Can anyone tell me the required tire depth for a lease trade-in to avoid penalty?

Question

We have a lease up on 2/1/09 and do not want to spend $520 to replace the tires only to trade the vehicle in. I have found some used tires with good tread to save money but was wondering the required tire depth for trade-in to avoid penalty. Thanks.

Answer 1

If you do not spin or slide around corners> the tires should last the mileage your required to have> If you drive hard it's your call on the tires> They should last 60,000 miles>Under normal use>

Answer 2

legal is 3/32nd, or put a penny in, and if lincolns head is exposed, u need new tires.

Answer 3

It's in your contract.  Different from lease to lease.

Answer 4

check the tread depth on the tires, and document it with photos. If you don't have a small ruler that fits in the tread and has 1/32nd marks, stick a penny in the tread and take a picture of it.

Hold up a ruler in any picture you take of the car too, it will give scale if you get into an argument over how many dings/how large they are.

Read the lease, it is probably very specific on the amount and size of dings allowed, and the lease I had also specified how much tread depth needed to be on the tires at the end of the lease. You don't want to end up buying tires for a car they're going to be taking from you.

Also be sure to photograph the whole car, sometimes it is good to get it detailed before returning it to make sure it looks real nice since the average charge by a dealership for cars that do not have "regular wear and tear"  is $1800.

Also any local garage should be able to help you check the quality of your current tire depth.

Good luck and let us know what happens! :)

Answer 5

It is in your lease contract. But your contact also says you must replace the tires with tires of equal quality. So you can't simply put some cheap no-name brand on the car. If the used tires are the same brand or similar quality, then yes, your plan would work.