Hello, the local dealer tells me that I have 3 mm tread depth on my tires and 5 mm pads remaining on my rear brakes (2007 BMW X3). Surprisingly, the dealer says they can both be monitored for further wear. When should I consider replacing tires and brakes? Thanks.
Technically, yes, you can go a bit longer before replacing these items.
However, you should be aware that, by the time that your tires have reached a point of a lot of wear, their resistance to hydroplaning is…very poor…and thus is a safety factor.
I agree with @VDCdriver. The risk of hydroplaning is great with worn tires. Remember that brakes stop the wheels and the tires on the wheels stop your vehicle.
I agree with the others, especially on the tires. I’ll be replacing ours shortly, even though I could push them a bit more, just not worth it to me.
Brakes are a bit different. If the X3 has wear indicators, I’m inclined to use the indicators to tell me when they’re needed. 5 mm from ‘worn’ is quite a bit, to me.
from a safety standpoint, always replace if you are uncomfortable.
there are plenty of people that drive carefully, leave extra stopping room when they know their equipment is not as good as new anymore.
they all replace equipment when life is used up and not pre-maturely. go with your comfort level. you will sleep better.
Just start saving now for the impending repair bill.
Get multiple estimates now , too , before it’s crunch time.
Look at your tires…look at new tires… what’s yor gut reaction when you see your tires ?
Replace now or wait till spring ?
If winter driving is ever an issue, choose to replace tires just before the winter and you’ll get their maximum grip .
Technically, the wear limit on tires is 2/32". 3 mm translates to almost 4/32. Tires do become more prone to hydroplaning when they wear below 4/32", but that really doesn’t become significantly more prone until you go below 3/32".
Heres the thing, a lot depends on the weather in your area and your type of driving. If you get a lot of rain in your area, especially in winter and you get a lot of standing water, you should get new tires. Another factor is how long tires typically last for you and how much driving you do. For example, if you typically get 40k miles from a set of tires and you typically drive 1000 miles a month, You have about three months before these tires start getting critical, 8 months till they are absolutely worn. That is based on most new tires having 8/32" useable tread life.
The worse time to buy new tires is the beginning of summer. The roads are hot and the newer the tire, the hotter it runs because of the tread depth. Anytime you have to replace during hot weather is not good for breaking in new tires and should be avoided if possible. As soon as this last summer heat wave passes, I think it would be a good time for you to start looking for a tire sale. Depending on your location, you could delay buying new tires until late October or early November, but I would not wait much longer than that. I just would not pass up any good sales between now and then.
Your brakes probably had 10 to 12 mm pad thickness when new. Based on how many miles since the last time the pads were changed and using 2 mm as the minimum thickness, you should be able to calculate about when they will be due. Unlike tires, they do not loose their effectiveness as they get thinner, until they get too thin, like metal on metal. But when they gat that thin, they start doing damage to other brake parts.