Tire Replacement - What Tread Depth?

[Larry C]

I have a 2022 Cayman GTS. My rear tires are at 5/32” tread depth. The dealership recommends tire replacement but my tire shop, where I’ve been going to for 40 years, says that I have “plenty of tread left.”

What tread depth do you replace your tires?
5/32”
4”32”
3/32”
2/32”
When the tread is even with the wear bar

Thanks,
Larry

[Tom]

In California, the minimum legal tread depth in front (steering axle) is 4/32". In the rear, it's 2/32" for the major grooves and 1/32" for others. You could probably get away with driving a little more, but the dealer is probably right as a technical matter -- assuming (if!) those measurements are accurate...

I leased a 2011 BMW to commute in back in the day -- about 500 miles a week to SF every day. I was determined not to buy new tires that I'd just need to turn in at the end of the lease. At about 72k miles, while on the highway, my right rear tire finally had enough and ripped clear off the rim. It was a downhill sweeper of a turn, and the weight was on the other side, so I became aware of it only because I saw the tire passing me on the inside lane.

[Stormy_Monday]

I use the wear bars on the tire as my guide.

[WillyDaP]

For street driven cars Stormy Monday's guide is the simplest as wear bars are 2/32nds and is the standard recommendation by almost all tire manufacturers. Now, toss that out the window for those of us that track our cars, because many of us have tires with that or less for Time Trials , HPDEs, etc.

Heck, a set of Hoosier A7 or R7s simply have sets of little grooves that probably aren't that deep brand new, ha!!

[Larry C]

Bump for more recommendations.

[ReidMcT]

You don't say what tires you have. Some performance tires have 5/32 when new. I suggest you check the manufacturer's website to know that dimensions and recommendations for your tires. Some tires also have varying tread depths, and quick/random measurements can be unreliable.

Also consider that being 'close' to worn out is vague, and maybe not as close as it seems. A mere 1/32" can deliver many miles.

[Arne2]

How often do you drive on wet roads? If they are wearing evenly, for dry use only I'd run them to 2/32 with no qualms. If you drive in the wet much, I'd probably go with 3 or 4/32nds as my limit.

But make sure you look close at the inside edge. That's hard to see on these cars, yet is generally where they wear the fastest. You could have 5/32 across most of the tire and only 3/32 or less on the inside shoulder. Find the area and tire with the most wear and use that as your replacement canary.

[jkat]

LA is probably very similar to the Bay Area in that we're pretty much done with the rain for a while. At this point in the year I wouldn't hesitate to run tires all the way down to the wear bars (or even a bit lower). Once the rainy season comes around again, it's a different story.