DRIVE NOW May 2021

cause your tyres to wear unevenly
and prematurely. You should
be able to feel a slight tugging
through the steering wheel if your
car’s wheels are out of alignment.
Some recommend using coins, but
it’s cheaper and easier just go to
your local automotive retail store
and buy a tyre tread depth gauge.
A basic gauge will cost you less
than $10. If you do use a gauge,
don’t just check one of your tyres,
check them all, and don’t just
check the tyres in one spot, check
them in several areas.
What causes tyre
wear?
Beyond just general use, there
are a couple of things that can
lead to premature tyre wear, like
improper inflation of your vehicle’s
tyres.
If the tyre is under - or overinflated
then it’s not able to properly do
the job it was designed to do and
so can end up wearing unevenly or
too quickly due to improper stress.
What’s the legal
minimum tread
depth?
than this, you’re endangering your
own life and the lives of those
around you.
With each loss of tread depth
your tyre’s functionality is being
reduced, meaning its ability to
shed water is reduced, its grip
is reduced, and thus braking
distances increase. Travelling at
around 80km/h on brand new
tyres on a wet road will see most
cars pull up in around 100m;
halve the tread and this stopping
distance blows out to around
120m; wear your tyres down to
1.5mm and your stopping distance
will be nudging closer to 140m.
What’s the point of
tyre tread?
Beyond helping your tyre grip the
road, the grooves on your tyre
are designed to help shed water
from a wet road as effectively as
possible, or, if it’s a four-wheel
drive tyre, the tread might even
have grooves designed to flick
mud out of the tread or have grip
on the tyre’s shoulder to help give
traction when driving in mud ruts.
But back to wet roads.
BE SAFE ON THE ROADS
A new-ish tyre will displace around
15L of water every second… by
comparison, a ‘wet tyre’ on a
Formula One car will shed around
60L or more of water every
second.
As the tread wears down the
tyre’s ability to shed water is
reduced, increasing the chance
of aquaplaning on the road; this
is when your tyre hits a patch
of water on the road and skims
across the surface of the water,
potentially losing control.
What are tread depth
indicators?
These are rubber noggins that help
to indicate when the tyre has worn
out, but don’t rely just on them.
Checking your tyres regularly will
mean you’ll know when your tyres
are worn out. The tread depth
indicator is a little moulding in the
tyre that, will, as the tyre wears
down eventually, sit flush with
the surface. When this happens,
your tyre is stuffed and ready for
immediate replacement.
Originally printed in
PRACTICAL MOTORING
The average tyre has around
8mm of tread depth when brand
new. At 3mm it’s recommended
you replace your tyres and at the
minimum tread depth of 1.5mm
(across around three-quarters of
the tyre’s surface) your tyres are
worn out. Continuing to drive on
tyres with only 1.6mm of tread
or less can lead to a hefty fine
of more than $200 and several
demerit points, depending on the
State or Territory you live in. More