Diagnosing problems from tyre wear.
December 15th, 2007 | by winsonlee |Your tyre wear pattern can tell you a lot about any problems you might be having with the wheel/tyre/suspension geometry setup. The first two signs to look for are over- and under-inflation. These are relatively easy to spot:
![[wear]](http://www.carbibles.com/images/wear_patterns.jpg)
Here’s a generic fault-finding table for most types of tyre wear:
| Problem | Cause |
|---|---|
| Shoulder Wear Both Shoulders wearing faster than the centre of the tread |
|
| Under-inflation | |
| Repeated high-speed cornering | |
| Improper matching of rims and tyres | |
| Tyres haven’t been rotated recently | |
| Centre Wear The centre of the tread is wearing faster than the shoulders |
|
| Over-inflation | |
| Improper matching of rims and tyres | |
| Tyres haven’t been rotated recently | |
| One-sided wear One side of the tyre wearing unusually fast |
|
| Improper wheel alignment (especially camber) | |
| Tyres haven’t been rotated recently | |
| Spot wear A part (or a few parts) of the circumference of the tread are wearing faster than other parts. |
|
| Faulty suspension, rotating parts or brake parts | |
| Dynamic imbalance of tyre/rim assembly | |
| Excessive runout of tyre and rim assembly | |
| Sudden braking and rapid starting | |
| Under inflation | |
| Diagonal wear A part (or a few parts) of the tread are wearing diagonally faster than other parts. |
|
| Faulty suspension, rotating parts or brake parts | |
| Improper wheel alignment | |
| Dynamic imbalance of tyre/rim assembly | |
| Tyres haven’t been rotated recently | |
| Under inflation | |
| Feather-edged wear The blocks or ribs of the tread are wearing in a feather-edge pattern |
|
| Improper wheel alignment (faulty toe-in) | |
| Bent axle beam |
Source : http://www.carbibles.com/tyre_bible_pg2.html
