Uneven tyre wear and what the pattern is telling you
6 min readBy Wheel Fit
The short answer: even wear across the tread is normal. Anything else has a cause, and fitting a new tyre without fixing it just wears out the new one the same way.
Reading the pattern
| Where it is wearing | Usual cause |
|---|---|
| Both edges, centre still good | Under-inflation. The tyre bows inward so the shoulders carry the load. |
| Centre strip, edges still good | Over-inflation. The middle is doing all the work. |
| One edge only | Wheel alignment — camber or toe out of specification. |
| Feathered — tread blocks sharp on one side, rounded on the other | Toe misalignment. You can feel it by running a hand across the tread. |
| Patchy or scalloped (cupping) | Worn suspension components, or a persistent imbalance. |
| Flat spot in one place | Heavy braking with a locked wheel, or long-term standing. |
Under and over-inflation
Together these are the most common cause, and the easiest to fix. A monthly cold pressure check costs nothing and eliminates two of the six patterns above. See checking pressures properly.
Alignment
Alignment goes out through pothole strikes, kerbing and general wear. The classic symptoms are the car pulling to one side on a flat road, or the steering wheel sitting off-centre when you are going straight.
Alignment is a wheel-off-the-car workshop job with proper measuring equipment, so it is not something we do at the roadside. But we will tell you when the wear pattern points at it, because otherwise you will be buying tyres again far too soon.
Cupping and suspension
A scalloped, wavy wear pattern usually means the tyre is not being held firmly against the road — worn dampers or bushes letting the wheel bounce. It often comes with a droning noise that changes with speed.
New tyres will quieten it briefly and then develop the same pattern.
The inner edge problem
Wear on the inner shoulder is easy to miss because you cannot see it without turning the wheels to full lock or getting underneath. It is also common, particularly on cars with negative camber at the rear.
Worth checking specifically: turn the steering to full lock and look at the inside shoulder of the front tyres. People fail MOTs on inner-edge wear they had no idea was there.
What to do
- Check and correct pressures. Re-inspect in a few hundred miles.
- If a single edge is wearing, get the alignment checked.
- If it is cupped or scalloped, get the suspension looked at.
- Only then fit new tyres.
If the tyre is already below the legal limit at any point across the measured band, it needs replacing now, and the cause investigating afterwards.
