Tread wear patterns can indicate if tires are properly balanced, aligned, and inflated. Uneven wear can be caused by unbalanced or misaligned tires, or driving on under or overinflated tires. Regular maintenance and tire rotation can help maintain even wear. Tread wear patterns are also used in forensic science.
If your vehicle’s tires have logged a few miles, you might want to take a closer look. Over time, tread wear patterns will indicate if your tires are properly balanced, aligned and inflated.
When a car is in good mechanical condition and the tires are properly inflated, tread wear appears even. Looking down the face of the tire from the inside out, there shouldn’t be a noticeable difference in wear. Running a palm across the face of the tire should reveal a smooth, even surface with no ripples. If the mechanical condition of the front end is not that high, it will show in tread wear.
For example, when the tires are not balanced, the vehicle will vibrate at certain speeds and the steering wheel may shake. Tread wear in this case “cups” into the face of the tire. The tread depth ripples unevenly, easily felt by running your palm across the tire.
Cupped tread wear comes from tires “bouncing” at certain speeds due to the unbalanced weight of the tire. A rough parallel might be to consider how a washing machine in the spin cycle can start to “lose its balance” when the weight of the clothes is unevenly distributed. To balance the tires, weights are attached to the rim to keep the tires spinning smoothly at any speed.
Alignment is another front adjustment. When the tires are out of alignment, the driver feels a left or right pull on the steering wheel and the car will tend to veer in the direction of the pull. Due to the constant corrective pull, the mileage drops slightly and the front tires wear unevenly. The inner tread may wear faster than the outer, or vice versa, depending on how off the alignment is.
Once the tread wear becomes uneven, correcting the alignment will not make the steering feel completely normal, as the uneven tread creates its own friction against the pavement. In most cases, a mechanic will rotate these tires backwards. As long as there is enough tread, they will eventually wear down even more. However, if the tread wear is excessive at the edges, the tires need to be replaced. This can be a costly lesson, as tires may only get a fraction of the miles they are designed to achieve under normal circumstances, and plenty of tread elsewhere on the face.
Tread wear can also occur when tires are driven under or routinely under inflated. Driving on underinflated tires can prematurely ruin the sidewalls, creating cracks and weaknesses in the tire walls. Conversely, driving on overinflated tires will cause accelerated tread wear on the centerline of the tire face, compared to the inside and outside edges.
If you buy a used car, check the tread wear carefully. If the vehicle has new tires, they could be hiding problems at the front end. You can ask for receipts to make sure your newly installed tires have been balanced and aligned, or be prepared to do the work yourself.
With our current reliance on vehicles, people log a lot of miles but don’t always find time for routine maintenance. Checking for tread wear is one way to quickly see if your tires are properly balanced, aligned, and inflated. Tires that rotate regularly from front to rear also help maintain even tire wear, since front tires typically wear faster than rear tires.
In addition to car maintenance, tread wear patterns are also used in forensic science. Tread mold impressions left at crime scenes can not only reveal tire type, but also unique characteristics in tread wear patterns that can provide strong circumstantial evidence to link a specific vehicle with a crime.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
