Dicky Posted June 6, 2015 Share Posted June 6, 2015 Had two new Bridgestone tyres fitted yesterday and ran about 10 miles home on them. Measured their tread depth this morning and noticed the inboard depth is 7mm middle is 8mm and the outside is 6mm. The garage had inflated the tyres to around 31psi which I corrected to 35 psi when I got home. My understanding is that new tyres are 8mm tread depth. What do you think? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dicky Posted June 6, 2015 Author Share Posted June 6, 2015 A little update:- Just been out to check them again and noticed that both tyres still have the red and blue dye lines on the trade and those little rubber nodules you get on new tyres are still very evident. Rang National Tyres who confirmed tread depth should be 8mm Can't understand it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ilogikal1 Posted June 6, 2015 Share Posted June 6, 2015 Could be a dodgy production batch. If Nat. Tyres have confirmed the depth is wrong, take it back and get them to stick a new set on. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ekona Posted June 6, 2015 Share Posted June 6, 2015 I've never measured a set of new tyres, so no idea if that's common or not. If they look new, I wouldn't be worried about differences like that. Not all new tyres are 8mm. I wouldn't be surprised if this was standard for your tyres (what are they btw?). 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dicky Posted June 6, 2015 Author Share Posted June 6, 2015 The tyres are Bridgestone REO 50A and I got the them from someone other than National Tyres. However I rang NT to check the new tread depth before I challenged the supplier and they confirmed they should be 8mm when new. I agree with Mr ilogikal 1(who by the way has been extremely helpful with my detailing woes) that they may come from a dodgy batch. As for not worying about 2 mm, it's as important to me as loosing 2mm off my old man (apologies if ladies present) You realise that Geordies just live a few miles away from the Scots and like them we take care of the pennies. So 2mm represents a 1/4 ie £60 of the price of two new tyre and probably a couple of years running on a front tyre wear rate (the frequency and way I drive) so I considder it a big deal. I WANT MY RUBBER BACK! Rang the supplier and I've to take the car back Monday so we'll see what happens then but it would be nice to know a definite quoted depth just in case it develops into a slanging match. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ekona Posted June 6, 2015 Share Posted June 6, 2015 I'm not convinced NT would know what depth 050As should be from new. Only Bridgestone themselves would know, get the info from them as well 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roadtrip Posted June 6, 2015 Share Posted June 6, 2015 I've noticed that the RE050A have shallower grooves on the edges, on my worn tyres it's very noticeable. I've always thought it odd because I believe legal tread depth is measured across the centre three quarters and these shallower grooves are potentially within that. Whether you choose to change your tyres at 1.6, 2 or 3mm your edges are always 1mm less. I've never noticed this with other tyres and I do wonder if it's a scam to get people to buy new tyres sooner. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ekona Posted June 6, 2015 Share Posted June 6, 2015 Which grooves do you mean? Do you mean the 4th 'main' groove from the left? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roadtrip Posted June 6, 2015 Share Posted June 6, 2015 All the lateral grooves on both shoulders are shallow but the shallowest ones I've noticed are the inner (left) most radial groove and also the inner most half inch of the lateral grooves on the outer (right) shoulder. Once those have disappeared completely the tread depth on the wider deeper radial grooves near the middle still measure okay. To me it just seems to make determining what's legal more confusing than it needs to be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ekona Posted June 6, 2015 Share Posted June 6, 2015 None of the lateral grooves count at all, only the radial ones. Some MPSS users have said that grip drops off massively once those lateral grooves are gone, but I've yet to notice that myself nor see more than a handful of people complain, so I'm not convinced it's a huge issue. Certainly I had no issues with the 050A I ran on the 911, front or back. It's very easy to work out the legal section on a given tyre, but there's no real need to as the wear indicators are there to stop any querying over the exact measurement of the 3/4. As long as you're not below them, you're fine. I always change my tyres on 3mm, incidentally. Well, excluding 888s as they only come with that in the first place! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roadtrip Posted June 6, 2015 Share Posted June 6, 2015 Interesting, so it's just the radial grooves with wear indicators that count. Makes sense but I wasn't aware of that, hopefully the police are! So the disappearing inner radial on the RE050A doesn't matter then because it doesn't have wear indicators? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ekona Posted June 6, 2015 Share Posted June 6, 2015 I believe so, yes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glrnet Posted June 6, 2015 Share Posted June 6, 2015 I found this, it suggests 8mm tread depth:- http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Article/2011-Autoreview-Max-Performance-Summer-Tyre-Test.htm 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ekona Posted June 6, 2015 Share Posted June 6, 2015 Doesn't tell you if that was an average, identical across the entire tyre and all four, or even if that's OEM spec though. I'd still go direct to manufacturer to confirm, makes your case even stronger then Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dicky Posted June 6, 2015 Author Share Posted June 6, 2015 Which grooves do you mean? Do you mean the 4th 'main' groove from the left? Yep, or in other words the extreme RHS groove is 6mm. Why do I feel your going to suprise me! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dicky Posted June 6, 2015 Author Share Posted June 6, 2015 (edited) I found this, it suggests 8mm tread depth:- http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Article/2011-Autoreview-Max-Performance-Summer-Tyre-Test.htm Well there you go! But I will call Bridgestone UK on Monday to see what they have to say. Tyres are expensive enough without nicking a bit of my rubber, but then again if the treads are different depths it may have something to do with water removal rates. Who knows? But I'm gona be so much more intelligent on Monday! Edited June 6, 2015 by Dicky Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glrnet Posted June 6, 2015 Share Posted June 6, 2015 Doesn't tell you if that was an average, identical across the entire tyre and all four, or even if that's OEM spec though. I'd still go direct to manufacturer to confirm, makes your case even stronger then So would I but I'd bit pi**ed off if that's an average. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dicky Posted June 6, 2015 Author Share Posted June 6, 2015 Having thought a little around this problem I'm getting more convinced it's a conspiracy. Let's face it, who checks tread depth on new tyres. So if say they sell 1 million tyres a year then that's (phi x D)x2mm depth x say 2mm thickness = a lot of rubber x 10 to the power of 6 = even more rubber. So in a year they've pinched enough spare rubber to make at least 10 million rubber bands which is enough for North Koria to make 500 propeller driven cruise missiles to attack the Western Powers. Sorry I'm getting carried away cos I've just drank two bottles of Merlot and seem to have developed verbal diarrhoea!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ekona Posted June 6, 2015 Share Posted June 6, 2015 Yep, or in other words the extreme RHS groove is 6mm. Why do I feel your going to suprise me! In that case IIRC that radial groove does not have any wear markers, so does not need to be counted and I would expect it to be less as part of the design of the tyre. Tell you what though, this thread has taught me that there are people more anal about tyres than me out there! 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dicky Posted June 7, 2015 Author Share Posted June 7, 2015 Now that I've sobered up I've been searching the net from top to bottom and can't find any info/specification on Bridgestone tyres relating to the tread pattern or depth. I would have thought this info would be quite important to buyers. I've never measured my new tyres before and am only doing it now to keep an eye on the tracking which has been check as ok but appears to me to be still out. I was going to measure them every so often to try and detect when and if they begin to wear unevenly (I don't have a lot of confidence in these garages who have the right equipment but don't seem to know how to use it correctly) As I said earlier they have the tyre markings you'd expect to see on new tyres and those little rubber hair remnants still visible so they have to be new, so it would appear the tread depth measurements must be standard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glrnet Posted June 7, 2015 Share Posted June 7, 2015 Yep, or in other words the extreme RHS groove is 6mm. Why do I feel your going to suprise me! In that case IIRC that radial groove does not have any wear markers, so does not need to be counted and I would expect it to be less as part of the design of the tyre. Tell you what though, this thread has taught me that there are people more anal about tyres than me out there! I've raised a "ticket" on their website Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ekona Posted June 7, 2015 Share Posted June 7, 2015 (edited) Dicky, the sun is blazing hot outside, it's a Sunday, go and find something else to do instead of worrying about the odd mm on tyres Edited June 7, 2015 by Ekona Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glrnet Posted June 7, 2015 Share Posted June 7, 2015 Ha, been outside since before 0900, filed the ticket last night. Garden and pond maintenance complete, conservatory roof and windows cleaned, brembos getting lacquered, beer oclock now, bbq time soon, and relax!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dicky Posted June 7, 2015 Author Share Posted June 7, 2015 (edited) Dicky, the sun is blazing hot outside, it's a Sunday, go and find something else to do instead of worrying about the odd mm on tyres You've obviously got lots more money than me! Anyway when you get to my age the only pleasures your left with I life is A. To moan a lot B. To drink a lot C. Write letters of complaint D. Pee the wife off with all of the above Don't worry you've got it all to look forward to ha ha Edited June 7, 2015 by Dicky 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ekona Posted June 7, 2015 Share Posted June 7, 2015 Can't wait! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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