Peru Tyre Rules 2026: 1.6 mm, No Andean Winter Law

Peru has no winter tyre season, no marking requirement and no stud regime — and it has roads that cross 4,800 metres. Those two facts sit together because the Andes do not produce a winter; they produce an altitude.

The tread floor is 1.6 mm in the main grooves, the international reference set out in Council Directive 89/459/EEC. What decides equipment here is the route profile, not the month.

Tyre Law Summary for Peru

Three countries in one

Peru divides into three driving environments that share nothing but a flag:

• The coast. A desert strip from Tumbes to Tacna, crossed by the Panamericana. Almost no rain, heavy fog in the Lima winter, and long fast stretches where tread depth behaves the way it does anywhere else.
• The sierra. The Andean spine, where roads climb past 4,000 metres and the temperature swing between midday sun and pre-dawn frost is extreme. Ice forms on shaded bends overnight in any month.
• The selva. The Amazon lowlands east of the mountains — hot, wet, and hard on tyres through mud and debris rather than through cold.

A single set of tyres has to cover all three on any serious itinerary, which is the real argument for choosing on depth and condition rather than on a seasonal label the law never asks for.

The passes are the whole question

The Carretera Central out of Lima crosses the Anticona pass at roughly 4,800 metres on its way to La Oroya, and it is not exceptional. Long sections of the Andean network sit above 4,000 metres.

What that does to driving is specific. Nights freeze, so shaded corners hold ice into the morning. Descents run for tens of kilometres without a level stretch, loading brakes and tyres together. And the dry season, May to September, is the cold one — the reverse of the intuition a northern-hemisphere driver brings.

Chains are carried by drivers who use these roads regularly, and they are carried by route rather than by date.

The five land borders

• Ecuador: to the north, on the coastal and Andean crossings. No winter tyre season; tread floor 1.6 mm.
• Colombia: to the north-east, in the Amazon at Leticia — reachable by river and air rather than road.
• Brazil: to the east, on the Interoceanic Highway through Iñapari. No winter tyre season; tread floor 1.6 mm.
• Bolivia: to the south-east, at Desaguadero and around Lake Titicaca. No winter tyre season; tread floor 1.6 mm.
• Chile: to the south at Tacna. Chile does apply a seasonal rule, but in its southern regions between June and September, not at this border.

For speed limits, licence requirements and equipment rules, see the Driving in Peru guide.