What Causes Tires to Wear Unevenly?

What causes tires to wear unevenly? Did you know your tire tread wear has a significant impact on the overall performance of your vehicle? Uneven tire tread wear can cause misalignment, impact gas mileage, and other issues. It’s important to understand what causes tires to wear unevenly to prevent the aforementioned issues. Bloomington driving conditions, your driving habits, extreme weather, and other factors cause uneven tire wear. 

Luckily, a few small precautions can go a long way toward preserving your tire’s tread. If you feel that your tires have already worn past the point of preventative maintenance, you can always schedule servicefrom your home, and we’ll install your new tires!

Why Tire Tread Wear Matters

While you drive, your tire treads grip the road, giving you control over your vehicle. When you encounter offroading conditions or inclement weather in Minnetonka, the surface of your tires needs as much contact with the road as possible. However, when your tire tread wears unevenly, portions lose contact with the road, and you lose traction, making it difficult to properly control your vehicle. Highlighted below are the two primary causes of premature wear and what you can do to avoid both. 

Uneven Tire Tread Wear from Improper Inflation

When your tires are properly inflated, all of the major moving operations of your vehicle happen seamlessly. Turning, weight distribution, braking, and other tasks take place without much effort because your car rides smoothly. However, when over or underinflation happens and the tire tread wears unevenly, you’ll notice that your vehicle feels unstable. 

These once-easy tasks become more difficult as your car faces pushback and loss of traction. As time continues, the treads wear even faster, and before you know it, you’ve got one portion with a bald patch and the other with decent treads. Keep a proper check on your tire’s inflation level, being especially mindful when the temperatures are extremely hot or cold. 

Tire Misalignment

Having your vehicle aligned is normal maintenance that, when overlooked, can cause significant challenges. When your tires aren’t aligned, steering, bearings, and joints can weaken, causing major problems in the future. However, short-term issues include uneven tire tread wear and possible blowouts. Hitting potholes, curbs, and other significant impacts will throw your vehicle out of alignment. 

Having your vehicle serviced and aligned regularly will avoid these problems and help you maintain proper control of your vehicle. Our technicians can always provide alignment and other maintenance when needed. 

Suburban Chevrolet Delivers Tire and Other Services

If you’re concerned with your vehicle’s tire tread wear or other performance issues, our service department is prepared to return your vehicle to working condition. Contact our team at Suburban Chevrolet if you’re in the Hopkins area, and we’ll have you in and out in no time!