All passenger, light truck, and medium commercial tyres have tread wear indicator bars moulded in the tread. These bars are located at the bottoms of the tread grooves in several locations around the tyre. Their location is indicated in the shoulder area by little triangles. When a tyre is worn to the point where any of them become visibly flush with the adjacent tread ribs, it is time to replace the tyre.

In other words, if the tyre is worn to the point that the treadwear indicators are at the same height as the adjacent tread ribs, this means that the tyre has only 1.6mm of tread depth left. You should replace your tyres immediately as the performance of your tyres is no more optimal and last but not least, 1.6 mm is the legal minimum tread depth required by law.

The performance of a tyre on wet roads decreases with the remaining tread depth. With a reduced tread depth the tyre is not able to evacuate the same quantity of water as before and therefore the risk of aquaplaning increases. Moreover, the braking performance on wet roads is reduced. For that reason it is generally recommended to replace your summer tyres when less then 3 mm profile depth is left.

If your tyres wear off irregularly, this may be an indication your tyres don't have the optimum tyre pressure or that your car has some kind of chassis problem.

·        If the tread is deeper on the edges than in the centre, the tyre is possibly over inflated.

·        If the tread is deeper in the centre than the edges, the tyre is possibly under inflated.

·        If the tread is deeper on one side than the other, have your wheel alignment checked soon.

For further information on tyre pressure or tyre balancing, please take a look to the respective maintenance pages or click on the following link: tyre pressure; tyre balancing