Car tyres.

[Piemaster]

Its not a selling tactic. Been proven time and again. Performance drops off a cliff on the graph at this point, on wet or dry roads.

Tread moves a fixed volume of water away from the road surface for a particular set speed. That volume of water you need to shift doesn't change, but as the volume of tyre tread reduces, so there is less volume of tread to shift the same volume if water. Water is incompressible so once the volume of tread reduces beyond the volume of water, then that water has nowhere to go and your tyre starts to ride on a cushion of water. Most of the time you won't even be aware this is happening, but it most assuredly is.

The mechanics behind the operation of tyre tread are quite simple. There is a vast reservoir of independent testing out there, including MIRA, TRL, NTSB, French MTE, German TuV, and dozens of others, and they all say the same. None of these organisations sell tyres or have any financial axe to grind

Wouldn't disagree with the bits above, but what about the 'dry roads' bit? How relevant is tread depth then? Surely less or no tread ie. 'slicks' increases the amount of rubber in contact with the road, although it will only be a small amount and I wouldn't like to guess how much as a percentage increase vs. the generally quoted 'palm size' contact area. Or is it more of a weakening of the structure of the tyre supporting the tread area?

I'll be fine anyway. The soft top car never goes out the garage when its wet.

 

[keithmac]

I will change the front tyres soon but will put the back ones at the front and the new ones at the back, this is the advice I got from my brother who knows his stuff as it is part of his job. The reason for that is: in the wet, the front tyres send the water to the rear which creates more work for the back tyres to disperse the water, hence brand new at the back , deeper treads.

That's a recipe for oversteer. Scrub the new ones in on the front for at least 500 miles then swap them to the back..

 

[oldfatfool]

Its not a selling tactic. Been proven time and again. Performance drops off a cliff on the graph at this point, on wet or dry roads.

Complete tosh. If performance dropped of on dry roads F1 wouldn't run slicks and toyo 888's wouldn't look like a bald mans head.

 

[Tim Hall]

Interesting theory

Interesting use of the word "interesting".

 

[gavroche]

[QUOTE 4979071, member: 9609"]that is the correct thing to do, but the reason given is just complete bolloxs.
As @Drago pointed out earlier it is much easier to sense and control the front losing traction, so you need your best tyres on the back[/QUOTE]
I take it you have driven a car in the wet in both conditions then?

 

[Levo-Lon]

Complete tosh. If performance dropped of on dry roads F1 wouldn't run slicks and toyo 888's wouldn't look like a bald mans head.

Racing slicks are as far from a road tyre as a tyre can get.
If you ever drive on a used slick you would most likely crash.
They have a few heat cycles then there lethal, there lethal when cold also,which most road tyres are in the heat sense.

 

[oldfatfool]

Racing slicks are as far from a road tyre as a tyre can get.
If you ever drive on a used slick you would most likely crash.
They have a few heat cycles then there lethal, there lethal when cold also,which most road tyres are in the heat sense.

That is due to the compound and not the tread. I refer you to road legal track day tyres that stick like glue with minimum tread depth and pattern, and do not throw you into a ditch when cold.

 

[Mrs M]

Mr M has Bridgestone tyres on his leased A class.
Due to go back in December at the end of his 3 year lease.
He's a bit peeved as he paid for the maintenance and servicing contract and did'nt need much done
Around 20k on the clock

 

[Bonefish Blues]

Too fast being how fast exactly?

Your Bother is right, but for completely the wrong reason.

Indeed.

 

[Levo-Lon]

That is due to the compound and not the tread. I refer you to road legal track day tyres that stick like glue with minimum tread depth and pattern, and do not throw you into a ditch when cold.

Road legal track day tyres Are road tyres.

Racing slicks are as i said

 

[green1]

[QUOTE 4978782, member: 9609"]and an evenly worn tyre is a rare fish. If you measure your tread depth in one place and it says 2.4mm, it is very likely there will be other areas ranging form 1.4 to 3.4mm.[/QUOTE]
Indeed my rx8 still has over 1,5mm more on the outside shoulder compared to the inside shoulder on the front tyres when they are ready for the skip.