When to Replace Your tires.

I have Falken Wildepeaks with 48,000 miles on them. The lack of wear is impressive but I will probably be in need of new tires within a year. How do you tell when your AT's need to be replaced? Any google info that I find leads me to passenger tires while I would like min tread depth info for AT's. Or is there another responsible reason to get new tires other than tread depth?

These are the 1st AT's I have owned, and I'm not sure if I should run the them to the wear bars.

 

Tires have a depth gauge built in.

Look between the threads for the bump should have plenty of them.

https://www.progressive.com/lifelanes/on-the-road/how-to-check-tire-tread-depth/

 

just measure tread depth and see if you have enough left .

 

I assess the tread depth in late October to decide my comfort level getting through another winter (its never at the wear bars, that would be an automatic no as far as winter for me...good tread is key in snow). With my F150, that usually meant two winters and about 40-42k miles. While I'm hoping to get more miles out of them on the 4runner, it weighs almost as much as the F150 (but has way less power), if I only get 2 years, I'm ok with that. Just means I bump up to 275's sooner.

 

Besides tire wear or thread depth, also look out for tire deterioration or dry rot

 

I'm not concerned with deterioration or dry rot. The tires will wear out way before those issues.

What's the cut-off for "enough tread left"? 2/32's? 4/32's? Other? I push my ride to it's limits. Rock crawling in Utah, steep mts. of Colorado, mud holes when there is no other option. Right now i am at 10/32's.

 

I have these (one in each car):

$4 Tire Tread Depth Gauge,Tire Tread Gauge Color Coded,Tread Depth Gauge in 1/32"(Pack of 2)

Amazon.com: Tire Tread Depth Gauge,Tire Tread Gauge Color Coded,Tread Depth Gauge in 1/32 inch(Pack of 2)

I err on the side of caution. Got this year's tax return and got new tires for the RAV:

BFGOODRICHTRAIL-TERRAIN T/A

Good on-road, good in snow, light trail.

 

Same!

 

First response had the answer... built-in wear bars.

Everything else is just adding extra steps.

 

Here in the PNW, ice and snow are daily hazards during winter. I prefer to get new tires earlier rather than later. We had a pretty good tax return and discussed waiting and decided to go for it!

 

I get bored with my tires way before they wear out, and am always looking at the new releases. I have never made it to the wear bars for as long as i can remember, you have shit for tires at that point, and I want to know that I have some meat on or off the road. After all it’s wear the rubber meets the road, or dirt, or rocks. This is just my view of it though, so enjoy.

 

Just get new ones. You'll thank yourself on the next adventure.

I think, with the type of terrain you drive through, it's worth it to replace them early.

 

All good advice here. I'm someone who only puts 8-10k a year on my tires. Barring and damage to the tires, I replace them every 3-4 years. I live in Northern Michigan and need to have good condition edges and sipes particularly for winter conditions. I never have an issue selling them for a decent price as they have a lot of life left in them.

Tires are the most important part of a vehicle and I prefer to keep them pretty fresh.

 

It's better to replace them too early than too late, especially for off-road use. I don't like getting down to the wear indicators.

 

2/32’s is failing for Pa and dangerous in rain/snow

 

https://www.tirerack.com/upgrade-garage/when-should-tires-be-replaced
https://www.tirerack.com/upgrade-garage/how-to-tell-if-you-need-new-tires

Note the above is for driving on the road. Things like mud holes will probably give less traction with 5/32" tread depth than with full tread depth. At that point it's a judgment call.

 

Reading through all of this, seems the thing to do is run 'em 'til I'm not satisfied with them.

 

I replace them when they have them shiny silver bits poking through

 

I've heard of people replacing them once a year for hard use. This is probably overkill though.

I'd say if you see dry rot (small cracks in the sidewall) change them. Especially if you like to air down often.
And obviously change them if they get down to the wear bars in the tread.

This happened yesterday... 2.5-3" gash through the tire. (Piece of metal hidden in a puddle of mud.) No tire shops will patch it.
Two new tires getting installed after work. Rocking the factory steelie and a 255/80/17 for today!

 

Thats pretty rough right there.

Went through the meat too.

 

You are the best judge as to what you are comfortable with!

 

Are you really gonna run your at's down that far?

 

2 places I don’t EVER skimp on, brakes and tires.

it was a joke. I was surprised it wasn’t mentioned yet.