when's the last time you went out your car but yeah I know I'm in the same boat now let's be real most of us never even think about tire maintenance until well it's too late but making sure your tires tread is not worn-out is an important part of vehicle safety and an important step you can't neglect thankfully checking your tire tread is quick and easy and here are three ways to do it first you can check the tread wear bars on your tire these are raised features located on the bottom of tread grooves and are flat with the face of the tire when the remaining tread depth is worn down 2 to 30 seconds of an inch so you'll know when your tire is bald but you won't know how it's doing before that point the second option is the old penny test now take a penny and place it in your tread with Lincoln's head down now as long as the head is still covered you still have more than two thirty seconds of an inch of tread left again this is only helpful to measure that critical point of worn-out tire now many experts recommend replacing your tires at around four thirty seconds of an inch of tread to assure safety and performance in all weather conditions and the first two options well they don't help you with that the third option is to use the free tire van tread gauge the tread gauge has markings like a ruler letting you know exactly where your tread is at now regardless of which method you use be sure to check your tire tread depth at least twice a year you don't want to be one of the 11 percent of drivers that's cruising around with at least one ball tire if you'd like to download your own free tire van tread gauge visit tire van comm slash tire tread gauge today thanks for watching you