What tread depth do tires start to loose traction in snow?

[jseabolt]

I replaced the original Potenzas with Michelin Weatherwise II from Sears about 8 years ago. These same tires go by other names sold under Michelin. They have to be the same tire. The tread pattern is the same as well as the speed and wear rating. I don't know why Michelin markets this same tire under various names.

So far they have done well in the past snows we have had.

I'd have to look up the mileage on these tires (guessing 25 to 30K) but right now I have around 75K miles on my Baja. I measured the tread depth the other day at 8/32". The instructions with the depth tool say to replace the tires at 2/32" so I still have some good tread lefty on them.

I don't buy into the "replace tires every 6 year and shoes every 6 months" BS. As long as I can stick my fingernail in the tread and it feels soft and the sidewalls are not cracked, I'll run them.

I replaced the original tires before they wore out since this is my snow vehicle. I think with the same tread depth as now.

Instead of paying the disposable fee, I told Sears to throw the old ones in the bed. With the original intension of disposing of them one by one in my trash can (yeah I'm that cheap). In the meantime they sat under some trees beside my garage.

So one day as I was walking by them and wondered if I could possibly sell them. I picked them up and scooped out the leaves and hickory nuts and cleaned them up with some Purple Magic and put them up for sale on Craigslist.

I advertised these tires for $40 along with the tread depth and photos and before the end of the day had 20 calls on them and had some guy waiting on me at my house after I got off work who was that eager to buy them. I even had to call a guy back who was shopping at Wal-Mart who planned on stopping by my house only to disappoint him that he missed the boat.

In contrast you can't give away a used 17" tire but you can sell used 16" tires all day long for some reason.

So what is my question? At what point do tires need replacing before they loose traction in snow? Supposably at 8/32" they are safe to drive on wet roads without hydroplaning but what about snow?

Why only 75K miles after I bought this car new in December 2002?

I have several classic cars I drive during the summer so I mainly just drive my Subaru to work in the winter or if I need to haul or pull something.

I have a 98 Chevrolet conversion van which is our family vehicle. I have a four year old daughter and if you know how kids are, they can trash a vehicle up in no time (as well as wives HA! HA!) so I'm very particular about who rides in my Baja because I like to keep it clean inside and out.

Since I don't put as many miles on my Baja as most people, I thought about just installing a set of snow tires and running them year round. I understand they are made of a softer rubber and won't last as long on dry pavement but that is not really a concern. Is there a speed rating on snow tires? Or are they only supposed to be driven at low speeds?

Anything to give me the upper edge when it comes to driving in the snow. We really don't get that much snow here in East Tennessee. A big snowstorm maybe 6" and the roads are usually clear by the next day. 95% of the time there is not even any snow on the ground much less the roads during the winter.

[Guacamole]

If I had to take a wild guess I'd say you're fine up until the 3 to 2/32" mark. My father's 08 Dodge Ram did fine in the snow & ice in the 2014 Maryland blizzard with 3-year old all-weather tires (mind you, his truck is also rear-wheel drive). My 97 corolla with all-seasons also did fine in last year's blizzard & especially on the icy Eastern Shore roads, as most of them around here weren't salted or sanded due to a lack of supplies.

Generally, you don't want to use winter tires round-year because the softer tires wear out much faster & you may get uneven wearing because of the softness of the tread, you may notice a decrease in handling performance too because of the winter tire softness, & they're loud.
Lastly, to play devil's advocate to the road maintenance workers, winter tires wear out roads much more than summer or all-season tires. You definitely don't want to have a bad road if you live out in the boonies like myself where road maintenance comes a century after it's required. I have a buddy who works for Maryland State Highway maintenance & he hates winter tires because of what they do to roads. There's one road around here where some guy with studded tires actually dug into the pavement (not kidding) when he slammed on his brakes to avoid a kamikaze deer.

Personally, I'd just stick with all-seasons if snowfall is a rarity like it is over here in MD.
Hope that helps!

[TastyHuman]

There is no real yes or no answer, it depends a great deal on the type and depth of the snow.

Snow that packs easily will pack into the space between tread blocks and turn your tires into slicks. The advantage of deeper tread in this scenario is that it tends to "self clean" better. Tread blocks move around a lot as they turn and deeper tread flexes more which helps to eject snow. Shallower blocks flex less and eject less snow. Older tires flex less as well.

In dry powder conditions, where the snow doesn't pack, if the snowfall is less than available tread depth then worn tires may work sufficiently well for use.

[anarchy1024]

I had Hankook Optimo 4s (http://tires.canadiantire.ca/en/tires/a ... optimo-4s/) all seasons, which I really liked. They were great practically everywhere, including in snow, even when they were almost down to the wear bar.

Not exactly sure what the tread depth was, but about five months after driving them through this:

20150305-091818_2015-03-05 12.18.17.jpg (72.7 KiB) Viewed 3876 times

I had to replace the tires because the wear bars themselves were starting to be worn down. And I didn't have any traction problems. I would have purchased those tires again, but I can't find them in the US... seems to be a Canadian Tire exclusive. Probably not the answer you were looking for; just my experiences.

[jseabolt]

Thanks guys. I'll probably keep my Michelins until they wear down some more. Or if I can make it up my driveway this winter.

Here is the tread pattern on my Michelins. It seems they may have changed the design in the outer siping design but the center tread still has three long straight grooves in the tire. This tire actually did well last winter but it was mostly dry powder. I always found driving in packed dry snow much easier than wet slush.



I had a set of BF Goodrich T/A radials on a Jeep Wrangler. I believe these were basically street tires on not really all seasons. They were horrible in slush.