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Is this mass hysteria? Tires are almost never the cause of any problem other than a visit from the tow truck. Let's get this in perspective instead of crying in fear. There are a total of 500 tire related auto deaths per year and most of them relate to under inflation and high speed driving. Second are massive road hazard failures that mostly will happen with a new tire or an old tire. Things like hitting a cement block at 70 miles per hour.
Tread wear on an otherwise satisfactory tire a serious safety problem? No way. Prove it.
You cant be taken seriously if you are advocating driving around Minnesota in winter on bald tires is in any ones best interest and we are all being hysterical for advising the op to at least buy some used winter tires.
You cant be taken seriously if you are advocating driving around Minnesota in winter on bald tires is in any ones best interest and we are all being hysterical for advising the op to at least buy some used winter tires.
His tires aren't bald. They show normal wear, no bars, toward the end of their useful life.
Looking at the op's pic it looks to me like a high performance summer tire that is at the wear bars , you may feel comfortable driving your family around in winter on a tire in that condition,I'll go the hysterical route and keep well treaded snow tires on my car and suggest others do the same..
Is this mass hysteria? Tires are almost never the cause of any problem other than a visit from the tow truck. Let's get this in perspective instead of crying in fear.
There is no point telling anyone that. They are delirious with fear and they love every minute of if. I bet they look under their beds with a flashlight every night.
Is the OP going to be selling this car? I think it's actually a little easier to sell a car with good tires on it. When I see a used car for sale with bald tires it makes me wonder what else the owner has not maintained. That's just me though.
I have had many flat tires and blowouts and have never even had a close call. There are 400 deaths per year from tire failure. Most all of those come from under inflated tires and road hazards that would have caused any tire to fail thin tread or not. And, I doubt it is an exaggeration to say that one is more likely to die from a lightning strike than from a tire failure caused by insufficient tread.
Alarmists use these scare techniques to get us all excited and to go spend a lot of money. I wouldn't be surprised to find that there are a significant number of deaths asociated with improper installation of new tires.
Everyone, take a deep breath. Its just a rubber tire for crying out loud.
Is the OP going to be selling this car? I think it's actually a little easier to sell a car with good tires on it. When I see a used car for sale with bald tires it makes me wonder what else the owner has not maintained. That's just me though.
I'd rather not see new tires, as that can cover up a bunch of suspension problems. Older, evenly worn tires is actually a good sign.
i recently got an oil change and the mechanic recommended i change my tires since my tread is real low.
im wondering what would happen if i had no tread. thanks.
i just dont want to throw anymore money into this car since i plan to get another one at the end of this summer.
Even if you plan on selling the car, when you sell it with bald tires you may get diminished money because of tire condition. Cars need to have at least 4/32 depth I believe to be sold form dealers.
If you are looking to get tires at the end of summer and you are at 2/32 or less now, just buy new tires. They don't have to be stellar, just decent.
Everyone, take a deep breath. Its just a rubber tire for crying out loud.
Not that I'm trying to go all Chicken Little on you, but tires are more complex than that.
As tires wear, their effectiveness for various conditions changes. New street tires typically have initial tread depth of 10/32 or 8/32, depending on the type of tire (passenger, sport), with offroad and M/S tires having deeper treads. Add to that the fact that tires are made of different rubber compounds depending on where in the tire you look.
New tires with deep tread are best for wet and snow conditions. After they wear a bit to 8-6/32, they are optimal for dry road conditions, good for wet, not as good for snow. As they near end of life a 4-2/32, they are still good for dry conditions but have diminished wet conditions.
Once tires pass 2/32 their performance degrades even in warm, dry conditions. The tread depth that moves water from under the tires is gone, so they are more likely to hydroplane. The softer rubber in the tire tread is all used up and you are riding on the stiffer rubber used to protect the core and give shape to the tire. As well the sipes - cuts in the tread that provide traction like fingers - are all gone. This harder rubber isn't really meant to be driven on, and once it wears through all that is left is the steel belt inside the tire.
And then you can add to all that heat cycling that makes tires (even with tread) hard and less grippy, lower ability to absorb debris like nails, and dry rot that will cause the tire to break apart.
First, the dealer is going to give you less for the car do to the tires when you do go to sell it as they will have to replace them. So, there is some financial offsetting by replacing them before sale. Of course, a '98 Tiburon isn't worth much to begin with, so it may not matter.
Second, although the tires don't appear to be too horrible yet, I don't think you are going to make it to August on them. If we assume normal driving distances of about 1k miles a month, those tires will most likely be in pretty sad shape come June/July. It's hard to tell from your pic, but it looks to me like you have some excess shoulder wear and that will be the area that lets go first.
Third, discussing how many people die do to tire issues is sort of pointless. A better statistic would be what percentage of accidents are attributed to tire wear. This is a little hard to pin down. About 13% of accidents are attributed to mechanicl issues of which tire wear is the greatest culprit. A further 20% of accidents are weather related. They don't double count and if a car hydroplanes regardless of the condition of the tires it is considered weather related. So, whether or not you are at an increased chance to die, really isn't the factor as you are certainly at an increased chance to be involved in an accident and the cost of even a minor fender bender would be more than the cost of buying new tires.
Think about it this way, EVERYTHING on your car is only as good as the 4 patches of rubber that are touching the ground. Tires, brakes and oil in that order are the three things you should never skimp on.
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