Need Opinion on Condition of Used Snow Tires I Bought

[pinmagic]

BIMMERPOST / Classifieds

Asking Price:

None

Item Interest

Looking for your opinion on the condition of some used snow tires I just bought as part of a winter setup (mounted on 17” rims, with TPMS). I purchased them from out of state, sight unseen.

The seller said the tires were used only 2,000 miles. I didn’t ask the actual tread depth (yes, I should have), but I asked if they reasonably had tread left for 2 full winter seasons, and he assured me that they did, no problem.

The tires arrived, and they’re evenly worn (a good thing). The remaining tread depth is 8/32. I’m no expert on tires, let alone snows, so I’m wondering if that’s aligned with the description. At first I thought not, but maybe it is.


BTW: the seller seems like a nice, and he’s a professional, so I’m not making accusations here - I just don’t have enough info to know if I got what I bargained for.

Can anyone help me here? Thanks!

[GotM]

The information below is from TireRack. You didnt mention what tires these are, but I am sure if you do a google search you can find what the original depth started.

From TireRack:
Average new tires used on cars typically start with 10/32' to 11/32' of original tread depth. Dedicated winter / snow tires and light truck tires typically are deeper (for light truck tires, how much deeper depends on the tire's tread type…Highway Rib, Highway All Season, Off Road All Terrain or Off Road Maximum Traction).

[pinmagic]

Thanks. They're Dunlop SP Winter Sport M3. Anyone got info for me???

[JDUni1]

Originally Posted by pinmagic

Thanks. They're Dunlop SP Winter Sport M3. Anyone got info for me???

According to TireRack these tires should have a tread depth of 11/32".

[Dackelone]

8/32 = 6.35mm (sorry I'm a metric guy!)

New tires normally have 8mm or 9mm of thread.

Here in Germany... you need at leat 4mm for snow tires to be effective (although I think 1.2mm is the legal min depth!). Most Germans buy new tires when they get down to 4mm of depth.

Also... you should look at the sidewall of your tires and decode the build date. It goes by production week and build year. Look on TireRack's website for info how to do that.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete....jsp?techid=11

basically you don't want to ue tires older than FIVE years old. The reason is because as the rubber ages it ges harder. You want soft rubber for snow and ice driving.

[Artmasterx]

8/32" seems a bit more worn that 2000 miles should do, especially for a performance winter tire, so maybe a bit of embellishment there. They should work fine right now though. I would think you would get at least 10k miles before the tire is half worn, implying 2000 miles should be ~1/32" of wear (but I haven't had these specific tires).

I agree with the above post that snow tires start to not work so well in the snow when tread depth drops below 6-ish/32". The sipes become less effective and snow/slush performance probably starts to suffer. Of course, in dry weather they may actually be more responsive though when they start to wear down.