Tyre Replacement Options

[J.R.]

32 minutes ago, kodiaqsportline said:

The legal min tead in the UK is 1.6mm.  Not being an expert, I haven't a clue if a 1.7mm tyre will perform the same as a 7mm tyre but even if it did, I strongly suspect that's not true for every model of tyre.

 

In the dry the 1.6mm tyre will massively outperform the 7mm one, people get a big time false sense of security from new tyres.

 

For close to 2 decades I drove on part worn tyres, I would buy on how evenly the tread was worn and not how deep it was, a set of evenly worn tyres with 4mm tread was the optimum, you could drive them to their limit (a much higher limit than a tyre with more tread) and not be concerned about them scrubbing out an inside (usually) edge.

 

You get far more miles from the last 3mm of tread than from the first 3mm (based on 8mm tread) and you don't have to mollycoddle them, far more tyres are trashed in the first 3mm of wear than the last yet many people buy new tyres when their old ones are at the point of giving their best performance.

[Avocet]

People who race in classes that specify "road" tyres (rather than slicks) will sometimes pay someone to buff the tyres down to somewhere close to minimum tread depth.  The cars handle (and grip) better without the tread blocks distorting as much.  Obviously, you need to be quite rich to buy a new set of tyres and then pay extra to have them buffed down to almost worn-out, but they wouldn't do it if there wasn't a competitive advantage.

Getting back to the Kodiaq, they're so heavy that I wouldn't hesitate to run our "summer" tyres down to the legal limit.  The danger of aquaplaning isn't so bad as the vehicle gets heavier.  I can remember driving TVRs in the early 1990s in the wet, very timidly on the motorway, if the tyres were getting a bit thin, with Citroen 2CVs overtaking me on their skinny little "bike tyres" without a care in the world!

At present, we're on Toyo Proxes Sport SUVs in the summer and Vredestein Wintrac Pro in the winter.  Originally it was on Pirelli Scorpion Verdes, and had just had the two front tyres replaced with the Toyos when we bought it, so it looks like under the previous owner, the front Pirellis lasted 22,000 miles.  Too early to say how the Toyos or the Vredesteins are lasting on our, but it doesn't get driven hard at all.

[J.R.]

16 minutes ago, Avocet said:

People who race in classes that specify "road" tyres (rather than slicks) will sometimes pay someone to buff the tyres down to somewhere close to minimum tread depth.

For sometimes read always in any competitive national series.

 

I have seen people decide to scrub their new tyres on the practice or test day before race day and during qualifying, it cost them dearly, not only did they look like they were standing still compared to those on scrubbed tyres new or old but they came close to several "offs" even trying to tag onto the novices at the rear, not only that but all they achieved was to wear the inside edge off the tyre down to the canvas or to below the legal limit and hence failed scrutineering and could not race unless they bought a new set of tyres from the series tyre sponsor support vehicle and then paid to have them scrubbed.

 

So a tyre with 8mm nominal tread was dangerous to drive at speed yet far slower than the other identical vehicles on worn or scrubbed tyres, the tyres were rendered useless within one practice session, yet the vehicles shod with the exact same new tyres but scrubbed to 2.4mm could be a fron runner over several races and practice sessions whilst remaining within the legal tread depth, some would even drive to and from the meetings.

 

One August bank holiday weekend I drove to Northern France on slicks to take part in the annual hillclimb weekend with a group of friends. There was no rain during the  time. The hillclimb was on a closed public road and the park fermé was in the town square, the competitors were escorted between the two by the Gendarmerie so once at the campsite in the town driving on slicks was no problem as no different to any of the other competitors.