# Throw tires out or Not



## Gottawireitup (Dec 15, 2018)

Just put my winters on for snowy Canada.
Have 4 Continental ContiPros for my VW Tiguan that I use in the summer. They were manufactured in 2014. I assume I may as well throw them out? A tire guy said one more season is fine (that was this season). So are they end of life now?


Here’s an example of the two worst tires that came off the front. 






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## Windows on Wash (Aug 30, 2011)

Pic near the wear bar? There isn't much left in them. You could put them back on for a bit, but at what cost and they are showing some dry rot.


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## carmusic (Oct 11, 2011)

you need at least 6/32 inch of thread, your looks like 3-4/32 max


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## 3onthetree (Dec 7, 2018)

Depth gauge + mileage
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=tread+depth+gauge&crid=2FX2J52XV8EBE&sprefix=tread+%2Caps%2C278&ref=nb_sb_ss_i_2_6


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## Oso954 (Jun 23, 2012)

Part of the decision of replacing older tires is how the vehicle is used. A car driven primarily around town can risk older tires more than one that is driven at highway speeds. Catastrophic tire failure at highway speeds often results in rollover accidents.

Recommendations vary depending on the car and tire mfgs, but most say at 5-6 years, regardless of tread wear.

Here is the info from a NTSB symposium on tire life.
https://www.ntsb.gov/news/events/Documents/2014_Tire_Safety_SYM_Panel_4b_Kane.pdf


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## Bigplanz (Apr 10, 2009)

You have a lot of life left on it. Here is a Kentucky snow tire.


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## SPS-1 (Oct 21, 2008)

Gottawireitup said:


> A tire guy said one more season is fine (that was this season).


So if some stranger on an internet chat room says your tires are fine, you are good with that ?

To me, they look good for a couple more years, and my mommy says I am very smart.


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## ukrkoz (Dec 31, 2010)

SPS-1 said:


> So if some stranger on an internet chat room says your tires are fine, you are good with that ?
> 
> To me, they look good for a couple more years, and my mommy says I am very smart.



You have smart mom. I second her opinion. None wrong with those tires except crappy picture not really telling anything useful.


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## Nealtw (Jun 22, 2017)

I would want to see the ware bars on the tires. That is where the tread will look the worst.


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## huesmann (Aug 18, 2011)

Bigplanz said:


> You have a lot of life left on it. Here is a Kentucky snow tire.


That's actually not as bad as you might think. At least it has one of the two things you want in a snow tire—narrow. Who needs tread?


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## 3onthetree (Dec 7, 2018)

Since these are all seasons I believe they should be min 5/32, so check that. Just my opinion and experience, but Conti's in general on most OEMs are hit and miss. There are some better tires out there, and no better time to start shopping than when they are off. Check out TireRack for thousands of other opinions beyond mine.


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## Mystriss (Dec 26, 2018)

I can tell ya they don't have enough tread to put studs in. Last year we had to buy brand new tires for the kids truck because the summer tires were too worn out - and they had more tread than that for sure.


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## Bud9051 (Nov 11, 2015)

Maybe I'm too conservative but I have driven and still drive in a lot of snow and all season tires are marginal to start with. Snow tires are much better and studded is tops.

Best approach is 4 extra rims and mount your winter tires on them. Then each seasonal switch is simple. And when you sell the vehicle you can get some extra fro the spare wheels.

Bud


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## Mystriss (Dec 26, 2018)

Having your winters on a set of rims is better for the life of the studs too cause you can wait till the very last minute to put them on - less wear on the studs and the roads as well. We still don't have our studs on our cars yet (it's been a really dry year, someone stole our typical rain bringing air currents.)

I like triple row studs and 4WD myself, I find it handles the black ice we get up here a lot better.


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## ukrkoz (Dec 31, 2010)

What y'all talking about? Here's what OP said:


_*Just put my winters on *for snowy Canada._

He is asking, what to do with tires in the picture - throw them away or still use summer time? He has winter tires on right now.


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## Mystriss (Dec 26, 2018)

@ukrkoz yeah, there's just a bit of back and forth side-convo going on. I think it's a good thing because then folks working on something will get a heads up on things they might not have thought of; like maybe someone asks how to run a garbage disposal switch and the side convo stuff is "oh that outlet needs to be a GFCI" or whatever.


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## JBoot (Jan 15, 2019)

All season (3 season) tires are great in the winter...in Florida!:surprise:


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## Gottawireitup (Dec 15, 2018)

Glad I started a great debate at the least . I guess aside from recommendations made by the auto industry it comes down to personal choice and experience. 

In the end I put the Michelin’s x ices on (almost brand new) and threw the contipros out. The photo actually showed the better two of the 4 tires. I would have to guess the worse two tires were 3’32. Yes maybe fine in Kentucky  or fine for around town but in the summer I do a lot of highway driving at high speeds in hot weather. Nice to have peace of mind of new tires as blow outs can be nasty at 130kms an hour. Also peace of mind in the rain. 

Thanks y’all 


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## polarzak (Dec 1, 2008)

Gottawireitup said:


> Glad I started a great debate at the least . I guess aside from recommendations made by the auto industry it comes down to personal choice and experience.
> 
> In the end I put the Michelin’s x ices on (almost brand new) and threw the contipros out. The photo actually showed the better two of the 4 tires. I would have to guess the worse two tires were 3’32. Yes maybe fine in Kentucky  or fine for around town but in the summer I do a lot of highway driving at high speeds in hot weather. Nice to have peace of mind of new tires as blow outs can be nasty at 130kms an hour. Also peace of mind in the rain.
> 
> ...



You should have checked with the boys up in Innisfil or Keswick. You might have gotten a six pack of Canadian for those tires.


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## lenaitch (Feb 10, 2014)

polarzak said:


> You should have checked with the boys up in Innisfil or Keswick. You might have gotten a six pack of Canadian for those tires.



Nah - they're considered fine winter tires in downtown Toronto.


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