You’re behind the wheel on a rainy day, humming to your favorite song. As you round a curve, the carefully engineered pattern on your tires grips the road, helping your car navigate the bend safely.
Tire tread is a key factor in driving, affecting braking, handling and traction on slippery roads. Tire tread is also crucial for driving safety. A study from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration shows worn tire treads play a role in car crashes, especially on poor road conditions or during bad weather. And a Consumer Reports tire tread study found that tires with half-worn treads had 15% less snow traction and 8% less resistance to hydroplaning on wet roads.
Getting into the groove with tire tread knowledge can help you stay safer on the roads and possibly avoid a crash. Keep reading to learn more about tire tread, how to identify when it’s worn down and how to keep your tires in top shape.
A Gripping Question: What Is Tire Tread?
If you drive a car, it’s important to know the ins and outs of tire tread, including what it is and what purpose it serves on the road.
Tire tread is the pattern on your tires designed to help the vehicle handle well on (or off) the road. Tire tread has five main components that together make up the tire tread pattern. These include:
- Blocks. Raised sections of tire tread that make contact with the road and help with driving stability, especially when turning and braking.
- Grooves. Channels that run up and down and across a tire, helping to carry water away from the blocks, reducing the odds of hydroplaning on slippery surfaces.
- Shoulder. The rounded edge of the tire, where the tread meets the sidewall, which offers protection from impacts with curbs and other objects.
- Ribs. Patterns of tread that run around the entire circumference of the tire and help with stability and traction on dry roads.
- Sipes. Small slits in the tread that offer additional stability, especially in rainy or slushy driving conditions.
Tire tread patterns differ depending on the tires and the conditions and terrain for which they’re designed. Tread is crucial to many aspects of safe driving, including braking, handling, stability and traction in all types of road conditions.
Worse for the Wear: How Tire Tread Wears Down
A brand new tire typically has a tread depth of about 10/32 or 11/32 of an inch (or more for tires designed for rougher terrain). Over time, the tread wears down from regular driving.
You can gauge how long your tread may last by checking the treadwear rating. A tire with a treadwear rating below 200 will last the shortest time, while tires with a rating of 600 or more will last the longest. The most common tread rating is 400, and most tires for sale have a tread rating between 200 and 500. Tires with a tread rating of 300 typically last three times as long as those with a 100 rating.
Tread typically wears down evenly due to vehicle weight and friction with the road. In some cases, tire tread can wear unevenly, shortening the life of the tires. This occurs due to factors such as improper tire pressure, poor alignment or aggressive driving habits (like fast acceleration or hard braking).
Driving smoothly and within posted speed limits is important for both safety and for preserving your tires.
How To Check Your Tire Tread
When tire tread wears down too much, driving can become unsafe. It’s important to know how to check your tire tread and determine when it’s time to buy new tires. Worn tires, especially extremely worn bald tires, can increase your risk of a crash or make a collision worse.
Tires need to be replaced about six years from purchase or when the tread has worn down to 2/32 of an inch. There are two easy ways to check your tread to see if your tires need to be replaced:
- Check tread wear marks. Tires have treadwear indicators, which are marks within the tread. Tires should be replaced when the tread wears down to that point.
- Do the penny test. Grab a penny and stick it in your tire tread with Lincoln’s head facing inward. If you can see the top of Lincoln’s head, you need new tires.
In addition to keeping an eye on your tire tread, it’s important to take your car in for regular maintenance—even when you’re not experiencing an issue. A mechanic will typically look at your tire tread and adjust tire alignment so that your tread wears evenly. Getting your car serviced on schedule also can help prevent insurance claims from accidents caused by mechanical issues, like tire blowouts or engine failure.
Have you reached that “treaded” moment when your tires need to be replaced? Keep in mind that tires are often sold with a tread life warranty. That means if your tread has worn down evenly before it should, your replacement tires may be covered by the warranty.
In the Groove: The Right Tread for the Terrain
If it is time to buy new tires, make sure you’re getting the proper tread for the terrain where you drive. If you live in a colder climate, you might need to swap out your all-season tires for snow tires during the year.
Tires designed for different terrains have tread suited to that type of driving. For example:
- All-weather tires. Also known as all-season tires, these tires have tread suitable for driving on paved roads in a variety of weather conditions.
- Highway tires. These tires have smoother treads to allow for smooth, quiet driving on interstates at highway speeds.
- Snow tires. Also called winter tires, these tires have tread with deep grooves designed for better traction on snowy, slushy or icy roads.
- All-terrain tires. These tires are ideal for on- and off-road driving as they have tread designed for better traction on loose gravel and dirt roads.
- Mud terrain tires. These tires are designed for rough off-road conditions with tread designed to kick out big chunks of mud and dirt that can stick to tires as you drive.
Finally, if you’re in the market for tires (or might be soon), you may want to inquire about modern tire technology that can help your tires stay in good shape and last longer. Tire features that are here or on the horizon include airless tires, self-inflating tires and tires with sensors that monitor road conditions.
One day in the future we might not need to replace our tires as often: Manufacturers are in the process of trying to develop tires with self-regenerating treads.
Follow the Tread
After learning about the importance of treads, you probably want to add tire tread checks to your regular car maintenance schedule. So, here’s one quick step you can take: check the treads on your vehicle’s tires today, then mark your calendar for regular tread check-ups. That way, you’ll know when the tires on your car are close to needing to be replaced, and you can start shopping for the right new tires for your car, budget and driving style.
View Comments (19)
I found this article on tires to be very helpful and informative. Thanks Patricia Medley
Very interesting!
It got me to check my tires, the penny trick worked fine. Thank you.
This article is very interesting and useful. Thanks.
Thank you! This was a good message, and I have learned a lot.
The article was very informative and helpful. It was interesting, and I very much appreciate learning about tire tread and how it affects a vehicle’s ability to function during all kinds of road and weather conditions. Also, it was helpful to learn how to check the condition of the tread with a penny.
Yes, indeed it’s very helpful. I don’t have to rely 100% on the mechanic or the car maintenance shop to get to know when is my car tire due for repair or replacement. Thanks for a great article!!!
Romeo
I really enjoyed the clear way that tread was explained. THANKS for the penny trick
Having recently purchased new tires, this article served as helpful reinforcement. The routine tread check-up is an excellent idea.
Very helpful article. Checked treads on my tired and will follow as indicated in the article. Thank you