Why Your Tire Tread Measurements May Be Wrong
Christian Dale
Product Marketing Manager at Anyline
Tire tread depth is an essential factor in just how safe it is to operate that vehicle. It also impacts the performance of the vehicle and the lifespan of the tires themselves. Yet, measuring it isn’t always simple or straightforward.
Why Do You Need to Measure Tread Depth?
Here are the key reasons why measuring and maintaining proper tire tread depth is crucial
- Traction and Handling: Adequate tire tread depth is essential for maintaining good traction and control over your vehicle, especially in adverse weather conditions such as rain, snow, and ice. Tread grooves help channel water and snow away from the tire’s contact patch, reducing the risk of hydroplaning and improving grip.
- Braking Performance: Tires with sufficient tread depth can provide better braking performance. The tread pattern helps the tire grip the road, which is crucial for safe and effective braking.
- Cornering Stability: Proper tread depth enhances the stability and control of your vehicle during cornering and maneuvering. Insufficient tread depth can result in reduced cornering performance and increased risk of skidding.
- Hydroplaning Prevention: In wet conditions, the grooves in your tire tread allow water to escape from under the tire. Insufficient tread depth increases the risk of hydroplaning, where the tire loses contact with the road due to a layer of water, leading to loss of control.
- Snow Traction: In snowy conditions, a tire with adequate tread depth provides a better grip on slippery surfaces. Snow tires are designed with specific tread patterns and deeper grooves to excel in such conditions.
- Longevity: Maintaining proper tire tread depth can extend the lifespan of your tires. When tires wear unevenly or if they become bald (tread depth is near or below legal limits), you may need to replace them sooner, incurring additional costs.
- Fuel Efficiency: Worn-out tires with low tread depth can result in decreased fuel efficiency. The increased rolling resistance can cause your vehicle to consume more fuel.
- Legal Compliance: Many regions have legal requirements for minimum tire tread depth. Driving with tires that fall below the legal limit can lead to fines, penalties, and safety hazards.
What Is a Safe Tread Depth?
To ensure the safe and efficient operation of your vehicle, it’s essential to regularly measure and monitor your tire tread depth. When the tread depth reaches a certain point (typically 2/32 of an inch or 1.6 mm), it’s a sign that the tires should be replaced. However, it’s a good practice to replace tires before they reach this legal minimum to maintain optimal safety and performance.
How to measure tread depth – spot versus zone
You can measure tire depth in many ways. Technicians often do this using a tread depth gauge or by visually inspecting the wear indicators that are built into the tread pattern of many tires.
Many drivers may use the ‘penny test’ – turn a penny upside down and place it in a major groove of your tire. If part of Lincoln’s head is covered by the tread, you are good to go. If you can see all of his head, it’s time to replace your tire. This is not an accurate method. The core problem with this method is that just a single location is being measured, and with uneven wear, that’s not telling the whole story.
A much more accurate way to measure tire depth is using a ‘zone method.’ The more measurements you have, the more accurate the end results. You can use this method with a tire gauge by taking 12 to 16 individual measurements across a larger grid of the tire tread. Chart your results and take the overall average of all measurements to determine the real depth and overall health of your tire.
AI-enabled Tire Tread Measurement
Without a doubt, measuring multiple locations is essential to having a clear understanding of tread depth, but it’s also time-consuming. The more times you have to measure, the higher the risk is of making a mistake, too.
Here’s the solution.
Anyline’s Tire Tread Scanner can run on any camera-enabled mobile device and measures 100,000 points across the tire tread in a matter of a few moments versus one single point using a handheld tire gauge. A mean average is calculated on all of the measurements, providing a very accurate view of the tire’s health. The method eliminates the risk of human error and ensures that information is objectively collected, ensuring safety standards and compliance requirements are met.
Consider the benefits of using Anyline’s scanner:
- It provides accurate tread depth measurement
- Delivers reliable results no matter who is using it
- Easy and intuitive to use, with minimal training required
- 260% faster than typing (and far better than having entered a mistake!)
- A digital record of each tire measurement
- ISO-certified and GDPR-compliant data capture
- Reduces hardware costs
- Offers instant reports and recommendations if a tire needs to be changed
Take Away
Considering the importance of tires, accurate measurement of tire tread depth is essential. Anyline’s zone method of measurement is far superior to outdated spot methods, and digitalizing this analog information provides valuable insights into how customer and fleet vehicle tires wear. With more data, drivers, service centers, and fleet managers can predict how much life is left in each individual tire.
