Conti Cross Contact UHP. Had 'em for only 2.5 years. Less actually.. about 18k, because I have snow tires on for 4.5 months each year. Switched off of the winters 7 weeks ago. This was going to be my last summer on this summer set. Winters would go back on in late November '11, then new summers next year.
Had the X in for some brake work last week and my Indi mechanic said the usual, "Inside edges gone. Wear bars showing. Need to replace". My usual reaction is; He's just doing his job. But hey.. its a BMW. If I replaced the tires every time the inside edges wore down to the wear bars, I'd be replacing tires on my three cars every 18 months. Lots of rear negative camber eats tires. Its just a fact.
But this time he also pointed out; "You've got a deep gash in the passenger front". Pics attached. I'm on the fence for this one. Tires get cuts. It happens. The question is, how much of a cut is enough to cause a tire casing failure? The shop obviously thinks this is enough. But I honestly don't know. Tires have, like, 3-4 huge heavy belts in them, and the rubber is literally melted into those belts. I'm not trying to be cheap. I can write the check for $900 worth of new tires if I have to. But I'd rather wait a half season if its not necessary. The problem is, how does one get a truly unbiased engineering opinion about tire risk? If I ask anyone that sells tires, ... guess what they'll say.. every time.
What do you guys think? (Pics may or may not be good enough to form an opinion. Thought I'd give it a shot tho).
Thanks!