After looking at a graph on the 3mm tread campaign

In regard to stopping distances on part worn tyres, I decided to convert the findings into a percentage observation. In that what was the stopping distance increase from new tyres with 8mm, to tyres with 5mm, 3mm, and the 1.6mm legal minimum requirement.

And it comes out thus in [standing water by the looks]:

New to 5mm = 9.8% longer stopping distance

New to 3.mm = 22.5% longer stopping distance

New to 1.6.mm = 52.5% longer stopping distance

Quite startling when you look at it that way, come 1.6mm

Now going back to the graph on that page, breaking efficiency certainly drops away big style once it goes the wrong side of 3mm.

I'm not saying 3mm should be the legal requirement, I just thought it worth starting a thread to find out if the 1.6mm legal requirement dictates forum members tyre buying activities?

You may be interested to know your taxes go towards changing the tyres on Ministerial, and police cars at 3mm.

And once again another independent summer tyre test where Goodyear OptiGrip come second overall, but best in aquaplaning tests;

"The Goodyear Opti Grip follows the test winner Bridgestone Turanza ER 300 just seven points behind. Extremely strong during the aquaplaning tests"

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Well that poll went down well, I wonder what response I'd get to a poll on "Should I Pimp My Car Up To Look Like A Pair Of Hookers Knickers"

i replace my tyres usually before they hit the legal limit, this year my fronts where 2mm but rears where closer to 3mm, most cars these days can stop well before the highway code says they should anyway, and i know its not really ideal for the cars stopping distance to increase by over 50% when your on the legal limit, but likewise its not really practical to replace them everytime they run down to 3mm, and how often to we all have to make an emergancy stop in those ideal testing conditions? alot depends on road surface, driver reaction times, ABS, weight of the car, even the types of tyre.

however having said all that, 2mm is the lowest i would ever want to run my tyres down to

i replace my tyres usually before they hit the legal limit, this year my fronts where 2mm but rears where closer to 3mm, most cars these days can stop well before the highway code says they should anyway, and i know its not really ideal for the cars stopping distance to increase by over 50% when your on the legal limit, but likewise its not really practical to replace them everytime they run down to 3mm, and how often to we all have to make an emergancy stop in those ideal testing conditions? alot depends on road surface, driver reaction times, ABS, weight of the car, even the types of tyre.

however having said all that, 2mm is the lowest i would ever want to run my tyres down to

its a hard one as it depends on the road surface conditions weight in the car etc etc etc i personally have driven on almost bald tyres once taking a car to the scrappy for a mate and i have to say when an old biddy pulled out on me it stopped perfectly fine the make of tyre can effect it as well some tyres dont grip well these new michellin energy savers for example have less rolling resistance so in my mind that means they arent making as good contact with the road so for me 2mm is when ill change mine 50 percent extra i cant say i believe as ive been to 1.6mm on both fronts without abs and stoipped just as soon as i would with new tyres these tests im sure are set upo to make companies moiney increase the limit to 3mm wit hsome scare tactics and shock tests and the government panics who benefits not you or me the tyre cpompanies remember top gear tested breaking distances as sstated in the highway code and found them to be wrong they are based on 1970s technology and not todays

its a hard one as it depends on the road surface conditions weight in the car etc etc etc i personally have driven on almost bald tyres once taking a car to the scrappy for a mate and i have to say when an old biddy pulled out on me it stopped perfectly fine the make of tyre can effect it as well some tyres dont grip well these new michellin energy savers for example have less rolling resistance so in my mind that means they arent making as good contact with the road so for me 2mm is when ill change mine 50 percent extra i cant say i believe as ive been to 1.6mm on both fronts without abs and stoipped just as soon as i would with new tyres these tests im sure are set upo to make companies moiney increase the limit to 3mm wit hsome scare tactics and shock tests and the government panics who benefits not you or me the tyre cpompanies remember top gear tested breaking distances as sstated in the highway code and found them to be wrong they are based on 1970s technology and not todays

Yes whilst I would like to change mine at 3mmm, in reality I will change them at 2mm. Which I think is that tread depth marker you see built into most tyre's these days. Besides I'm in a 1.6 Zetec and even though I like to put it through it's paces [i think it is of benefit to the engine] when conditions permit, I don't drive like an idiot.

I normally replace my tyres well before they reach the legal minimum. I find that after a fair mileage, they tend to go off anyway so I replace them regardless.

I had Khumo Ecsta Sports on a modded Calibra. New they had 10mm tread on them. I covered about 12k on them before I changed them. They still had about 4mm-5mm tread left but they weren't gripping as well as they used to.