Worn out winter tyres with 4.5 mm?

[nielshm]

I just changed to summer tyres. Pulling of my winter tyres was a surprise. The tread is 4.5 mm. in the center, but the fine cuts starts to be worn out. 

New tread is usually 8 mm., but my tyres with 4.5 mm. wont last another season, unless I just to drive on solid blocks with only little grip. 

Is that normal, or is Bridgestone something that I has to avoid in the future? 

[FROSTYBALLS]

Note that some car tyres come with 7mm when new as opposed to 8mm - including some Michelin and Continental.

[TonyHSD]

Lol my winter Nexen’s looks similar but I have them since 2018 and covered over 60k miles ever since, 4 winters and my plans are for one more season. How many miles have you done on yours? 

[nielshm]

35 minutes ago, TonyHSD said:

Lol my winter Nexen’s looks similar but I have them since 2018 and covered over 60k miles ever since, 4 winters and my plans are for one more season. How many miles have you done on yours? 

They have done 3 winters, something like 12 months in total. Around 25-30.000 km in total. 

Todays temperature is 12 C degrees, and the rubber feels very hard and unflexible. 

[Cyker]

I think winter tyres tend to wear out faster in more temperate climates - They're designed for sub-7C and the delicate tread detail like the sipes degrade quickly as the temperature rises.

You also can't run them down as far as you can with summers - Summer tyres actually get better dry grip the more you run them down so you can get away with running them to say 2mm (I normally change at 3mm tho' as 2mm summers in the rain is just asking for trouble!)

Bridgestone aren't that well known for their winter tyre performance - Nokian and Continental seem to get the most consistent high-ratings for proper winter tyres.

[Red_Corolla]

A few years ago, I had a BMW with Bridgestone summer tyres fitted from factory. They did the same thing as yours - the outer shoulder wore out faster than the rest of the tyre. But only on the front ones. Correct pressures.

[TonyHSD]

Bought mine 9/11/2018 the car was at 80k miles I run them until middle March each year ever since , they should have covered at least 60000 miles as now I have 203k, here pictures taken an hour ago and how they look at the moment, can’t measure but 4-5mm perhaps. They are still soft and very quiet, actually the quietest tyres of all that I ever had. Grip is excellent but we had no snow this year, last year they were great. I am really happy with them, when bought not many reviews but definitely 5 star from me.  👍Maybe depends how and where the car is driven, I do mostly motorways with some town driving and a bit of country lanes all within speed limit 👌 
If the rubber has become hard perhaps means they had been cooked(overheated) or aged and will not be as good as when new. I think you can do another season though.

[Catlover]

Could they have been under inflated?  Are tyre pressures the same as summer tyres?

[Cyker]

It's probably a similar thing to my Mk1 D4D - I had major issues with excess shoulder wear on the front tyres of that, and was running stock recommended pressures.

On top of that the tyres had that saggy look to them, so on a whim (And a quest for ever higher MPG!) I added 7 PSI to bring it to 39PSI and that fixed both the saggy look and the shoulder wear, making it wear much more evenly!

I do think that the stock PSIs aren't always right - The D4D was much heavier at the front than the petrol ones, but they all had the same recommended PSI and that can't be right...

I had to keep topping it up too, as every service the dealer would drop them back to 32PSI even tho' I told them not to, and also had to argue with the tyre fitters as they were very reluctant to inflate them so high and I'd end up doing it myself in their car park  

 

[nielshm]

58 minutes ago, TonyHSD said:

Bought mine 9/11/2018 the car was at 80k miles I run them until middle March each year ever since , they should have covered at least 60000 miles as now I have 203k, here pictures taken an hour ago and how they look at the moment, can’t measure but 4-5mm perhaps. They are still soft and very quiet, actually the quietest tyres of all that I ever had. Grip is excellent but we had no snow this year, last year they were great. I am really happy with them, when bought not many reviews but definitely 5 star from me.  👍Maybe depends how and where the car is driven, I do mostly motorways with some town driving and a bit of country lanes all within speed limit 👌 
If the rubber has become hard perhaps means they had been cooked(overheated) or aged and will not be as good as when new. I think you can do another season though.

They are so much different to my tyres. Our tread depth are the same, but your tread is still fully intact, with out spots beeing worn out. 

It's like my tread has'nt been cut deep enough, except for the large blocks. 

[TonyHSD]

10 minutes ago, nielshm said:

They are so much different to my tyres. Our tread depth are the same, but your tread is still fully intact, with out spots beeing worn out. 

It's like my tread has'nt been cut deep enough, except for the large blocks. 

I got you, I can see that on your picture. Perhaps it’s the design of the tyre , on some make and models the cuts are only half way, not to the end and when worn out a bit they stop being grabby on ice and snow, becomes like mud and gravel tyres. 

[TonyHSD]

Well, today was the day for me and I decided to swap winter with summer tyres , give the car a good car wash and spend some time around. All good until I took the first wheel off the car and shocking discovery was made : large cracks on inside tyre wall, uneven tyre wear on inner side. Both FL, RL  and FR are mostly affected, RR was in best condition with only one small visible crack. Only 4 years old and 60k miles, perhaps that’s how much they can only last or what can actually cause that? -  low pressure, suspension faults, or perhaps it’s just the tyres themselves. Never experienced anything like that before. Btw MOT was  done recently without any warnings, and I do checks and service regularly, every 3 months. Suspension all checked and it’s a rock solid. Apart from that problem these tyres has been excellent. 🤐

[twintopp]

only had bridgestones once, 20+k on front so wear was great but didn`t give much feedback through the steering wheel. 

[Spo2]

2 hours ago, TonyHSD said:

Well, today was the day for me and I decided to swap winter with summer tyres , give the car a good car wash and spend some time around. All good until I took the first wheel off the car and shocking discovery was made : large cracks on inside tyre wall, uneven tyre wear on inner side. Both FL, RL  and FR are mostly affected, RR was in best condition with only one small visible crack. Only 4 years old and 60k miles, perhaps that’s how much they can only last or what can actually cause that? -  low pressure, suspension faults, or perhaps it’s just the tyres themselves. Never experienced anything like that before. Btw MOT was  done recently without any warnings, and I do checks and service regularly, every 3 months. Suspension all checked and it’s a rock solid. Apart from that problem these tyres has been excellent. 🤐

I suspect wheel/steering alignment. 60k miles is very impressive. How much you want them to last?!

[TonyHSD]

14 hours ago, Spo2 said:

I suspect wheel/steering alignment. 60k miles is very impressive. How much you want them to last?!

I was hoping for another season 20k miles, but there we go., still they had served me well 👌. Salt, large potholes and low profile tyres doesn’t match imo and this is the example. Suspension wise everything looks solid but I will do some tests soon and take the car for a annual wheels alignment. 👍 I got these Goodyear’s done 40k miles and will see how far they can go. 😉

[AisinW]

Don't be fooled by tires company who push you changing tires too early.  Just use it till 2mm or close to legal limit 1.6mm.   Michelin is the only company who suggest to use tires till the end. The performance drop is very gradual and driver knows the characteristics of the car. Not out of sudden 1 or 3 m longer stop like in the propaganda.  Just use it, be relax. It still stop just fine even in snowy weather that is very rare in UK.

The most important  thing is we know how our cars handle the stoping in any weather. Honestly, tires are at their best performance at their 50-80% of their usable life or about 6-4 mm tread. Less noise. There is a clear reason why all government still use 1.6mm as the limit.  It just works and safe enough.  

[TonyHSD]

These Goodyear’s are significantly  noisier than the winter nexens, and so much different feel of the car in general, probably need a day or two to get use to them. 

[Kental]

43 minutes ago, TonyHSD said:

These Goodyear’s are significantly  noisier than the winter nexens, and so much different feel of the car in general, probably need a day or two to get use to them. 

Sorry for not keeping up, are the summers or winters the lower profile tyres 

[TonyHSD]

9 minutes ago, Kental said:

Sorry for not keeping up, are the summers or winters the lower profile tyres 

The winter Nexen in my case are on the original wheels and they are lower profile 215/45 17 

vs

Summer Goodyear are on a new smaller  wheels size 205/55 16 

👍