Tire Wear

The most common signs of tire problems are under and over inflation, feathering, one-sided wear, and cupping. Under inflation causes the most trouble of all, because motorists usually don't check their tires as often as they should.

WHEN A TIRE IS UNDER INFLATED, most of its contact with the road is on the outer tread ribs, causing them to wear faster than the middle of the tire. With over inflation, the opposite wear pattern appears -- the tread center gets more than its share of action with the road and it wears much faster than the outer ribs.

FEATHERING (when the edges of the tread ribs take on a feathered look) is caused by erratic scrubbing against the road when a tire is in need of toe alignment correction.

EXCESSIVE CAMBER (an alignment problem) causes the outer rib or the shoulder of a tire to wear down faster than the rest of the tire. It means the tire is leaning too much to the inside or the outside of the tread, making the tire work more on one side or the other.

CUPPING appears as dips or cups in the tread. It may be a sign that your wheels are out of balance or your shock absorbers and ball joints are worn.

We advise motorists to check tire inflation pressures and to look for irregular tire wear patterns at least once every month (or even daily when traveling long distances) . If you find any, have them corrected. It's a lot cheaper than a new set of tires.