Measuring the tread depth of tires

When you make a maintenance list for your car, you usually don't put the tire profile at the top. Yet tread depth plays an important role in the performance of your tires and therefore your driving safety. In this blog we tell you what the minimum tread depth should be and how you can best measure it.

Why your tire must have sufficient tread depth

Thanks to the grooves in the profile, your tires drain enough water during a rain shower. This provides better grip on a wet road surface. To illustrate, we give you the following example. Suppose you are driving at 125 kilometers per hour on a wet road surface. You have summer tires on your rims that have a tread depth of 4 mm. Then only 11% of the tires make contact with the road. The worse your profile, the less grip you have, which increases your braking distance. In the worst case, aquaplaning occurs. So make sure your tires have sufficient tread if you want to drive safely. This is even more true if you go on a slippery or snowy road in winter.

The minimum tread depth for tires

Your tires must have a minimum tread depth of 1.6 mm. This applies to summer tires and winter tires. This rule also applies to the tires of your car, trailer and caravan. If your tires have less profile, you risk a fine of €150 for one defective tire. This amount increases to €500 if all four car tires have too little tread. Please note: these amounts do not include administration costs.

New summer tires are supplied with an average tread depth of 7.5 mm. Parties such as the ANWB and AutoRai advise replacing a summer tire as soon as the profile is only 2 mm deep. AutoWeek goes one step further and recommends a tire change with a tread depth of 3 mm. A winter tire that rolls out of the factory has an average of 9 mm of tread depth. The ANWB recommends installing a new winter tire as soon as the tread depth is 4 mm.