Inside the grip · 01
160 mm
of rubber.
Everything your car does, it does through a patch of tread about the size of your hand. Scroll to go in.
The groove
7.8 mm deep, new.
That is the tread depth of a new BLU-TRAC PC3. Every groove is a channel.
In the rain
This is where the water goes.
Water on the road has to go somewhere. The grooves take it back and out, so the blocks can keep touching tarmac.
Real BLU-TRAC PC3 tread pattern. Depth drawn three times deeper than life so you can see it.
Inside the grip · 02
Aquaplaning, from underneath.
Looking up through the road at the contact patch. As speed rises, water arrives faster than the grooves can move it, and a wedge of it pushes in under the front of the tyre.
40km/h
100% of the patch touching the road
Illustration, not test data. The real figures depend on water depth, tread depth, tyre, load and speed.
Inside the grip · 03
From new to the limit.
Scroll, or drag the slider, to wear the tread down. The small bars in the grooves are the wear indicators: when the blocks are level with them, the tyre is at the legal limit.
0km
7.8mm tread left
At 1.6 mm, the EU legal minimum, it's time for new tyres.
Illustration: wear is drawn evenly and in step with distance for clarity. Real wear depends on driving, load, pressure and alignment. 7.8 mm new and 75,000 km are from Armstrong's BLU-TRAC PC3 tables.
Inside the grip · 04
Snow grips snow.
A SKI-TRAC PC presses its real tread into fresh snow. The ridges left standing in the grooves are what a winter tyre bites on. Drag across the snow to steer it.
Inside the grip · 05
Leave your mark.
Drag across the paper to roll a tyre over it. Blocks ink, grooves stay clean: this is the real print of BLU-TRAC PC3.
Now pick yours.
Three questions, and you'll know where to start.