How to know what tyre you need
How to know when it's time for new tires
Timecodes:
now with that new warning about your
tires after scenes like this one cars
crashing in these winter storms that are
now moving east ABC's Gio Benitez is
here and Gio driving on worn tires and
wet conditions that is very dangerous
incredibly dangerous Cecelia good
morning yeah listen we know cars are
loaded with safety features they warned
us about important things like low tire
pressure but one thing they may not tell
you is when you have low tread tires
that's when they have smoothed out and
lost their grip so Consumer Reports is
out with an urgent warning about worn
tires and we are with them for a test
run they're like seeing straight out of
action movies a hydroplaning accident
caught on camera and there's this near
crash on wet roads experts say many
times low tread tires are to blame we
aren't aware so much that as their tires
are wearing they're also losing
performance in certain areas wet snow
ice to show how dangerous low tread
tires can be we go to the Consumer
Reports auto test track our first demo
hydroplaning
that's when tires lose contact with the
road this can happen when your tire has
such low tread that it isn't able to
disperse the water on the road a wedge
of water forms in front of the tire and
the driver loses the ability to steer
first we try brand new tires I'm going
to enter the water we approach this
slight curve at 50 miles per hour
driving through less than an inch of
standing water
curve yeah you never lost control but
it's a different case when we switch to
low tread time about half the amount as
the new ones experts say this is when
you should start shopping for new tires
so there's less channels less grooves
for the water to dissipate from and
watch our car is not able to stay on
that curve we completely lose control of
steering the car wants to go straight
next we try braking in what condition
has good grip will stop in a shorter
distance at 60 miles per hour on the wet
track and I'm gonna do a panic stop we
slam on the brakes
while computers in the car measure the
distance it takes for the car to stop
with the new tires the car stops at a
hundred sixty one feet but when we hit
the track with the low tread tires we're
into the same speed 60 miles per hour
Ryan slams on those brakes again Wow
that's a significant difference the car
stops at 202 feet about 40 feet farther
than with the new tires that's more than
the length of two cars these tires are
technically not worn out completely
they're just there at for 30 seconds
it's a good time to start looking at new
tires a decision that could save a life
down the road it really could so how do
you know when it's time to look for new
tires well there's a really easy way you
can use a quarter to measure that tread
depth okay check this out so nothing but
luck for George Washington but we want
to actually put him upside down and we
want to make sure that his head is being
sort of cut off there the top of the
head you don't want to see that that's
when you know you've got brand new tires
that's okay but look at these right here
because when you put that quarter here
you can still see the top of George
Washington's head so that is now when
you need to start looking for new tires
remember all season tires that's about
every 50 to 60 thousand miles when you
need to start looking facility I see
you've got more change there Geo you've
got another tip for us on how to when
you have to immediately change the tires
that's right we're gonna use a penny
this time because it's so small that we
really want to show that it's a really
worn tire okay this one has a for ham
Lincoln obviously and look at that with
the penny it is so tiny and still you
can see Abraham
Lincoln's head that is when you just
can't drive on these it could be illegal
in some six all right come inside and
give us our money back gee that's a good
message for everybody out there take a
few minutes to do that
you save your life actually in this
weather hi everyone George
Stephanopoulos here thanks for checking
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