A mechanic checked the tread depth on a pair of tires. The discrepancy in tread depth between the front and back tires is a lesson in proper car maintenance.
TikTok creator Michael (@lilmikyb) posted the video from his place of work. A car up on the lift has two extremely bald tires on the back.
“Hi, my name’s Michael and I’m working on your piece of garbage today,” he says. “If you check in the back, we have about 13/32". That’s beautiful; those are brand new.”
“If you check in the front here, yeah, that’s zero. It’s about the same if you do like this”—he puts the tool up to his bald head—”yeah, you see? The same,” he jokes.
The owner of the vehicle could've simply replaced the back tires but not the front, hence the discrepancy. No matter the cause, it's clearly a safety hazard.
Bald Head Comparison Lightens The Mood
In the comments section of the video, viewers reacted to the idea of comparing a bald tire to a person’s bald head.
“Seeing the head comparison helped me understand,” said one viewer. Michael replied, “I love a good visual demonstration.”
“‘Dear Diary: Today I learned the origin of the phrase ‘bald tires,’” a second person said. In response, Michael wrote, “This was essentially a history lesson.”
“Bald is beautiful,” a third person said. “Tell them their tires are beautiful and they shouldn’t ever change them.” Michael replied, “I hear they do beautiful tread transplants now.”
Is It Dangerous To Drive On Bald Tires?
As Michael showed in his TikTok, there is a way to check and tell if the tread on your vehicle’s tires is too worn for it to be driven on safely. As noted by Firestone, the tires on the car in Michael’s shop are indeed bald, which means that the tread depth has reached 2/32 of an inch.
Driving on tires like this is a serious hazard, because they make it easier to lose control and harder to brake. Bald tires are also more susceptible to getting punctured.
The link between bald tires and car crashes is not theoretical. According to a 2015 report from the National Transportation Safety Board, a Centerville, Lousiana crash a year earlier involving a 66-passenger school bus carrying a high school baseball team and a 2004 Kia Sorento was likely caused by tires with a bald spot.
“The tread depth for most of the tire was 2/32 inch or more, meeting the minimum requirement in Louisiana; however, the tire also had a bald spot located toward the inboard shoulder, where the tread depth was zero,” the report states.
The report notes that the tread separated from the tire carcass near the bald spot, and the tread separation started as a delamination between the inner and outer steel belts on the inboard side of the tire. That delamination formed a pocket between belts over time, extending along the shoulder of the tire. That difference in treadwear between the delaminated region and the remainder of the tread means the pocket was likely there for a long time.
Unfortunately, additional delamination formed along the outboard shoulder and progressed toward the inboard shoulder. When the two delamination pockets merged, the tread separated from the tire and the tire carcass split.
Motor1 contacted Michael via TikTok comment and direct message for comment. We'll update this if he replies.
