Causes Of Premature And Irregular Tire Wear
Posted on: 22 January 2015
In an ideal situation, all your cars' tires would wear at the same rate. Unfortunately, there are things that cause your tires to wear not only unevenly, but also at a very fast rate. Here are three major causes of this kind of tire wear:
Improper Inflation
Properly inflating a tire helps to distribute the vehicle's load across all parts of the tire. Under-inflating or over-inflating a tire interferes with this load distribution, which means some parts of the tire have to bear more load than others. These parts, which bear more loads, tend to wear out faster than the other parts with lesser loads
For example, in an under-inflated tire, the edges bear more loads because they are stiffer while the center of the tire presses in and doesn't wear out as fast. For an overinflated tire, however, the center juts out and bears more load than the edges that do not touch the road as much.
Improper Balancing
A car with balanced wheels is one in which all its wheels and tires have the same weight. This means the wheels are symmetrical and spin smoothly even at high speeds. When the wheels are imbalanced, then the tires start to wobble as you accelerate. When the tire spins in any direction other than straight forward, some rubber is scrubbed off it, which results in premature and uneven wear.
Any component that interferes with the wheel assembly balance causes wobbling and premature tire wear. This includes problems at the axles, hubs spindles, and even wheel bearings. This is why you should balance your wheels every time you remove the tires from the rims or have your car serviced, or at least once a year.
Bent Rim
When a rim is bent, it interferes with the proper fit of the tire. Some parts of the tire stretch or bulge to accommodate the bent parts. The rubber on these stretched parts tend to scrub off the tire, and this causes uneven wearing. Apart from that, the bead of the tire will also follow the contour of the bent rim, and the corresponding tread will follow suit.
These are some of the things you should look out for if you don't want to be replacing your tires sooner than you should. Remember that it is also dangerous to drive with tires with uneven tires; the wobbling interferes with handling and may fail you when you want to make an emergency maneuver.
Visit an auto repair shop like Palmer Tire & Auto LLC if you have any questions.
Share