Minimum tyre tread depths: tyre makers in safety row

Didn’t even know about this going on! Is this some sneaky way to make us pay more for tyres than we actually need?

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/car-news/97370/minimum-tyre-tread-depths-tyre-makers-in-safety-row

P.S.

I realize this is about car tyres but where’s the guarantee that it won’t carry over to bike tyres…

I didn’t realise there was an EU Directive or Law regarding motor vehicle tyre tread depths or, maybe there is and each Member State has gone their own way.

For example for motorcycles in the UK the minimum tread depth is 1mm, in other parts of the EU such as Germany it is 2 mm. Of course with Brexit on the horizon all this will probably remain unchanged unless it changes, it happens.

Much conflict of information in that report especially when comparing the performance of various tread depths. I’d have thought to have any scientific value when comparing the performance of various tread depths such as 1.6mm vs 3 mm vs 8 mm the tyres and conditions would have to be the same. The tyres would need to be the same brand, the same model, the same size, fitted to the same car and the same everything other than the amount of tread depth. I’d very much doubt that would have been the case with the exhaustive tests conducted by Kim Adams.

If I was a gambling man I’d wager the report is not worth the paper it was written on, which may account for it being published on-line. Think I’ll side with the Michelin man although the new tyres on order for the Ford fronts are Goodyears. Same tyres I had fitted last year to the rears which have performed good all year, see what I did there. Goodyears must be manufactured for real-world driving not just to perform well in test conditions.

For motorcycles up to 50cc the law requires that all the grooves of the original tread pattern must be clearly visible.

For motorcycles up to 50cc the law requires that all the grooves of the original tread pattern must be clearly visible. Rusty99
regardless of tread depth?

Visible tread is all that is required.

Austria require winter tyres from 1st November and a few years back changed minimum thread to 4mm.


For motorcycles up to 50cc the law requires that all the grooves of the original tread pattern must be clearly visible. Rusty99
regardless of tread depth?
National Treasure
Yup, just visible