Strange tire wear

[culdbbi]

What would cause a wear pattern like this? Only on the driver's front. Has been like 10k miles between rotation, and didn't wear flat once rotated to a drive wheel.

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[AustinL911]

Its hard to judge from the pics, but are you referring to the treads with 3 sipes appearing shorter than the rest? I don't have a solid answer other than to tell you that my STT Pros (front tires only) also do this if I go longer than about 5k miles between rotations. I suspect it has something to do carrying the weight of the engine and, perhaps, different compounds per tread. This is a straight guess and I have no idea if that's even possible with tires, but it kind of appears that way.

Curious to hear if anyone has a legit answer.

 

[culdbbi]

Its hard to judge from the pics, but are you referring to the treads with 3 sipes appearing shorter than the rest?

Yes it skips like every other row. Just curious why only the one tire. Seems like the one that moved to this location did the same thing in 5k miles, just not as severe.

 

[Commodus]

What would cause a wear pattern like this? Only on the driver's front. Has been like 10k miles between rotation, and didn't wear flat once rotated to a drive wheel.

Unfortunately from what I have seen is that once a wear pattern like this has started you will never get it to wear correctly. Most common reason is lack of rotation or an out of balance tire or weak shock

 

[AustinL911]

Yes it skips like every other row. Just curious why only the one tire. Seems like the one that moved to this location did the same thing in 5k miles, just not as severe.

How did you rotate them the last time? Did you by chance swap one of the fronts to the other side and the other front tire to the rear? Basically, I'm curious if the driver's side was on the passenger side before the previous rotation and has been on the front twice as long.

 

[culdbbi]

How did you rotate them the last time? Did you by chance swap one of the fronts to the other side and the other front tire to the rear? Basically, I'm curious if the driver's side was on the passenger side before the previous rotation and has been on the front twice as long.

The dealer did the rotation, so it should have come from the back.

 

[Volt0]

I can’t tell from the pics; is the wear uneven from left to right ? I.e. are the treads shollower as you get to the outer edges ( maybe indicating too much toe in )?

 

[DylanM]

You have cupping wear. Tire imbalance, worn suspension/shocks, misaligned wheels, improper inflation are all possible causes for this type of wear. Since it seems the tire mounted location plays a role in your situation, I'd lean toward misalignment or suspension/shock wear as the likely cause.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Feathered across the tread left to right is toe. (running your hand left to right or right to left across the face of the tire tread)

Feathered or saw tooth around the perimeter (especially the outer treads) is underinflation.
(running your hand around the tire, either direction, especially on the outer part of the tread)

 

[ShadowsPapa]

You have cupping wear. Tire imbalance, worn suspension/shocks,

Yeah, because imbalance or bad shocks allow the tire to hop.
Typically - like someone already said - you won't see the wear even out by rotating. Once certain wear patterns start - they go the life of the tire.

 

[Rocksalt]

I have similar wear... had shocks replaced and alignment done... rotated tires every 5k.. Gonna get new shoes before winter. 40k on the tires.

 

[mrmo]

Proper inflation, rotation at least every oil change, check alignment at a good shop, that only does alignments, make sure shocks are not worn out and suspension is tight and in good condition.

 

[culdbbi]

I maybe had them at 33lbs, but now at 35.

I mean I know people bitch about Mojave shocks, but going bad before 36k miles sucks. I'll look into an alignment. Need to fix the problem before the next set of tires.

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