New tires are expensive, so you want to make sure that yours last for as long as possible. But no matter what you do, tires wear down, and tire installation will be in your future eventually. When that does happen, however, you want your tires to wear evenly so that you have to replace them all at once or in pairs, front and back. Uneven tire wear can tell you if there is something going wrong with your car.
Before you schedule a tire installation and move on with your day, check for these causes of uneven tire wear.
Poor Alignment
When your car is out of alignment, you usually notice that it pulls to one side or the other. Many of us have done the “alignment test,” when you let go of the steering wheel on an empty, straight road to see if you drift in one direction. But your tires can also tell you if your car is out of alignment. If your tires wear on one edge, that indicates that your wheels lean too far to one side. After you replace your tires, you should also get an alignment to ensure that your tires don’t wear like that again.
Worn Suspension
Dips in the tread of your tires called “cupping” is a sign that you have a worn suspension. Your tires wear in this pattern when your suspension is worn or damaged, and the car takes bumps harder than it should. Components in your suspension wear down over time, but hitting a curb or a pothole can also damage your suspension.
Over or Underinflated Tires
Setting your tire pressure to the manufacturer-recommended level is important to maintaining your car. When your tires are at the correct PSI, the weight of your car is evenly distributed over the wheels. Properly-inflated tires also make contact with the surface of the road as they should. Overinflated tires wear out in the middle because the center of the tires makes more contact with the road than the edges. If your tires are underinflated, the opposite is true.
Tire Installation at Erick’s Custom Exhaust
When you’re ready for new tires, come to Erick’s Custom Exhaust & Auto Repair for tire installation! We’ll help you choose the best tires for your car and address any issues that cause uneven tire wear.
