Have you looked at your tires lately and they seem to be a bit worn down? Is the tread on your tires looking mighty low? Are you finding that your car doesn’t seem to have very good traction in many situations? Well, if any of these are the case then you may need to head to your local auto shop for a new tire replacement. But, before you do this you can probably diagnose the problem yourself by taking a few steps and looking at your tires in detail.

Your tires will naturally wear down and eventually need to be replaced simply from the stress and friction with the road, but if you have irregular tire wear on your tires, or on a particular tire or part of the tire, then this may indicate issues with alignment, improper tire inflation or bad driving habits. And, if any of these are the case you will want to make sure that you rectify the situation to avoid having new tires wear out in the same way and costing you more money at the local auto shop.

So, here are a few tips to identify the problem. It’s all about where the wear is (so to speak). So, you’re going to need to get a bit dirty and get down on all fours and observe where the tread on your tires is most worn down. This is the only real way to figure out whether the issue is one that is caused by an alignment problem or underinflation or whatever. Of course, if you are not the DIY-type you could always bring your car into the auto shop and have your auto technician take a look at it. But, for this post we’ll assume that you want to do a little bit of the diagnosing yourself.

Some irregular wear problems stem from improperly inflated tires. If you notice that the edges of your tires are worn, this indicates that your tires are underinflated so you’ll want to add a bit more air. If, on the other hand the center is where they are most worn, then they are probably overinflated. Make sure to check the owner’s manual to see what they optimum PSI is for inflating your tires.

If you notice wear on your tires that is very one-sided (either outside or inside), this indicates an alignment problem. You probably don’t want to mess with trying to realign your wheels, so its best to bring your car into the local auto shop for an auto technician to have a look. In addition, if you notice erratic or randomly placed wear, this could indicate a problem with your shocks. If, instead, what you see is only the edges of your front tires are worn, this indicates that you may need to slow down on those curves to avoid having to replace your tires more frequently.

We hope this post was helpful and that you can identify what the issue is with irregular wear on your tires. If you need any help, stop by and an auto technician at Fort Collins Foreign Car Service will be happy to take a look for you.