Minimum residual height of the tread pattern of a passenger car. Tire tread requirements: traffic rules determine the norms

Recently, a draft law on the establishment of uniform norms in the field of the use of tires on cars was submitted to the State Duma. Experts called the permissible tread depth for absolutely all vehicles. Autoinstructors shared with us new amendments to the requirements for tire wear.

What does the protector do?

Car tire, according to driving instructors, is considered unsuitable for use if the tread wear is at the limit value. It is also recommended to change the tires if they are damaged, there are breaks or cuts in the cords, through breakdowns, swelling of the sidewall or tread, delamination of the carcass, tearing of the beads, etc.

If you do not change your tire on time, you will endanger not only your own safety, but also the safety of those around you.

This is especially true in bad weather conditions, for example, in case of rain. The water will not be drained away from the tyre, and this usually leads to hydroplaning at high speeds. It must be said that drivers who have just completed driving training and do not yet have sufficient experience often fall into a zone of such risk.

It's all about the Gazelle

Under the new law, Gazel trucks may not change tires as long as the tread depth is at least 1.6 millimeters. For minibuses, this limit is set at 2 mm. Most likely, the whole problem lies precisely in the Gazelles. The SDA (permission to operate the vehicle) states that the residual tread height of a passenger car tire should be 1.6 mm, for buses this value is 2 mm, for trucks - 1 mm, for mopeds and motorcycles - 0.8.

Thus, for the Gazelle, the figure is set to 1.6, since the mass of this vehicle is not more than three and a half tons, but according to other parameters, the Gazelle is a truck that is used to transport goods, and this is category N1.

Vehicle classification

In our country, it is generally difficult to classify vehicles. For example, what are pickup trucks? In the Russian and international classification, this is N1, but they can be managed by a person with category B.

Here, the machines are already divided by functionality. Note that many pickup trucks cannot enter the city center without an appropriate pass, in particular those with a carrying capacity of more than a ton. Such cars can be driven with category C.

New rules

Today it was decided to indicate the remaining tire tread depths for each vehicle.

• Category L: mopeds, motorcycles, motorbikes, scooters, quadricycles and tricycles - at least 0.8 mm.
• Categories O3, O4, N2, N3: trailers and trucks (weight over 3.5 tons) - 1.0.
• Categories O1, O2, M1, N1: cars, trailers and vehicles with a mass of 3.5, maximum - 1.6.
• Categories M2, M3: this includes buses with more than 8 passenger seats - 2.

Changes have also been made to the operation of winter tires.

Now, the remaining tread depth on tires for winter use (for snowy or icy road surfaces) should be 4 mm, maximum.

Recall that winter tires have a sign in the form of a mountain peak with a snowflake inside and three peaks.

How to check tread depth?

Some tires have a wear indicator. If this is not the case, then measurements are taken with a caliper.

What penalties will be for insufficient tread depth is not yet known. As they say in the traffic police, first you need to introduce new requirements and norms, and then think about fines.

Video on how to check tires for wear:

Be careful on the road and don't forget about tire wear!

This article uses an image from drugasmuga.com

What should be the tire tread depth (pattern height) in order for their operation to be allowed by the "Rules of the Road"? This question is increasingly being asked by car owners, especially in light of recent changes in traffic rules that determine the punishment for those drivers whose car is on “bald tires”.

What an ordinary motorist needs about the tread depth, consider below.

From this article you will learn:

Tire types

Tires are of three types:, and, respectively, their tread depth is different. This is due to the fact that tires are designed to solve specific problems.

For example, winter tires have a deep tread due to more efficient self-removal of snow and liquid, as well as better cross-country ability, while summer tires are mainly focused on driving on asphalt and therefore the tread is not pronounced.

There are intermediate options for tires like all-season or, but their rules are still equated to a specific season (universal tires increasingly refer to summer tires, and friction tires to winter tires).

Tread Height

According to the changes in the Rules of the Road of 01.01.2015, vehicles (cars) with a tread height of at least:

• 1.6 mm - on summer tires;
• 4 millimeters - on winter tires.

Otherwise, if a traffic police officer detects a lower residual tread height of the rubber in use, penalties in the amount of 500 rubles may be imposed on the owner of the vehicle. Therefore, it is necessary to change the tires in advance to those permitted by the regulations.

How to determine the remaining tread height?

The tread height on the rubber is determined by means of appropriate indicators, which are located transversely in each groove of the tire. If the tread is compared with the indicator to the same height, then it is time to replace this tire with a new one, because further operation is prohibited by law. If, however, there is no wear indicator on the tires (a rarity at the moment), then you can use a ruler or caliper, as well as a coin and other improvised materials.

A few words about the cut tread...

In some car services there is a very interesting service that promises to extend the life of tires with a worn tread for a while - deepening the worn tread with a special machine by cutting off the top layer of rubber. The machine is called a regrover.

After such a procedure, tires really serve a certain period and even retain their grip. However, some unscrupulous sellers make a business out of it and sell used cut tread tires at a used price with moderate wear.

It is extremely difficult to visually determine the cut tread and the main problems can only appear during operation. The following are some of the features of cut tread tires:

• Flaking rubber.
• Imbalance in movement and difficult wheel balancing.
• Susceptibility to frequent punctures.
• An unnaturally smooth and even tire tread that has a glossy surface finish.

A car owner who is going to buy used tires should beware of such offers, as such “cut tires” can cause a serious accident.

Having a set of tires in the garage, in which the permissible tread depth of winter tires corresponds to the norm, every motorist is firmly convinced that he is fully prepared to face the winter fully armed. Still, you should not be so self-confident, but take a closer look at the rubber, since the tread resource for winter and summer is very different. There are certain indicators according to which it is better not to use last year's tires at all, but to buy new ones. No amount of money compares to safety on a winter road.

Winter tires and the law

Any rules and laws do not grow out of the blue, but are repelled solely from practice. Therefore, a new decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of January 1, 2015 affected the regulation of transport malfunctions, under which its operation is prohibited. In particular, this also applies to tires. In the new edition of the list of critical faults, tires are clearly divided into winter and summer tires. If earlier, according to the old transport classification, a passenger car could have a tread depth of 1.6 mm, a truck 1 mm, and a bus 2 mm, now both the classification and the tolerances for rubber wear have changed.

The residual tread depth in the summer for motorcycles and mopeds remained at 0.8 mm, and for another mode of transport, everything is more complicated and stricter:

• transport category N2 and N3, as well as O3 and O4 - 1 mm;
• transport categories O1, O2, M1 and N1 - 1.6 mm;
• category M2 and M3 vehicles must have a tread depth of more than 2 mm.

The term "at least" was replaced by the term "more", which means that the denomination specified in the regulations is actually considered invalid.

The remaining tread depth of tires intended for use on ice or snow must be no more than 4 mm. The law clearly states that a winter tire means rubber marked in a special way - either with the Mount Fuji logo, three peaks and a snowflake in the center, or the letters MS in any combination, which means "mud & snow", mud and snow. Not without reservations: the requirement applies only to sections of the road with icy or snowy surfaces. Therefore, you can drive on asphalt or slush according to the summer regulations, but on ice - with a winter tire tread depth of at least 4 mm.

Video tips for determining tire tread height without special tools

Many are misled by the terms "residual tread depth" and "no more", "no less". If they talk about depth, they say “no more”, and if they talk about tread height, they say “no less”. These sacred 4 mm apply to all types of vehicles with winter tires. But it is also important to remember that this restriction does not apply to winter tires with wear indicators, when the tire is considered unsuitable for use on public roads. The appearance of the indicator is equated to the presence of cuts, cracks, breakdowns, bundles of cord and hernias, in a word, it cannot be used, except instead of a spare wheel.

Spare parts are a different story. If the inspector convicted the driver of using a wheel with indicators that have appeared, but the remaining wheels are in order, then such an offender is given a day to restore the broken wheel. The same applies to the dokatok, on it you can get to the nearest tire service and repair the tire. There is no fine as such for the use of non-regulated rubber, but the inspector can easily draw up a protocol stating that the car does not comply with the technical regulations for wheeled vehicles and prohibit operation. Naturally, tires that do not meet the new requirements for the permissible tread depth of winter tires will not be able to pass the inspection. At the same time, tires with different tread patterns cannot be installed on the same axle, not to mention the sizes and types of cords. Dokatok, of course, does not apply.

We look at the tread, measure its depth

From January 1, 2015, we had to take a closer look at tires, including winter tires. For example, a used winter tire in autumn may have a perfectly acceptable minimum 4 mm tread height. But how long it will last and when critical wear occurs, one can only guess. And few people think that after the first winter season, even if the tread residue is normal, the grip properties of the tire deteriorate by 10-15%. Wear indicators are also installed not in order to increase the global tire turnover, but just for safety purposes. In addition, with each new season, the elasticity of winter tires deteriorates.

If we talk about the off-season, then the actual topics of aquaplaning and slashplaning pop up. Hydroplaning is a complete loss of contact with the road surface in the water, the wheel simply pops up at speed. Nokian conducted a series of tests and found that on tires with a tread depth of 1.6 mm and a water level of 4-5 mm, hydroplaning is already possible at 70-75 km/h. At the same time, the tread height of a new tire can keep the car from losing contact up to 95-100 km / h. Slashplanning is a similar phenomenon, only it occurs on slush during a thaw. In the event of tire tread wear (or speeding), loss of contact with the road on ordinary rubber can occur at 50-60 km / h, and on winter, corresponding to 4 mm depth, at a speed of 70-80 km / h. At the same time, the contact patch with the road will be only 17% of the contact on a new winter tire. Therefore, the remainder of 4 mm is not such a luxury.

There are several ways to measure tread depth:

1. Approximately. This is what most motorists do, not thinking about the fact that the height of the tread pattern in different places of the tire can be completely different and the visual assessment serves only to calm their conscience.
2. Coin. Not too accurate, but giving an idea of ​​the real wear of winter tires. The coin is inserted into several points of the tread pattern, from the top point it is pressed with a finger. After that, the resulting distance is measured. It is advisable to measure at several places along the width of the tire.
3. Caliper with depth gauge. Simple, reliable and accurate method. It is better to measure at 9-12 points along the diameter and at three points along the width.
4. Dedicated digital depth gauge.

Initially, a new summer tire can have a tread depth from 6 to 8 mm, and a winter tire from 8 to 11 mm. At the same time, a winter tire on asphalt wears out much faster than a summer one, since it has more slots and softer rubber, and the load on each block of the tread increases.

Experts say that with 50% wear on a summer tire, it is still quite serviceable, but a winter tire with the same percentage of wear is no longer good.

To calculate the real wear of a winter tire, it is enough to subtract the real indicator from the height of the new tread and multiply the result by 100. If you cannot find out the tread height of a new specific tire, you can take the average value:

• high-speed winter tires with a tread pattern similar to summer may initially have a height of within 7 mm;
• a classic winter tire will receive about 9 mm of pattern height;
• cross-country winter tires with the so-called Scandinavian pattern must have a height of at least 10-11 mm.

Putting winter tires on correctly

Of course, not everyone can afford to buy a new set of winter tires every season. Before you install last year's kit, you should pay attention to a number of important points, in addition to the tread height, of course:

• On slippery roads, even the most expensive summer tires do not hold the car as effectively and do not brake as effectively as the most inexpensive winter tires.
• If the tire storage rules have not been followed, or the rubber has been stored with the assembled rims, the wheels must be balanced before being installed.
• Before installing the winter kit, it is advisable to check the alignment, since in the summer a slight deviation from the norm is not as noticeable as on a slippery road.

• Since winter tires are more elastic, it is worth paying more attention to tire pressure and checking it more often.
• The spare wheel should, if possible, have the same tread pattern as the rest of the wheels.
• Regardless of the type of drive, the best pair of tires is installed on the front axle, since handling on slippery roads is very important.
• If you observe the seasonality of tires, alternate summer and winter tires in time, they will last 30-40% longer.

In addition, it is necessary to take into account the operating conditions of the car, however, this applies, rather, to the choice of new winter tires. The permissible tread depth of winter tires is just as important as the suitability of tires for the season, therefore, in fulfilling the requirements of technical regulations, we ourselves are worried about our own safety and the safety of our neighbors on the road.

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It is worth noting that the tread depth of summer tires is less than the same indicator on winter and all-season tires. This is due to the fact that in the cold season the wheels need additional grip with the road surface, respectively, the height of the pattern is determined by the operating conditions of the products.

The task of milestones, without exception, tires is the maximum grip with the road surface. In summer, the ambient temperature is high, so wheel manufacturers use hard rubber compounds. In summer, it does not wear out so much, and in the cold season it simply loses its properties, so changing tires in the autumn-winter period becomes necessary. Such a norm is even enshrined in legislation.

The second difference between summer wheels is their pattern, which does not have to be very embossed, but at the same time it makes it possible to avoid the effect of hydroplaning on wet pavement. In most cases, this effect can be avoided by using longitudinal stripes in the pattern. Along with fairly wide treads, there are practically no sipes here.


Along with such an indicator as the tread depth of new summer tires, it is also necessary to take into account the fact that the pattern itself can be classic symmetrical, directional and asymmetric. The first option is suitable for normal driving on almost any road surface. The second option is more suitable for driving on wet asphalt, as it helps to reduce the effect of aquaplaning. And the third option is ideal for high-speed driving.

The tread depth of new summer tires is usually around 6-8 mm, while some models may have a fairly large radius, such as SUVs. For such machines, the height sometimes reaches 17mm to ensure maximum grip even where there are absolutely no conditions for the normal movement of the vehicle.

By law, the permitted tread depth for summer tires is 1.6 mm. In general, this parameter has little effect on the adhesion of the tire to the road surface, but it is very important in order to maintain vehicle directional stability on wet pavement. That is why, in most cases, the height of the pattern below 2-3 mm no longer guarantees the safe movement of the car at high speeds in weather when there is a lot of precipitation.


Even if the tread is worn out by 50%, it will be possible to ride on tires designed for the hot season for a long time. But again, it all depends on the driving style and operating conditions of the car. It is worth noting that drivers have problems when they bring the wheels to a critical state. The liquid is poorly removed from the contact spot, and this entails a lot of unpleasant consequences.

Residual tread depth of summer tires

But how to evaluate that the residual tread depth of summer tires is already minimal for a particular car model? First of all, it is important to feel the car during the trip. If on wet asphalt, instead of smooth movement, a hard blow is felt, and driving becomes difficult, then you should think about buying new wheels.

When buying used tires, it is quite difficult to calculate the actual wear of the pattern. Usually sellers use a universal formula, where the rest of the height is divided by its original indicators. But the actual wear differs significantly from the results that can be obtained using this formula. Therefore, it is better to use other calculations.

In them, wear is determined by several quantities at once, including the height of the design of the new product, the actual height measured on two tires mounted on the same axle, the minimum allowable height. But all these calculations are related to the fact that the buyer wants to determine the actual tire wear, and not the seller's obligation to maintain these indicators in the normal range.

And if, nevertheless, the buyer wants to choose the best used tires with a normal degree of wear, he must have an idea of ​​\u200b\u200bhow to measure the height of the pattern. Height is measured at a minimum of 12 different points on the four sides of the wheel. Measurements are carried out with a special meter in the center of the slope and along its side parts.

You can buy tires after measurements when the tread height in the center is higher or the wear is the same across the entire width and on two wheels that will be installed on the same axle. In all other cases, when the pattern is erased unevenly around the circumference, only the upper part of the sidewall, different wear on a pair of wheels or uneven wear across the width of one wheel - in such cases, you should not buy used tires.

Your safety and the safety of those around you greatly depends on the condition of the tires that are installed on your vehicle. Therefore, it is very important to look after them and keep them in good condition.

If you comply rules for the operation of car tires, then your tires will serve you for a long time and reliably.

First, let's talk about tire care:

1 Check tire pressure

This is very important for the correct operation of tires. The fact is that too low or high tire pressure leads to uneven wear and overheating of the tire itself, which, as a rule, leads to irreversible changes in the structure of the tire and, as a result, its destruction.

The control should be carried out on a “cold” tire, since as a result of heating during operation, the pressure in it rises. The inflation pressure measured in a cold tire must be the recommended inflation pressure by the vehicle or tire manufacturer.

It is indicated in the car's operating instructions, and is also often duplicated on the back of the car's gas tank flap or on the rack (usually near the lock lug) of the left (driver's) door.

Attention!

Do not adjust the pressure on a "hot" tire! Pressure adjustment should be done only on a “cold” tire, because when driving, the tire heats up and the pressure in it increases.

2 It is necessary to monitor the external condition of the tire

The valve must have a cap that protects the nipple from dirt and dust. Make sure that there are no deep cuts, cracks (indicating the age of the tire), bubbles (hernias), protruding threads and metal wire of the cord structure on the tread and on the sidewall of the tire. And you also need to ensure that there are no foreign objects on the tread surface, nails, sharp metal fragments, etc., the departure of which can lead to a sharp drop in tire pressure and, as a result, a sharp deterioration in vehicle handling.

Attention!

A tire with protruding parts of the tire structure with threads or wires, deep cuts and cracks, bubbles NOT SUITABLE for operation! The use of such tires often leads to an accident caused by the destruction of the tire on the go (sudden loss of pressure). This is especially dangerous at high speed!

3 Check tire wear

Tires with excessive wear are prone to punctures. The risk of aquaplaning (loss of control of the car, if it gets into a puddle) is greatly increased. water drainage grooves, in the process of tire wear, become less deep.

According to the traffic rules of the Russian Federation (SDA clause 5.1.)
It is prohibited to operate vehicles if:

If passenger car tires have a residual tread depth of less than 1.6 mm, trucks - 1 mm, buses - 2 mm, motorcycles and mopeds - 0.8 mm.

4 A few words about the operation of car tires

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