Listen To The Story Your Tires Tell
Posted on: 8 August 2018
Your tires not only allow your vehicle to roll down the road; the wear on your tires can also tell you a lot about the shape that the rest of your vehicle is in.
Toe & Camber Wear
Toe and camber wear is wear on the outer or inner edge of your tire. This wear generally looks like cracks on either the outer or inner edge of your tire. This type of wear is generally caused when you have an issue with your alignment or an issue with the overall steering. You may need to get your vehicle realigned, or you may have a ball bearing or joint that needs some work done on it. This type of damage can quickly age even a new tire and result in a blow-out if allowed to progress for too long.
Center Wear
When the middle of your tire is more worn down than the edges of your tire, you are more than likely overinflating your tires. You can easily fix this problem by figuring out what the ideal air pressure should be for your vehicle. This information is often printed on the driver side doorjamb as well as in your vehicle's owner's manual.
Outer Edge Wear
When the outer edge of the tread is getting worn down faster than the center or inner tread, it is more than likely because you are not putting enough air in your tires. Keep in mind that the outside air temperature impacts air pressure in your tires, so you are going to need to adjust the air pressure in your tires on a regular basis.
Cupping
Cupping is when you have wear patterns that are diagonal in direction on your tire. When you have cupping on your tire, it is because there is something wrong with the suspension on your vehicle. The suspension could just be worn out, or it could be bent. Either way, a damaged suspension is really serious. You should go to the mechanic right.
Patchiness
If the wear on your tires seems random, spread out over the middle, sides, and even in diagonal directions, it is because your tire is not balanced properly. This can be fixed by simply taking your vehicle to a tire shop to have your tires balanced and potentially rotated.
The wear patterns on your tires can tell you a lot about other parts of your vehicle as well. When you walk out to your vehicle, make sure that you take a few minutes every once in a while to really look at your tires and see if your tires are starting to wear funny and if they are, to figure out what the wear pattern means so you can take an appropriate corrective action.
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