Changed my All Seasons for new ones at 4mm.

[Tunku]

As the title says, I changed my Kleber All Seasons with the most worn tyre at 4mm and the least worn at 6mm.
I order my tyres from Oponeo so I use the local non franchise tyre place to fit them. (4 changed, valved and balanced for £56). I put Vredestein Quatrac 3s on as I use All Seasons all year round, unsurprisingly in Scotland. A couple of the tyre changers wondered why I was changing the tyres before the legal minimum. I said I always change them when I feel the car changing from safe to twitchy, nothing to do with tread left.
I always remember someone on here saying changing tyres was a distress purchase for most people, and as I waited for my tyres to be changed, I could see that was right. Some of the tyres taken off cars that day were down to the wire, below any remaining rubber.
Do I really want to be able to stop quickly in front of one of these bozos?

[mybrainhurts]

I'd hazard a guess you're thinking...no

[Monkeylegend]

I would imagine your local tyre place love customers like you.

[Zoobeef]

You feel your Volvo go from safe to twitchy with 4-6mm of tread left.
Just how on the edge are you driving :/

[Tunku]

Zoobeef said:

You feel your Volvo go from safe to twitchy with 4-6mm of tread left.
Just how on the edge are you driving :/

You try trampling a front wheel drive V70 onto a greasy roundabout without good rubber!

[Tunku]

Monkeylegend said:

I would imagine your local tyre place love customers like you.

They do, very much. So much so that they held up their hour long queue of clients to change a 165/80 13 tyre for my caravan because I needed it immediately.

[Monkeylegend]

Tunku said:

Monkeylegend said:

I would imagine your local tyre place love customers like you.

They do, very much. So much so that they held up their hour long queue of clients to change a 165/80 13 tyre for my caravan because I needed it immediately.

I hope you weren't towing it whilst you were negotiating that roundabout

[Tunku]

mybrainhurts said:

I'd hazard a guess you're thinking...no

Correct. I think most people are overlooking the observation that people seem to get new tyres only when their existing ones are almost non-existent.
I hope this attitude is not the over-riding one on PH!

[Tunku]

Monkeylegend said:

Tunku said:

Monkeylegend said:

I would imagine your local tyre place love customers like you.

They do, very much. So much so that they held up their hour long queue of clients to change a 165/80 13 tyre for my caravan because I needed it immediately.

I hope you weren't towing it whilst you were negotiating that roundabout

No. it was in the back of the Volvo as it safely negotiated the greasy surface of the roundabout with its new tyres

[Monkeylegend]

Tunku said:

Monkeylegend said:

Tunku said:

Monkeylegend said:

I would imagine your local tyre place love customers like you.

They do, very much. So much so that they held up their hour long queue of clients to change a 165/80 13 tyre for my caravan because I needed it immediately.

I hope you weren't towing it whilst you were negotiating that roundabout

No. it was in the back of the Volvo as it safely negotiated the greasy surface of the roundabout with its new tyres

How the fkuc did you get your caravan in the back of your Volvo?

[Tunku]

Monkeylegend said:

Tunku said:

Monkeylegend said:

Tunku said:

Monkeylegend said:

I would imagine your local tyre place love customers like you.

They do, very much. So much so that they held up their hour long queue of clients to change a 165/80 13 tyre for my caravan because I needed it immediately.

I hope you weren't towing it whilst you were negotiating that roundabout

No. it was in the back of the Volvo as it safely negotiated the greasy surface of the roundabout with its new tyres

How the fkuc did you get your caravan in the back of your Volvo?

That's what I get for skipping a line!

[Ray Luxury-Yacht]

Possibly depends on the tyre I guess...

When I bought my 911 quite a few years ago, it had Pirelli Pzero's on it, which I didn't enjoy.

Everyone on the Porsche forum recommended Michelin Pilot Sport 3's. Despite the initial huge expense, you do get what you pay for, and they were amazing. So that's all I fitted to my 911 since, and I was so converted, I now buy nothing but PS3's for ALL my cars - they are wonderful.

However, they don't come with a huge amount of tread depth even when new - 7mm maybe? So to change them at 4mm would be financially ruinous.

They give the same performance at 2mm as they do when new though, with the only concession to that statement that I do agree, if I drive through a monstrous amount of standing water at 2mm then obviously I don't get the same response as I would at 7mm. However, driving as I would imagine all PH'ers drive, in heavy rain I don't tear around relying on my tyre's tread to get me out of a possible aquaplaning situation - I use the Mk. 1 eyeball for that!

So, I run my Michelins until around 2mm before I change them, on the Porsche, the Skoda and the Fiesta.

And I am still alive to post as such...

[Mr Sparkle]

You lot are reckless, I always change my tyres when they get to 7.5mm because I'm fking awesome.

[Tunku]

Ray Luxury-Yacht said:

Possibly depends on the tyre I guess...


So, I run my Michelins until around 2mm before I change them, on the Porsche, the Skoda and the Fiesta.

And I am still alive to post as such...

Do you not find they get a bit noisy when worn to that extent?

[smack]

Ray Luxury-Yacht said:

So, I run my Michelins until around 2mm before I change them, on the Porsche, the Skoda and the Fiesta.

And I am still alive to post as such...

Ray, I bet you have let your bikes tyres go well past that

If you are like me, stated an Eurotrip thinking yes, they are ok for it, but riding back through France on a weekend (so zero chance of changing it), you hit the TWI's, past that, then the soft carcass rubber, and on threads back from Dover praying to copper doesn't take interest in you as the tyre is still ripping itself apart at slow motorway speeds.

[Condi]

I wait until the legal limit then wait a bit longer until MOT time.

At which point I complain like fk and get a set of part worns for £50 fitted. That sees out at least 2 more years.

[Ray Luxury-Yacht]

Tunku said:

Ray Luxury-Yacht said:

Possibly depends on the tyre I guess...


So, I run my Michelins until around 2mm before I change them, on the Porsche, the Skoda and the Fiesta.

And I am still alive to post as such...

Do you not find they get a bit noisy when worn to that extent?

Absolutely correct - especially on my Octy VRS daily drive with H&R springs and Bilsteins. I find that when new, pressures of 35 psi front and 30 psi rear gives a good balance between feel, grip / traction, wet weather performance and noise / harshness.

So, all I do is progressively lower the working tyre pressures to suit the wear on the rubber - normally ending up in 30 front / 25 rear to match the tyre wear.

This way, I get good, consistent working use from the tyres coupled with an acceptable feel and obtrusive cabin noise over the life of the tyre.

I'm sure most PH'ers would identify with this - but most Joe Public might not!

[Ray Luxury-Yacht]

smack said:

Ray Luxury-Yacht said:

So, I run my Michelins until around 2mm before I change them, on the Porsche, the Skoda and the Fiesta.

And I am still alive to post as such...

Ray, I bet you have let your bikes tyres go well past that

If you are like me, stated an Eurotrip thinking yes, they are ok for it, but riding back through France on a weekend (so zero chance of changing it), you hit the TWI's, past that, then the soft carcass rubber, and on threads back from Dover praying to copper doesn't take interest in you as the tyre is still ripping itself apart at slow motorway speeds.

Lol, nobody mentioned bikes in this thread so far!

Back when I used to do the 'Spain moto GP trip marathon' with other bikes, of course I fitted a pair of box-fresh hoops that saw us being deposited in Santander or Bilbao with tyres that had so far only seen a run down to Portsmouth and the ferry. Our round-trip route involved about 2,500 miles in Spain.

Depending upon how we rode (which I will leave to your imagination...) then yeah, it wasn't uncommon to be looking at TWI's on the rear tyre near Madrid on the way home.

However, probably fortunately for us, we never encountered any wet or rainy conditions hence, so it was no drama traversing Northern Spanish autoroutes at high leptons with questionable tread depth!