When is an off-road tire worn out?

[swooshdave]

Traditionally car tires are worn when there are 1/16 left. That's obviously not practical for an off road tire. So is there a standard for off road tires or is it more a matter of when you feel there isn't enough tread left to be effective?

Edited to say these have almost 30k miles on them.

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[Pilsner]

Depends on the tire and how you drive. They will work ok on rocks longer than in mud. I don't usually hit the wear bars before I replace. 1/8" is probably at or past the point of replacement for me.

 

[Roach011]

I look for the overall health of the tire. Do you have any thin spots on the sidewalls? Big scrapes or dings? Are the treadblocks starting to crack or fall apart? Are you having traction issues either on or off-road? How many times have you had to repair a tire from a nail/rock

 

[swooshdave]

I look for the overall health of the tire. Do you have any thin spots on the sidewalls? Big scrapes or dings? Are the treadblocks starting to crack or fall apart? Are you having traction issues either on or off-road? How many times have you had to repair a tire from a nail/rock

Tread blocks are starting to fail. The tire on the back (spare) has three plugs and there might be more holes. The front right has one plug.

Sidewalls are good.

Mostly gravel when off road, ranging from fine to bigger chunks. Will start to see snow when offroading in a couple months.

 

[swooshdave]

Depends on the tire and how you drive. They will work ok on rocks longer than in mud. I don't usually hit the wear bars before I replace. 1/8" is probably at or past the point of replacement for me.

I'd be afraid on going off road down to 1/8. Lugs won't be able to protect the rubber between the lugs where I've gotten all of the holes.

 

[Roach011]

Tread blocks are starting to fail. The tire on the back has three plugs and there might be more holes. The front right has one plug.

Sidewalls are good.

Mostly gravel when off road, ranging from fine to bigger chunks. Will start to see snow when offroading in a couple months.

For me, with winter coming, I'd replace.

 

[Baja Bronco]

Great question / topic! For me, I try to get 5 Baja runs on my tires. Every trip the mileage varies, but always around 1500 off road miles, and around 750 on road miles. I see the knobs starting to chunk and split. The sidewalls are always in great shape, but the knobs do take a beating, which is to be expected off road. For reference, I run Toyo RTs, 37x12.50x17.

 

[Snacktime]

When they have structural damage to the carcass or run out of thread. Worn in tires are the best, right around 3/4 to 1/3 thread they really work well. After 3-4 flats I will pay to have the tire patched, otherwise I plug them and ignore them till I get a slow leak. I junk them if I see cords or a deep slash.

Your picture looks like broken in tires, however I would trash them as they are stock wranglers.

 

[Pilsner]

I'd be afraid on going off road down to 1/8. Lugs won't be able to protect the rubber between the lugs where I've gotten all of the holes.

I've never had a tire fail off road from between the tread. Or even on the tread at all. I have had sidewall failures. I just took a trip and spent almost 2 weeks at SMORR and Hot Springs Off Road Park in my Jeep with about 1/8" left. Wanted to replace them before, but thought I would go ahead and send them off with one last trip. No issues at all. I do air down to 12-14 psi. Crawled rocks the whole trip and hit all the badge of honor trails including all obstacles. Had MT MTZ on it at the time. Not saying it can't happen, but I have never had an issue there.

 

[AZ4x4Adventure]

Sell them on Marketplace for $500....If they were 37's people would be asking $1500 for the set.

 

[Area51BS]

I’m mechanically inclined. When I look at something like that and question it. It’s time to replace it. Bad things happen with bad tires. They will inevitably fail. Its not like a one off odd part failure.

 

[swooshdave]

I've never had a tire fail off road from between the tread. Or even on the tread at all. I have had sidewall failures. I just took a trip and spent almost 2 weeks at SMORR and Hot Springs Off Road Park in my Jeep with about 1/8" left. Wanted to replace them before, but thought I would go ahead and send them off with one last trip. No issues at all. I do air down to 12-14 psi. Crawled rocks the whole trip and hit all the badge of honor trails including all obstacles. Had MT MTZ on it at the time. Not saying it can't happen, but I have never had an issue there.

Small sharp gravel is a lot different than crawling big rocks. For the last leak I pulled out a very pointy piece of gravel. Not going to have that problem with a boulder.

 

[Bmadda]

Mine are worn out when I get stuck and my buddies don't

 

[Chrome_Pony]

Sell them on Marketplace for $500....If they were 37's people would be asking $1500 for the set.

This is the answer. Pull off at 1/4"-ish tread to sell them and defray the cost of new tires.

 

[swooshdave]

This is the answer. Pull off at 1/4"-ish tread to sell them and defray the cost of new tires.

To be honest I wouldn't feel right selling a set of worn tires sporting multiple plugs.

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