Tire cupping and uneven wear

[SpeedlabDan]

Trolled!

 

[sweetk30]

 

[ChrisPerry]

In my experience, the reason fronts wear that way is that they experience braking force only. The tread blocks deform slightly when braking, wearing the front side of the block more.

Imagine dragging a stick on the ground, it doesnt stay pointed straight down, as you move forward it wears more on the leading side.

They show it more on the sides because the tires lean slightly when turning. Ackerman angle has an effect also.

Rears don't do it because they see both directions of force due to acceleration forces as well as braking. Now this is only on a rear wheel drive vehicle, front wheel drive tend to do it to the rears instead.

 

[SpeedlabDan]

In my experience, the reason fronts wear that way is that they experience braking force only. The tread blocks deform slightly when braking, wearing the front side of the block more.

Imagine dragging a stick on the ground, it doesnt stay pointed straight down, as you move forward it wears more on the leading side.

They show it more on the sides because the tires lean slightly when turning. Ackerman angle has an effect also.

Rears don't do it because they see both directions of force due to acceleration forces as well as braking. Now this is only on a rear wheel drive vehicle, front wheel drive tend to do it to the rears instead.

That was my initial thought but it seems to wear a lot more on the intermediate lugs and I'd think it would take a lot of braking to do this and I've only done highway driving for the most part but I'm not ruling it out. Just seems like it's odd to wear one lug and not the one next to it

 

[ChrisPerry]

I would think the smaller lug wears faster because there is less material there to start with. With less surface area to support the same weight, it deforms more, accelerating the wear.

Might not be true, but it makes sense in my mind.

Every set of tires I've had, has worn this way only on the front. On my D-max the rears do it the opposite way, but that's because I drive sporty with it.

If I do regular tire rotations, they wear nice and even.