i was wondering, what happens when you run a bald tire to its limit ? say if you have a good inflated tire, does the tire blowout when the tread runs out ? or does the metal cords stick out as a warning before it actually blows out if you keep running it ? does anyone know ?

 

got any pics of the tire? It's kind of a hard question to answer without a pic to see the condition.

 

The rubber isn't really keeping it together, so much as the cording underneath it, so i don't think you have to worry about blowouts. The only danger is there's less depth for sharp objects to go through.

However, nobody will patch it when it gets below the treadwear markers, and they definitely won't patch it if it's bald.

 

Dan is right. If you drive on bald tires, you have less protection against anything you run over. And you will have NO traction if you drive on wet pavement. (Don't even ask about snow.) NOT a good idea.

Also, it's illegal to drive on tires that have less than 2/32" of tread on them. All tires have "treadwear indicator bars" (strips of rubber about half an inch wide across the width of the tread) molded into them. When you reach 2/32" tread depth, they show up as flat strips (with no tread) across the tire. Once you reach that point, you are required by law to replace the tires.

 

Does the rubber composition change at that point into something harder but with less grip? I vaguely remember seeing something about that.