Tires: new tires?, wet traction, 2008 maxima

Question
I have a 2008 Maxima with 22,000 miles on it. I took it to a tire place to get the oil changed. They checked the tires and said the tread wear is .4 and recommended that I get new tires immediatley. Could this be possible? They don't look bad to me and seem to have decent tread. However it isn't getting around very good right now when there's snow on the road. Other than a second opinion somewhere else - are there some things I can look for on my own?

Answer
Pat,

Tires should be rotated every 5,000 to 8,000 miles.  That evens out the wear, plus prevents irregular wear from becoming a problem.  If you don't rotate tires on a FWD car, the front tires could wear out in as little as 20,000 miles - and that seems about what your situation is.

So, you should look at the entire face of the tread on the front tires.  Compare them to the back tires.  If you can't tell visiually what is going on, then go buy a tread depth guage from your local car parts store (I think even WalMart carries them!) for about a $5.00 cost, and measure them yourself.

New tires start with 10 or 11 /32nds of an inch (7.9 to 8.7mm).  Wornout is considered 2/32nds of an inch (1.6mm), although snow and wet traction deteriorate much sooner.  For snow, some folks recommend replacing the tires at 5/32 (4mm) and for wet conditions 4/32nds (3.2mm)