Pay particular attention to the tread of the tire – it has a strong impact on several performance criteria. An important factor is the tread depth of the tire, which by law has to be a minimum of 1.6 mm¹. If you drive with less tread, you risk the possibility of a fine or penalty points on your driving licence.

Tread Wear Indicators (TWI’s) are important tools for judging remaining tread depth. These are raised bars in the main longitudital tread grooves, distributed evenly around the circumference of the tire, which become level with the rest of the tread pattern once the legal minimum tread depth of 1.6 mm is reached. Continental’s winter tires have additional tread wear indicators which indicate when the tread depth reaches 4 mm because winter performance drops off substantially from this tread depth.

We recommend:

Since worn tires greatly increase the risk of aquaplaning and impair wet braking performance, we strongly urge drivers to change their tires before they reach the minimum legal tread depth.

A good rule of thumb to follow: change summer tires when they have 3 mm and winter tires when they have 4 mm of remaining tread (in Austria, winter tires must have at least 4 mm of remaining tread when the period for mandatory winter equipment begins).

¹ Varies from country to country.