

Thanks

[Hugo a Gogo]

hmm, that sucks then

how deep is the tread on new versions of these tyres?

[132]

I think that the new ones are around 8mm, so the RHS tyres are circa 40-50% of this.

Cheers.

[Hugo a Gogo]

i would just replace the worn ones then

[Tallbut Buxomly]

Agree with Hugo.

With that kind of difference between left and right tyres hitting standing water car will be unbalanced.

Change them.

[louismchuge]

I had this situation with ditchfinders on my car when I bought it, was pretty 'exciting' in the wet!

[132]

It sounds like it could be dangerous. I wander if Mercedes should be selling a car with tyres like that? I did point it out to them, but they refused on the basis that each tyre was above 3mm.

[John D.]

They've probably swapped the wheels on one side for those in better condition from another car. A mate bought a mk1 Focus RS with mis-matched (brand) tyres across each axle for that reason. Made the handling interesting on what is already a car renowned for torque steer!

Probably better than having two alloys curbed to buggery.

[edo]

My bet is they have refurbished two wheels (prob front), and they don't quite match the originals, so they put them on the same side...

[130R]

Although 3mm is obviously well within legal limits it has been shown that wet grip starts to fall off dramatically around this point.

[jayfish]

The wheels+tyres on one side of the car are 10mm diameter bigger than the other side, no way that should be considered safe.

[V8mate]

New n/s tyres? Previously used as a trackday car?