Classic tire wear problems
 Do tire wear problems tell a clear
story?
Tire Wear Problems
When a professional
tire expert sees certain wear problems
they almost always come to the same
conclusions as to the solutions.
The way tread wears
give clear indications of what needs to be corrected.
The most common wear patterns
show signs of
over
inflation, under inflation and alignment problems.
As can be seen in the diagram below
which simulate a cross section of tires under
different conditions,
driving a vehicle with an inflation pressure which
is too little for the weight and load will cause a
tire to be worn on both the shoulders because an
under inflated tire tends to create a bowed shape on
the bottom causing the center of the tread to lift
up off the road surface.
Over Inflation
Too much air pressure causes a tire
to balloon outward (just like blowing up a balloon)
and this raises the outside edges of the tire off of
the road's surface. The result will be greater
wear in the center of the tread.
An experienced tire technician can
often see these wear differences simply by looking
at a tire, but it can be easily measured by sampling
the tread depth on the shoulders and the center of
the tread at several points around the circumference
of the tire.
A
correctly inflated
tire will be worn evenly across the entire tire.
Out of alignment
Often, but less frequently than
seeing either excessive shoulder wear, or wear in
the center of a tire, we see wear on just one
shoulder or the other. Usually this is caused by a problem with
the wheel
alignment, not tire pressure. The solution is to
have the wheels aligned as soon as possible so as to
stop this abnormal wear.
Ideally this kind of wear will be detected before it
has become plainly visible because once it reaches
the state where it is visible to the naked eye
considerable loss to the tire has already occurred.
Other tire wear problems are much less frequent and
more difficult to diagnose but if your are checking
your tire pressure regularly and inspect your tires
together with performing a rotation every 3 to 4,000
miles you will be taking important steps to enjoy a
maximum life from your tires.
This, gauge from AutoAnything.com, is one of the
nicest of the new breed of easy-to-use Tire Gauges  which you can find
anywhere.
Hint: Consider getting your oil
changed at a place where they service tires and do a
rotation every time you change oil. You'll not only
save some time, but you might get a discount by having an
extra service performed.
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