As implied by my recent post on tire options, I know I'm going to have to replace my tires soon, but I'm not quite sure how soon. I don't have any snow to contend with, and realistically not much rain either, being on the central California coast.
All my tires still pass the "penny test", but just barely in some areas (the wear is a little more pronounced at the outer edges of the tires on the front wheels right now, IIRC .. but only slightly). The wear bars are not level with the tread yet.
I'm possibly going to be going on one or more 400 mile round trips soon to help my parents with some stuff, and I'm not sure how bald to run the tires. I don't want to wear them down dangerously low, obviously, but I don't want to replace them prematurely either since that's kind of a waste of tire.
Obviously it's hard to judge without seeing them (should I post some pictures?) but I just wanted to get an idea what criteria others here use to determine when to replace tires. This is the first set I've ever run replaced for treadwear reasons (for an on-road only tire at least), so I'm new at this.
All my tires still pass the "penny test", but just barely in some areas (the wear is a little more pronounced at the outer edges of the tires on the front wheels right now, IIRC .. but only slightly). The wear bars are not level with the tread yet.
I'm possibly going to be going on one or more 400 mile round trips soon to help my parents with some stuff, and I'm not sure how bald to run the tires. I don't want to wear them down dangerously low, obviously, but I don't want to replace them prematurely either since that's kind of a waste of tire.
Obviously it's hard to judge without seeing them (should I post some pictures?) but I just wanted to get an idea what criteria others here use to determine when to replace tires. This is the first set I've ever run replaced for treadwear reasons (for an on-road only tire at least), so I'm new at this.
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