Tyre makers at war over tread depths

Michelin says possible law change is wasteful and unnecessary

MICHELIN has said the tyre industry’s plans to raise the minimum legal tread depth from 1.6mm to as high as 3mm or 4mm are wasteful and maintains the current limit is perfectly safe.

Some rival manufacturers want to change the EU laws in the name of safety as early as 2018, but Michelin claims this would be “unnecessary”. Speaking to Auto Express, Michelin technical manager Jamie Mcwhir emphasised that well manufactured tyres are built to “guarantee maximum effectiveness right down to 1.6mm”.

Michelin says no link exists between cars with less than 4mm tread left and a rise in accidents. With premium tyres, Mcwhir adds, differences in performance between 1.6mm and new tyres are “minimal”. But he also pointed out that in recent years tyres have entered the market designed to perform well in test conditions, but not in real-world driving. He said: “Some of these tyres, when they go below three or four millimetres, their performance drops by up to 30 per cent.”

Rather than seeing laws changed, Mcwhir said that he would prefer to see better manufacturing from some rivals. Michelin claims a premium tyre with 1.6mm of tread can be safer than a new budget tyre.

Changing the law would also cost car owners more and raise pollution levels, according to Mcwhir. “A new tyre will come with around 7.6mm of tread; at three millimetres it will still have 25 per cent of its life left. This would equate to roughly an extra tyre per car every two years.”

Michelin also says that replacing tyres prematurely would see fuel consumption rise by 900 million litres annually in Europe. (The lower the tread depth, the more fuel efficient the tyre.) Mcwhir added: “This [changing the law] is unnecessary and the opposite of what we should be doing.”