What causes uneven tire wear?
Answered by Super Tire & Muffler · Updated July 1, 2026
Short answer
Uneven tire wear comes down to four common causes: incorrect tire pressure, wheel alignment that is out of spec, worn suspension parts, and skipped rotations. The pattern tells the story: center wear means overinflation, wear on both edges means underinflation, one worn edge points to alignment, and cupping or scalloped dips point to worn shocks or struts.
The four usual suspects
Alignment is the most common. When camber or toe is out of spec, one edge of the tread scrubs the road harder than the rest and wears down first. Pressure is next: an underinflated tire rides on its outer shoulders and wears both edges, while an overinflated tire bulges in the middle and wears the center strip.
Worn suspension parts (shocks, struts, ball joints, bushings) let the tire hop and tilt instead of staying planted, which chews the tread in patches. And skipped rotations simply let the hardest-working positions, usually the drive wheels, wear out ahead of the others.
How to read the wear pattern
One edge worn: alignment. Both edges worn: underinflation. Center worn: overinflation. Cupping or scalloped dips around the tread: worn shocks or struts. A feathered, sawtooth edge you can feel by running a hand across the tread: toe misalignment. One tire noticeably lower than the other three: rotations were skipped, or that corner has a problem of its own.
Why it is worth fixing early
Uneven wear is the symptom, not the disease. New tires bolted onto the same bad alignment or tired struts will wear the same way, so it pays to find the cause while the current set still has life. If you are near Cortland or Trumbull County, we can measure the tread across each tire and tell you exactly what the pattern says. The tread check is free.