Managing Uneven Tire Wear:
If you’ve happened on this text too late, and are currently in a very position of deciding the way to handle your uneven front or rear tire wear, here are some things to stay in mind:
1. If wear is advanced enough, all four tires should get replaced. Whether or not only the front or rear tires are expired, the remaining two tires may be worn to the purpose that replacement is advisable. Fitting two new, full tread depth tires could create a traction and handling imbalance with the older set.
Not maximizing the lifetime of any tire is usually regrettable, and sounds like money down the drain, we get it. But in many uneven wear circumstances, replacing all four tires is that the far better path in both the near- and long-term. we advise you heed the recommendation of your tire technician.
2. All four tires should be the identical brand, model, and specification. If the 2 tires with remaining life are visiting be kept on the vehicle, then they need to be matched with two new equal tires. Mismatching tire brand/type on the front and rear axles are highly inadvisable. This practice can cause drivetrain damage, among other drivability problems.
3. Two new tires should be fitted to the rear of the vehicle. this implies the partially-worn tires would be kept or moved to the front. Why? you wish your full tread depth, maximum traction pair of tires at the rear axle of the vehicle to forestall a loss of control. (Think an unintentional version of the oversteer image above.)

What are the causes of High Front Tire Wear?
Causes of High Front Tire Wear:
Under normal driving circumstances with a front-wheel-drive vehicle (passenger cars, minivans, etc.), the front tires will wear at a rather higher rate than the rear tires.
Similar to the case of a rear-wheel-drive performance vehicle, although to not the identical extent. The front tires are called on to manage all the drivetrain forces in an exceedingly front-wheel-drive arrangement. Front tire wear is further advanced because the front tires handle the majority of the steering and braking forces.
Tire rotation is that the solution to even tire wears in a very front-wheel-drive vehicle. Most front-wheel-drive passenger cars have a square tire setup, which allows for front to rear tire rotations.
If tire rotations are occurring and your front (or rear) tires are experiencing a disproportionate amount of damage in an exceedingly front-wheel-drive vehicle – especially uneven wear across the front tires – then inflation, alignment, and/or suspension issues are the likely causes.
Examples:
- Underinflated tires will develop high go down the surface edges.
- Overinflated tires will develop high wear within the center of the tread.
- Toe wear and camber wear will manifest in high go down the within or outside tread blocks of the tires.
- Cupping wear may be a sign of tired or broken suspension components.
If you’re experiencing high, uneven front or rear tire wear, first rule out improper inflation because of the cause. Take a look at knowing your tire pressure for guidance. If tire pressures are within specification, then alignment and/or suspension issues are the likely culprits.
How to Understand Tire Wear?
Understanding Tire Wear:
Tire tread wear can tell you plenty about a couple of suspensions. Most specifically, it can tell you if the angles, inflation, and components are within specification. Here are the foremost common tread wear patterns and what causes them.
Over-inflated Tires:
Tire treadwear within the center of the tread pattern tells you that the inflation patterns are too high. An excessive amount of pressure can cause the contact patch to shrink and also the center of the tire to hold the whole load.
Under-inflated Tires:
Tire tread goes down the perimeters of a tire will typically indicate inflation pressures are not up to specified. When a tire is under-inflated, the contact patch grows, and also the load is carried by the skin edges of the patch.
Tire Feathering:
The indicator of excessive positive or negative toe angle could be a tire feathering or scuffing that may be detected by stroking your fingertips across the sting of every tread bar or tread block. A feather edge on the within of the tread bar indicates excess toe-in, while a feather edge on the skin of the tread bar indicates toe-out. Because toe angle is littered with changes in camber and caster angles, it’s always the last angle to be adjusted during the wheel alignment process. Also, any change in camber or caster angles will immediately change the toe angle. Toe angle geometry may be greatly littered with changes in suspension height.
Scalloped Tires:
Cupped or scalloped dips appearing around the surface of the tire tread wear could indicate loose, worn, or bent suspension parts. Worn shock absorbers or unbalanced tires can even cause cupping, but the cupping would typically be more indicative of a concentric pattern. Shocks and struts are the foremost likely culprit because they supply damping force to manage tire movement. When the tires move excessively, the scalloped pattern can appear. An absence of rotation can cause this condition.
Outer-Edge Tread Wear:
Treadwear on the environs of a tire is rare nowadays, but it does happen. Positive camber, caster, and toe can cause wane the outer reaches. If you see the edge go down one side, check the thrust and setback.
But, it should be noted, the leading reason behind border wane modern vehicles is over-enthusiastic cornering.
Inner-Edge Tread Wear:
Inner-edge tire tread wear is that the most typical tread wears problem most technicians see. The angles causing this sort of damage are typically negative toe and camber. For parts, there are three component sources of the inner-edge tread wear: bushings, springs, and loads.
Bushings:
Ozone, extreme temperatures, and other atmospheric issues tend to destroy rubber bushings and cause the alignment angles to vary. Some vehicles have hydraulic bushings on the rear lower control arms. Some bushings will leak once they fail. When a bushing within the rear fails, the additional movement causes the wheels to toe out and also the chamber to travel negatively.
Springs:
As a suspension compresses and rebounds, the alignment angles change. Engineers tune alignment angles for a particular ride height to maximize handling and tire tread wear. If spring can now not support the vehicle, the alignment angles will suffer. Most engineers tune the suspension to toe out when the rear suspension compresses. This increases vehicle stability. But, it also causes the inner-edge tread wear. Springs are fabricated from metal that’s heat-treated but can still fatigue. This includes leaf, coil, and torsion bar springs. If you see a vehicle that needs considerable adjustments for camber on both wheels of the identical axle, inspect the springs.
Loads:
Loads within the rear of the vehicle will cause changes to toe, caster, and camber within the front (and possibly the rear). The camber and caster will become positive within the front, and if the vehicle has an independent rear suspension, the chamber will become negative and it’ll be toed out. this might cause outside-edge tire treadwear within the front and inside-edge treadwear within the rear.
Which Tires Wear Faster – Front Or Rear?
Tire Wear:
In a perfect automotive world, all four tires would always wear evenly, and you’d never visit the tire shop, hat in hand, avoiding eye contact, sheepishly fessing up about your uneven tire wear while the tire techs shame you (oh yeah, it is just that dramatic).
But seriously, if you’ve ever experienced uneven tire wear, you’re not alone. Uneven tire wear between the front and rear tires could be a pretty common occurrence.
What are the causes of accelerated front and rear tire wear and is there anything you’ll be able to do to avoid this dreaded uneven wear scenario? Here’s the news.
Maximize overall tire wear:
Before diving into the causes of uneven tire wear between the front and rear tires, let’s ensure that you’re on a path to understanding a way to maximize overall tire wear in the first place.
In most cases, the first causes of premature tire wear — irrespective of the front, rear, left or right, or spare (think about it…) — should do with user error and an absence of tire awareness, or vehicle alignment/suspension component issues.
Tires don’t seem to be like other automotive components in this they operate optimally and indefinitely, without monitoring or user involvement. They also depend upon the mechanical soundness of ancillary component systems to wear properly.
If the front or rear tires, or any particular tire isn’t addressed PRN to maximize tread life, then premature tire wear is probable.

What are the causes of high Rear Tire Wear?
Causes of High Rear Tire Wear:
High decline the rear tires are typical, even expected on sports cars and high powered, high-performance coupes and sedans.
With all of the drivetrain forces being sent to simply the rear wheels, the rear tires bear the burden of transferring that power to the pavement. Of course, more power will exacerbate the wear and tear situation, especially if the rear tires are regularly called upon to harness that power.
Further stress is targeted on the rear tires of performance cars because they have a tendency more toward an oversteer balance than a typical car. This suggests that the rear axle is more often “in play” during cornering and maneuvering, which again puts a disproportionate burden of traction management onto those rear tires.
If you drive a rear-wheel-drive performance vehicle with a square tire setup, then regular, even, accelerated tire rotation protocols between the front and rear axles can work to even out your tire wear situation.
If your tires are staggered, then minimizing rear tire wear comes all the way down to maintaining proper inflation, alignment, and keeping that right foot under control.
If none of this applies to your situation, but you’re still experiencing high rear tire wear, then inflation, alignment, or suspension issues are likely causes.
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1 Comment
Thank you for explaining that uneven tire wear could be because of vehicle alignment or suspension issues. I’ve noticed that our car has been wearing unevenly across all of our tires. I’ll be sure to check this out along with a few of your other suggestions for what may be going wrong.