One bad tire in decent set of 4

[kevinheap]

I have three tires Yokahama Avid on my M3 with 6/32 left on them and one with only 3/32. Is it worth it to dink around with trying to put on a new or used tire to get the last 3/32 out of the three good tires. I cannot use the spare as it is messed up but will still function as a spare.

I am going to Yokahama S drives for a little over $600 a set and just looked at some info on tires, with 6/32 these still have half of their life if we see it as 8/32 of usable tread with 4/32 of the original 10/32 gone to make a value of half of the original $800 for the Avids or $400 or half the replacement value of the S drives at $300.

I maybe taking the tight wad route but I hate to throw away 3 tires that are only half used up.

[mryakan]

Maybe try and buy a used tire and use this one as a spare. 3/32 is very close to being dangerous, not there yet, but won't last long. Curious though, why this one tire has more wear!

[kevinheap]

It is actually the spare because I had to put it on to replace a tire that gotten all chewed up on the edges from a bad tie rod and perhaps misalignment. I was wrong and it was a dumb idea for such a fine car as the beemer. I bet although it is small that mismatched tires can have a negative effect on suspension components to some extent increasing overall vibration along the frame and general misalignment of the car.

New is the way to go and althought the yokahame s drive is not a high dollar tire it will be a brand new set, these are low profile 17 235 40 tires.

Thanks for getting back and although my German is too rusty I like the way it looks in print and have memories of reading Schiller.

[tedj101]

I maybe taking the tight wad route but I hate to throw away 3 tires that are only half used up.

I may be a bit unusual here, but I don't run my tires below 1/3 of the tread (for road use). Why? Because you rapidly lose traction in wet conditions below about 1/2 of the tread life -- depending, of course, on the volume of water on the roadway. In my book, there isn't that much more life left in these tires.

YMMV,
<TED>