One of the most common queries on tyres that we receive is: “Why have the tyres on my car worn so poorly? There’s plenty of tread on one side and the other side is bald!!” (or a variation on that theme).
There are three factors that will cause a tyre to wear poorly:
Poor Wheel Alignment – Excess Toe-in or Excess Camber
Either of these conditions will mean that your tyres are not sitting on the road correctly. This means that one shoulder of the tyre is loaded more heavily than the other, causing the heavily loaded side to wear quickly.
Insufficient Pressure
Not putting enough air pressure in a tyre means that the tyre will be deformed excessively and the shoulders will wear more rapidly then the centre of the tread.
Excessive Pressure
Too much air pressure in your tyres means that the tyre will be “too hard” and the contact patch of the tread will be reduced to the centre of the tread. This in turn, will mean that the centre of the tread will wear more quickly that the edges.
Either way, not all of the tyre is being used efficiently.
