Safe Tread Depth for Snow and Winter??

This question is for 2nd gen Tacoma owners who live in cold weather areas dealing with seasonal snow, and who have already upgraded their tires from stock. At what tread depth do you feel you need to replace the tires again?

My tires are uniformly between 4/32"s to 5/32"s, at only 37 months on Michelin MS/2's and about 40000-45000 miles, never spun or never braked w/ sliding or never drifted. These still felt reasonable safe in the rain at highway speed limits. At the specified PSI and with an aligned unmodified suspension, the Tacoma basically doesn't feel safe in light snow or on damp salt coated highway roads. The gas pedal feels like its a constant hair trigger at all times to break loose the rear end in even light snow. Does everyone's Tacoma feel very very sensitive to driver inputs when the tires are at this approximate depth?

I'm just curious and asking in a new thread I see lots of other Tacomas and trucks and SUVs in the area with what looks like the same or even less tread depth - are these people just fine with 'not knowing' they are not safe on winter roads?

And this doesn't even get into that dreaded 'ABS causes unwanted sliding in the snow' realm, yet (I haven't experienced that since ditching those dangerous rugged fails).

 

Driving in the snow with that little amount of tread is irresponsible. Just because there are other people driving around with practically bald tires, doesn't mean you should be an idiot too. You have gotten your moneys worth out of those tires. Buy new tires and be safer than the other guy.

 

I have 25% tread left or so and buying new tires ASAP

 

get some Hankook Dynapro ATM's or General Grabber AT2's theyre both really good in snow.

 

In Canada, our laws require at minimum a M+S tire, or a snowflake tire with a minimum of 3mm of tread. (4/32 ish)

So if I were you I would replace your tires the minute you feel they are slipping and sliding in snow, no matter the tread depth left.

 

Tread depth is not the only key to traction, in any conditions.

Compound type for the condition, and the age of the tire, are pretty important too.

Your tires are over 3 yrs old (look at their date stamp). Compound begins a significant decline after 2 years.

 

I definitely felt the declined performance last winter, but it was still safe and manageable. Well aware of the effects of UV exposure on the compound - my truck needs to sit on blacktop every day, unfortunately without any shade coverage.

So the lesson here is 4/32"s to 5/32"s, at 24+ months is 'solid-yellow' in the rain and dry weather, but its really a 'yellow-red' in terms of snow safety, and time to replace.

Those reviews where people are getting 60000 miles are pretty useless and meaningless then -

Getting some new tires...

 

If you’re looking for some good quality A/T tires I found pretty good deal. I actually just yesterday bought a set of Cooper ST Maxx from https://tirecrawler.com/ for only $689 total. All the reviews i read said they were good in snow/mud, as well as highway travel. I’d been looking at these tires for a while now but they were always nearly $900.

 

I've never gone into winter with 1/4" or less.

 

I'd say the answer is a bit more complex than the question. For instance, even at full tread depth, most Summer or High Performance tires are utterly useless in the snow. For All Season tires, generally speaking, anything less than 1/3 tread depth is seriously going to impair your ability to drive safely in the snow. For Mud & Snow or true Ice & Snow tires, I wouldn't go with anything less than 1/4 tread depth. And if you're on ice or deep snow, nothing less than 1/2 tread depth is probably more reasonable. That said, I've driven customer cars that had brand new tires on them that were downright scary in the snow or even rain. I've also driven cars with Blizzaks at less than 1/3 tread depth that were utterly amazing on hard pack and ice.

 

Winter tires for actual snow/ice winters.

All season for the rest of the year.

4wd and right tires make a vehicle go in foul stuff.

Tires are all that give the grip for steering and stopping.

 

Thanks for the responses.

 

I love my Falken AT3Ws, they are wearing well and do well in the snow.

 

It looks like those tires have 12/32 tread depth when new. Generally, the first half of the tread is the part you want for effectiveness. Personally, for winter driving, I would either replace them or mount a set of snow tires and put the MS/2s back on in the spring.

 

I always run high traction tires. I still won't go into winter with less than 1/4" of tread. Those become summer tires and the old, nearly bald, tires go on Craigslist. There's always someone out there trying to save money on tires.

 

1- Bridgestone Dueler AT Revo 2

2- Sandbags

 

Wow, that doesn't sound like you got good life out of them.

I have that exact tire on the FJ Anthracite wheels and I have over 80k on them and they measured 5/32" a few days ago and this is over 3 1/2yrs of use.

Had them on my 1st Gen and now for 467 miles on the 2nd Gen.

I am seriously considering buying another set.

 

All this talk and no one has mentioned tire siping. @mbrogz3000 since you mention Michelin tires I'm assuming you have a street tire looking like the following. Tire siping will help a lot with grip in all conditions. Most tire manufacturers dont make this siping go past certain depth because it weakens the tire lugs. If your tires are warn past this point and you can't see these stripes on the lugs I wouldn't run them on any day except a beautiful sunny day.

 

I just replaced my Cooper AT3's after 40,000 miles, they were at 4/32". I put on Cooper A/TW, these are "All Season" tires that are specifically designed for great winter capability (compound, siping, etc).

A canadian tire testing place found them to perform in the middle of the pack of all the dedicated "snow tires" they have tested, meaning these A/TWs performed better than about half the snow tires that had been tested. We had them on my wife's SUV the last several years and really like them in the winter, with no noticeable downside in the summer.

 

i have the ms2's with the same tread depth and dont feel comfortable at all, i just switched over to my snows but had one storm with them. Great tire when new and medium tread depth though. The truck is just so light. Last year, i bit the bullet and bought snows. In the end, it will work out because i always replaced tires before i should due to tread depth around winter. Now, i will ride my ms2's until they reach the indicators. I bet in the past i have given away 20-30,000 miles of tread depth.