Tires talk! What are your wear patterns saying about your tires? In this post, we help you identify uneven tire wear, give likely reasons for these wear patterns, and provide you with solutions to follow in each case.
Let’s get started!
There are many different types of tire wear. While it is normal for your tires to wear over time, there are also several types of wear that are NOT normal and can become a driving hazard.
How do you tell if your tires are wearing unevenly? To recognize abnormal, uneven tire wear, let’s first examine “normal” tread wear.
It’s completely normal for your tires to gradually wear as you use them. (Check how yours are doing using change from your pocket!) To monitor your tread wear and gauge your tire health, you can also examine the tread wear indicator bars that most tires have. The purpose of these small bars (often 2/32” tall) in the grooves of your tires is to show to you how much tread you have left on your tires.
Looking at your tire wear bars, when do you know it’s time to replace? When the tread is worn down to the level of the wear bars, you know it’s time for those tires to be replaced. The indicator bars are raised to 2/32”, which is the legal tread depth limit. Bald tires are not safe to drive on.
It is recommended that you replace your tires before they reach this point.
Which tires wear faster: front or rear? With most front wheel drive vehicles, like cars or minivans, the front tires will wear at a slightly higher rate than the rear tires. This is because the front tires take the brunt of your steering, acceleration, and braking.
When you notice that your front tires are looking more worn than your rear tires, it's time for a rotation. If a rotation isn't done regularly, you'll find that your tires will be excessively worn in pairs, rather than evenly as a set.
On the other hand, you may notice in rear wheel drive (RWD) and four wheel drive vehicles that the rear tires are worn faster.
(All wheel drive (AWD) vehicles will likely have a more even wear rate across all tires.)
Tire technicians keep this in mind when performing a rotation on your specific vehicle.
Let’s get to the types of uneven tire wear you don’t want to see on your vehicle. These tire wear patterns are irregular and are often due to problems with your vehicle or tires themselves.
See the tire wear images and their descriptions below.
Edge wear, or wear to both outside edges of your tire, results from an underinflated tire making improper contact with the road.
Solution: Inflate your tires to manufacturer specs, printed on the label inside of your car.
Center wear results from an overinflated tire making improper contact with the road.
Solution: Ensure that your tire pressure is maintained no higher than manufacturer specs, printed on the label inside of your car.
Toe wear, or wear to the inner or outer edge of your tire, results from your tires leaning too much to one side or the other. This is due to an alignment problem.
Solution: Visit a location that performs mechanical services and get an inspection and an alignment. It’s critical that this issue be repaired, since misalignment can lead to other problems with steering, suspension and your safety.
Feathered tire wear, or feathering, can appear on tires where the inner or outer edge is worn farther than the other. In this case, the tread ribs themselves are worn at an angle, leaving one side smooth and worn lower, and other side sharper and higher.
Solution: Visit a location that performs mechanical services and request an inspection to determine the source of the issue, whether an alignment is needed or other suspension problems are at fault.
Camber wear, or exaggerated wear to the inner or outer edge (not both), is a result of an alignment problem, specifically positive or negative camber (as the name suggests). To identify camber wear, look at your tire from the front. You’ll be able to see significant wear to one side due to the angle of your tire not being perpendicular to the road.
Solution: Get an alignment performed to correct the positive or negative camber that caused extreme wear to the inner or outer edge of your tires.
Patch wear, or patchy worn spots on the tire, is a result of tires that are out of balance. Unbalanced tires are a very common reason for rapid, uneven tire wear. As you drive, they wobble or bounce, resulting in spotty tire wear and vibration in your vehicle.
Solution: Get wheel balancing services performed. At Wonderland Tire, we use Road Force technology to balance all tires. This technology allows us to match the high spot in the tire with the low spot in the wheel, so that we can adjust the tire on the rim for the smoothest ride and most even wear on your tires.
Cup wear, or tire cupping, can be recognized as a series of worn spots along the circumference of the tire. Due to its scooped appearance, it is sometimes also called “scalloped” tire wear. This particular pattern manifests as a result of the tire bouncing irregularly, which can be due to a number of reasons, like misalignment, problems with your shocks or struts, unbalanced tires, or even tires that are poorly made.
Solution: Visit a tire professional who will be able to take a closer look at the exact cause. Depending on the diagnosis, an alignment, balancing, suspension repairs, and/or tire and wheel replacement may be needed.
As shown above, there’s no one reason that uneven tire wear occurs. Depending on the symptoms that either you or a technician notices, it could be any one or a combination of the previous factors! Even things like the weather affect your tires and how they wear. Temperature changes can cause the pressures to fluctuate and underinflation/overinflation negatively affect the wear.
Find and correct the underlying cause. It’s important that you not just replace tires when they’re worn unevenly, but that you find out and correct the underlying cause. Whether it’s more regular rotations, suspension issues, an alignment problem, or something else, it’s always better to get to the root of what’s wrong, so it doesn’t further damage your vehicle or happen again.
While it is possible to drive on uneven tires, you should not continue to allow the issue to go unchecked. Driving with unevenly worn tires negatively affects other components of your vehicle, like your shocks, bearings, or wheel assembly. This is the same reason why sets of tires of the same brand, model, and size are installed when replacement is needed. All 4 tires should be even. When tires are the same size and worn to the same degree, you reduce the risk of further damage to your vehicle and more importantly, you reduce risks to your safety.
Often, you’ll be able to tell something’s up with your tires when you feel vibration in your steering wheel. This is a typical indicator that your wheels are out of balance and are likely wearing at an uneven rate. Vibrations may also occur in the seat or floor and be exacerbated by high speeds.
Read more about troubleshooting vehicle vibrations
If you’ve noticed or you’ve been told that your tires look unevenly worn, there’s “no one size fits all” solution. You’ll want to visit your local tire experts to analyze the symptoms, inform you of the cause, and perform the repair and replacement for you. Depending on the situation, an alignment may fix your uneven tire wear, but there may be other underlying factors to consider.
Luckily, Wonderland Tire is your one-stop shop for tires, service, and mechanical (offered at select locations). Give us a call today to professionally examine your tires, perform repairs with state-of-the-art equipment, and get you back on the road promptly.
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