When do you change the tires on your car? Although the legal minimum is 1.6 mm of tread, many experts advise replacing rubber at around 3.0 mm. This is because tires are generally believed to perform at their best with lots of tread — but now Michelin has taken the unusual step of warning consumers that this is wrong and swapping tires early is pointless.
The tire manufacturer has hit out at the common belief that tires become less efficient as they wear, explaining that its premium rubber performs better with 1.6 mm of tread than some budget brands with full tread. It also says that tires become more fuel efficient as they wear and rolling resistance decreases, meaning drivers could be using more fuel by changing early.
If everyone in the EU changed their tires at 3.0 mm rather than 1.6 mm, they’d spend €6.9 billion (almost $7.7B) a year in unnecessary tire purchases and additional fuel consumption says Michelin. It adds that it would result in 128 million additional tires being used a year in Europe — which would cause nine million tons of additional CO2 emissions every year.
