Checking your tyres’ tread depth
- First of all, check out the tread wear indicators that are built into the grooves of your tyres. These small horizontal bars are evenly spaced around the tyre’s circumference. Once your tyre has worn level with these bars, you have reached your minimum depth and your tyre will need replacing.
- Bear in mind though that these indicators tell you when you’ve reached 1.6mm. That may be the legal minimum but it is shallower than our recommendation.
- A more accurate measurement can be taken using tyre gauges. These come in many different forms – from laminated cards with colour indicators to digital tyre depth gauges.
- Simply place the gauge into the tyre’s groove and you will see how close you are to reaching your minimum depth.