Originally Posted By: Ken2
Those probably measure over 2/32" tread depth, so they are legal. Smart?...not for me.
The thumping you mention would worry me more.
I once rented a small Pontiac from Hertz in Denver in the winter. I learned the hard way to check tread depth as part of the inspection before accepting the car. It didn't crash, but almost left me stranded on a slick uphill grade.
Last winter I reserved a compact car from Thrifty. At the counter they insisted the car for category was the Chevrolet Spark, a car about the size of my shoe that I'd consider too small to be called sub-compact. I argued to no avail. Finally they let me upgrade to a Hyundai Genesis at a minor extra cost. Really nice car (and the tires were OK.) Emails to Thrifty Customer Service returned the info that what they call a "compact" was actually Sentra size. I got a refund of my extra payment. Next time I'll ask in advance what car is what size.
Car rental tip---because there is no penalty for cancelling a reservation, reserve the car you want, then 1 or 2 or 3 days before the rental go back on the web site and look for deals. If they have extra cars the price might be cut. Cancel and make a new reservation for a better car at lower cost.
The thumping was the wear bars I believe.
This was a Sentra. 2012 Sentra. Quite roomy inside. Their fleet consists mostly of previous-Gen Sentras, current-gen focuses (compact) current generation Versa (sub compact) and Fiesta (sub compact).
I was hoping for a Sentra or a Versa. Their back seats are quite large inside compared to the Fiesta or Focus. Even a Spark has a larger back seat than a Focus or Fiesta. I had a 3rd passenger. That would have been a down side to taking my car - small back seat.
Though, if I ended up with a Fiesta, I could have swapped on my tires/wheels with decent tread!
