Measuring Tread Depth

The tread on your vehicle's tires is extremely important. Tread helps your tires adhere to the road, so when the tread depth is less than 1/16th of an inch, your vehicle can have handling problems in rain or winter conditions. Because of this, it's important to check your tread depth, and this can be done two easy ways: with a penny or with a tire gauge.

Measuring your tire tread depth with a penny is a simple task.

If you can see above Lincoln's head or any of the "In God We Trust" letters, then your tire tread is too low. You should also repeat the steps in other grooves of the tire tread, because a tire can wear differently in various spots.

Measuring your tire tread with a Tire Depth Gauge is more expensive than the penny test, but there are many tire gauges on the market that are very inexpensive, and they are also more accurate. To use the Tire Depth Gauge, simply follow its owner's manual. Though the process will vary by gauge, none should be much more complicated than the penny test. The Tire Depth Gauge will give you an immediate, accurate measurement of the tire tread depth for the entire tire, so there is no need to measure multiple spots.

Here are some other actions you can take to properly maintain your tire tread depth: