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Author Topic: Tires down to wear bars.  (Read 2700 times)

Offline berliner

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Tires down to wear bars.
« on: May 11, 2005, 11:54:40 am »
The tires on my boxter are Continentals Sport contact 265/35 ZR 18.  They have just reached the tread level of the wear bars.

What are the risks associated with driving another 2000 - 3000 km of highway travel on them ?  I would slow down for any standing water on the highway - my guess is hydroplaning is a risk.

I have arranged to have the tires installed while on the trip.
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Offline berliner

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Tires down to wear bars.
« Reply #1 on: May 11, 2005, 12:02:10 pm »
I should have said "I have arranged to have new tires installed while on the trip"
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Offline mrthompson

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Tires down to wear bars.
« Reply #2 on: May 11, 2005, 12:20:02 pm »
Not only hydroplaning but I imagine braking performance in general will be adversely affected by the low tread depth.  
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Offline ovr50

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Tires down to wear bars.
« Reply #3 on: May 11, 2005, 12:49:34 pm »
I don't understand why someone who owns a Boxster would try to be cheap with replacing tires. If they are at the wear bars, IMO you should replace them before the trip. Personally, I would worry if I did not do that (but that's me).
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Offline weebl

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Tires down to wear bars.
« Reply #4 on: May 11, 2005, 01:01:10 pm »
I usually replace tires before the wear bars show, as acceptable performance is usually long gone before the bars show up.  Give yourself peace of mind, and get new tires before your trip.
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Offline wing

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Tires down to wear bars.
« Reply #5 on: May 11, 2005, 01:01:41 pm »
As long as it's not raining IMO I think you'll be ok.  As long as they aren't corded.  If they are performance tires you will have almost as much grip once they are heated up, just don't try anything crazy.
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Offline morty

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Tires down to wear bars.
« Reply #6 on: May 13, 2005, 02:57:45 am »
No rain...no cords...should be alright. Maybe just stop and check them every once in a while. 2000 to 3000 km is a fairly substantial distance. Just be safe and make sure it doesnt rain...LOL. Dry braking should be fine, just the wet that will be hairy.




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Offline capriracer

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Tires down to wear bars.
« Reply #7 on: May 13, 2005, 05:28:09 am »
A word of warning:

The non-tread components in a tire can wear extremely quickly.  So the moment they are revealed, you should replace the tires.  

If you wait too long, you run the risk of the tread separating and that can be not only expensive to fix, but it's dangerous besides.

To my way of thinking - now that you know you have to replace the tires, why not get active on the project, rather than wait and find yourself in a panic later?
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Offline tpl

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Tires down to wear bars.
« Reply #8 on: May 13, 2005, 07:05:52 am »
Surely a high performance low profile VR rated tire can manage another 3000kms on 10% of its tread life.  The bars at at 1/16" and most new tires have around  11/16 inches of depth.  But that is incidental to the discussion.

As Morty and capiracer say above, if any internal construction is revealed then you are in deep trouble and if the tires are down to the bars in the centre of the tread they may be a LOT thinner at the tread edge

Wet perfomance will be affected severely as is.
MUCH more likely to get a puncture.
There is a slight ( at road speeds) danger of overheating the internals as there is less rubber to insulate.
There is a definite danger of a sensible police officer issuing a major ( we hope) ticket.

I would have replaced them a long time ago... at 2/16 inches or 3 summers whichever came first.

It may be that Berliner is driving from BC to Alta and will save BC sales tax on 4 expensive tires.....ok..... I wouldnt drive through the mountains on dangerous tires to save a couple of hundred $$


my 2c
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Offline wing

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Tires down to wear bars.
« Reply #9 on: May 13, 2005, 09:11:21 am »
Or maybe he's driving to the US of A, the land of 50% off tires.
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Offline Railton

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Tires down to wear bars.
« Reply #10 on: May 13, 2005, 03:34:31 pm »
Berliner,
One year I was headed to the "land of cheap tires" as well (about the same distance).
The tires that I had at the time were not down to the wear bars when I left on the trip. Halfway to the destination though I hit a pot hole hard enough at night that skewed the rear end alignment. Another 500k later or so at a gas station and I gave the tires a once over and lo and behold the cords were showing on the inside of the tire that hit the pothole.
There I was Sunday morning about 1AM not able to continue. I spotted a car like mine across the road at a hotel. I ended up paying that local owner that just happened to have the same car and wheels as me $100US for this tire/wheel combo. He put his spare on, I put his wheel/tire  on mine, gave him my duff tire/wheel and I was off again into the night.
Be wary of potholes in the night. (Queue Francis...)
Railton
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Offline wing

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Tires down to wear bars.
« Reply #11 on: May 13, 2005, 03:47:01 pm »
Good luck doing that with an RX8 Railton
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Offline random006

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Tires down to wear bars.
« Reply #12 on: May 13, 2005, 03:50:01 pm »
Potholes in the night, taking hubcaps
bouncing in the night.
What was I thinking driving cheapie tires
On a long night's journey.
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Offline safristi

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Tires down to wear bars.
« Reply #13 on: May 14, 2005, 08:57:42 am »
$100 fer a quick rear-ender inna motel parkin' lot!!!!  Homer!! swears by DUFF TYRES....DUFF BEER and DUFF DUCK....that's ALL FOLKS..............."Queue Francis"..was IT worth waiting for...align up..align up....

(Message edited by safristi on May 14, 2005)
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Offline Railton

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Tires down to wear bars.
« Reply #14 on: May 14, 2005, 12:37:00 pm »
No Francis, but it's Saturday. Yer due for a rest...
Railton
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Offline safristi

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Tires down to wear bars.
« Reply #15 on: May 14, 2005, 06:50:39 pm »
ONLY on the SABBATH..Father!!!
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Offline berliner

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Tires down to wear bars.
« Reply #16 on: May 23, 2005, 07:47:45 am »
Well, you all will be pleased that I made it to Edmonton safely.  It was only the rear tires which were so worn.  I did run into some rain, but, of course, I slowed down.

The tire dealer didn't want to give me a trade-in on them  :-).

They put some Bridgestone tires on it Fuzion ZR1 to be exact.  I can find very little information on the web.  The tire size is printed on the tire as 265/40R18 88W and 265/35R18 93W.
I would have expected the Z to be printed as part of the size.
Would someone enlighten me on this please ?  Incidentially, the tires are a lot quieter then the continentals I had before, as well they give a better ride.
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Offline johngenx

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Tires down to wear bars.
« Reply #17 on: May 23, 2005, 09:53:42 am »
It's because they're NOT Z-rated tires.  That's why there's no "Z."

W-rated.
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Offline berliner

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Tires down to wear bars.
« Reply #18 on: May 23, 2005, 01:27:27 pm »
That is what I thought.  So when they are called Fuzion ZR1 they are trying to fool a person ?
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Offline johngenx

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Tires down to wear bars.
« Reply #19 on: May 23, 2005, 03:48:30 pm »
Fuzion ZR1 they are trying to fool a person ?

Sure.  I guess it worked, they fooled you.
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