Metzeler Roadtec Z6

[SCraig]

Nope, not a tire question. Not even a question about the Z6's.

I run Metzeler Roadtec Z6 tires so I thought I'd pass this along.

My only gripes with them is that the center of the rear tire has no tread so it's difficult to tell how much they have worn in the center. I do ride a good bit of interstate so I frequently have a bit of a flat spot in the center. Not knowing how deep the tread is in the center has bothered me so I decided to send an email to Metzeler to see what they had to say. I sent the email yesterday and got an answer this morning. Here's what they said:

The Roadtec Z6 tires like every street tire have tread wear indicators as required by the DOT. These are marked on the sidewall with a set of letters (TWI) and once you see these you follow straight across the tread and look in the tread grooves for these baby speed bumps. These marks are the wear indicators and the closest TWI to the center of the tire is less than 3/8 of an inch away.

As a rider you should look at the tires on a regular basis for air pressures and damage as well as tread depth with the understanding that once the tread depth falls to about 2mm the tire is more prone to hydro planning. At this 2mm level the twi marks are easily found in the tread grooves and this means that monitoring the condition of the tire once the tire falls below 2mm is critical to your safety. Thanks for the question.

I didn't realize that tread wear indicators were required by the DOT. FWIW my rear has 6,300 miles on it and has 4.7mm of tread left in the center (a new one has 7.3mm).

[derstuka]

Good to know. My tires usually always have tread in the middle though....I like them that way...for rain and stuff.