One Conti DWS flat, so I took some pictures to see if the tread depth was within tolerance or if I would have to sell 3 and buy 4 new ones - here are the pics:

Overall I think the tires are in pretty good shape - tracking back, they have roughly 7-8k miles on them:

tire 1 (Flat):





tire 2:




tire 3:




tire 4:

 

new, for reference:
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....e&autoModClar=

 

I don't remember the spec on how much dia difference you can have but you should get those measured and check new depth. The difference should be small enough that you can match the two largest to put on one end and two smallest to put on the other.

If you are really worried tire rack can shave a tire down to match for you. Though if you go that rough I would shoot for lowest material removed from the spec as compared with matching the other 3 tires.

Now, if it was me I would just get a new one and put it on the front with which ever other has the most tread. A couple 32nds ain't gonna make a difference. I guarantee a car (mine for instance) with 3.5 deg front camber has more than a couple 32nds more rolling dia than the rear at 2deg.

 

new your gonna have ~8mm of tread. im not good at measuring depth with money, but judging at those pics id guess your at about 6mm. imo i think you would be ok with a new tire if you do indeed have 6mm of tread on your other 3. This is measuring total tread, not from wear bars btw.

 

thanks for the input guys. not sure how much i'd get for 3 separate used dws anyway, so i'll probably ask tirerack to just shave the tire a bit then?

according to the site i guess these start at 11/32s.. 8.73mm, from measuring the penny (lol) my tires probably have about 6-7cm.. maybe get the new tire shaved a couple mm?

 

Take a look at this article to help measure your current tread depth:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete....jsp?techid=51

The tires look plenty meaty enough that if it were me I would buy a new one from tirerack and have them shave it to match the others

 

thanks, i think that's what i'll do - shaving 2mm from stock will probably bring the new one close enough to where i am now

 

Should really get a tread depth gauge on there to make certain where you're at on those.

 

by looking at those pics it looks like the flat one was closer to 4mm of tread while the others looked like ~6mm. That would mean you were already driving on a tire with a bit less tread than the others. Putting a new one on with your others would be about the same thing if you think about it. Like I said though that could just of been the angle in the pics. Without a true measurement its hard to say exactly what tread depth you have.

 

thanks i'll buy one.

 

updated with more thorough pictures

 

ya, at 6mm you will be fine. the new one will have about 8-9mm. fwiw i have done hundreds of tires on awd vehicles with this much tread difference and never had issues because of it. Imo your just going to be throwing away more money just to wear down a perfectly good tire by shaving it down to your current 6mm specs.

 

thanks - yeah it sucks but i think it's my best option at this point

 

Shaving it down to match the remaining ones or buying a pair would be the safest bet. They start fresh at 11, so at 6 it's close to half warn. Not sure it's a good idea to run one new opposite of a half worn one.

 

great - how can i order a shaved down one? maybe to 6 or 6.5mm?