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If you notice your car starting to pull to one side or the other when you’re driving, or your tires are looking a bit worn down, there’s a good chance you have abnormal tire wear. So what should you do about it? Fortunately, when it comes to tire problems, Tire Butler has you covered.
Why is Checking Tire Wear Important?
Car tires are important components of every vehicle. You cannot entirely use the car without its tires. So, to keep your car from running smoothly throughout the years, it is important to keep the tires in good shape and condition. If you’re still wondering why regularly checking the tires is important, here are some ideas you must consider.
- For safety precautions on every trip, it is important to check your tires’ condition. First, check if the tires are worn-out and need replacement. This prevents accidents on the road since the tires might lose control due to a lack of gripping ability, especially when driving on a wet and slippery road.
- Regular checking of tires is important since it will tell us when to replace them or if you need to perform maintenance work on some of their components. As a result, you can prevent further damage and keep the vehicle running smoothly.
- The tread of your tires has the gripping ability. If the tire is already worn-out, it wouldn’t be deep enough. And if it’s not deep enough, your vehicle might lose contraction, leading to further braking.
- Checking the tires’ condition before a long trip is essential since worn tires have higher chance of compromising your travel plans. In addition, worn-out tires without proper inflation pressure are dangerous on long rides and can cause damage to the tires. These tires will put any passenger at risk, so we might as well check regularly and prevent accidents.
3 DIFFERENT TYPES OF ABNORMAL TIRE WEAR
Learning the different types of abnormal tire wear will give you the idea of how to examine the tires when you do regular checking. By this, you can also perform immediate car maintenance or repairs. It is also a good driving practice to observe and be aware of these types so you won’t get in trouble in the middle of the road. Here are three types of abnormal tire wear that you should be aware of.
1. Heel/Toe Tire Wear – This is a type of abnormal tire wear where the tire is unevenly positioned, or there is a misalignment with the wheel, which makes the tire tread wear on the other side. You can know if it is toe weariness when you touch the tires, and they feel like saw teeth. We refer to the “toe wear” as the angle pointing inward or outward the tire structure when looking in a top-down view. Toe tire weariness affects the direct control of the car, its turning response, and tire tread life. There are three types of Toe Tire Wear:
- Toe-in: tires on the same axle are closer together in front but wide apart at the back.
- Toe-out: wheels are wider apart in front than at the back.
- Zero Toe: the distance between the wheels in front is the same as that of the wheels at the back of the center axle.
2. Feather Edge Tire Wear – This happens when the tire is underinflated, which causes the edges of the tire to drag along the road. This is also a cause of lower tread ribs on one side of the tire and oppositely higher on the other. You can check feather-edged tire wear problems by running your hands through the tires. When the tread ribs of the tires are rounded on one side but sharper on the other, that only means that one side is worn out.
Most cars that are under inflated and have multiple misalignment settings like extreme toe and caster have feather edge tire wear patterns. It can also be due to a bent axle beam. Some cars with minor tire problems like this can be repaired but severe feather edge tire wear needs a replacement for safety. For car tiring services, a mechanic can adjust the wheel alignment or adjust some mechanical faults properly.
3. One-Sided Shoulder Tire Wear – This type of tire wear is also known as “camber wear” where there is an irregularity in the tread shoulder rib. The inside and outside shoulder rib of your tires’ thread is significantly worn out than the center part of the tread. The camber tells us the angle of the tire on a flat road, whether it is leaning towards or outward the center of the car.
How does one-sided shoulder tire wear or camber wear happen? The tire’s camber is used to distribute loads on the entire tread. When the camber is not properly aligned, the tires’ tread will wear out on one edge and will uncontrollably pull the vehicle to that side. This can be a dangerous driving response, especially when driving in one-lane traffic.
Another cause of this tire abnormality is due to the tires’ pressure and worn suspension components. Whatever the cause of this one-sided shoulder tire wear, get a professional car mechanic to adjust the camber angle and create balance with the four wheels.
WHAT CAUSES EARLY WEAR OUT OR IRREGULAR TIRE WEAR?
Not all cars and vehicles wear out at the same rate. It will still depend on the daily performance and utility of the car. For example, sports car tires are quickly worn out since they are used for high-performance driving compared to an average family sedan. We must recognize various factors regarding the cause of early wear out or irregular tire weariness.
Inflation Pressure Problems
When a car is not properly inflated, or there are inflation problems that you have not seen, the chances of a worn-out or uneven tire are higher. Therefore, car tire manufacturers always include a tire inflation pressure sign on every tire surface. This not only serves as a guide to the optimization of the driving performance and how much fuel can be refilled, but it also serves as an inflation pressure indicator.
If the car tire pressure is quite low or too high, the contact patch of the tread is not effective or sufficient to handle various driving controls. This irregularity on the tires’ tread makes the tire wear out easily.
Incorrect Tire Alignment
If the car’s steering and suspension are not correctly aligned with the tire or wheel, then there are possibilities of uneven tires caused by the wheel’s uncontrolled motion. A properly aligned tire should always consider the angles of the tire with respect to the center axle of the car and other parameters like the camber, toe, and caster. If your car is incorrectly aligned, the tire will definitely become uneven and might lead to different types of abnormal tire wear.
Do not settle for worn-out tires! Now is the time to get your tires replaced with new and high-quality custom tire models at Tire Butler, the best Tire company services in town.
Looking for some tire changing services, rim repairs, and other tire-related service works? Schedule your appointment today!
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