The legal minimum in Germany is 1.6 mm. Nobody who does this for a living drives on 1.6 mm. Below 3 mm a wet stop stretches noticeably, and below 4 mm a winter tyre stops behaving like a winter tyre at all.
The wear pattern is the diagnosis
Worn on both shoulders and fine in the middle: chronically under-inflated. Worn in the middle only: over-inflated. Worn on one shoulder: alignment. Scalloped or feathered patches: suspension, usually a tired damper or bush.
None of those are tyre faults. Fit a new set without fixing the cause and the new set wears the same way, which is why we measure all four and check the alignment before quoting.
A tyre is the only part of the car touching the road. It is also the cheapest part to get wrong.
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