Uneven wear on tyres - NCT?

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Caveat

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Hi

Just noticed that 2 tyres are fairly badly worn about 1 cm in from the edge - the rest of the tyre is in very good condition (all tyres 1 year old).

Obviously there is an alignment/tracking problem which I will sort.
NCT due next week though - people have mentioned swapping the tyres around etc.

What do people think - am I likely to fail and simply need new tyres and that's it?
 
Hi
Had that problem with my front tyres too and I thought that the problem was the alignment I spoke to a neighbour who is a mechanic and he told me that it was the balancing of the tyre, brought it to a tyre centre and they agreed.
I changed mine ones. They didn't think it would pass the NCT.
 
it will fail NCT even if you swap them around. In the course of the NCT the car will go on a lift and it will be noticed. Best bet is to get new ones.
 
OK thanks - I'll maybe see what the tyre centre say. I've since been advised of a crowd who are good to deal with.
 
Hi Caveat, obviously a bit late with this post...
The edge wear on your tyres, if not due to alignment, is most definitely due to underinflation. In virtually all cars, the placard pressure is set at 32psi but i see in a lot of cars that this is too low. My Cee'd SW is a case in point. It's front and rear pressures are 32 psi. At this pressure the front tyre looked like it was almost flat and after a few thousand on them, started to wear a lot on the edges. I bumped them up to 45psi (max sidewall of 51) and the wear has evened out and i have NO LOSS in grip, wet or dry (i have tested extensively). Also, the car doesn't feel like its about to tear the front tires off the rim when cornering. They used to scrub up to halfway up the sidewalls. Not much tread there IMO! Have a look at this link:
And here:http://www.stevemunden.com/friction.html
The latter refers to motorbikes but the rules of physics surely apply to cars too no?!
How are your new tyres wearing?

ollie
 
There's lots of things that can cause uneven tyre wear,it also depends on whether its the inner or outer edge of the tyre.From leaking shocks,worn suspension bushes,tyre pressures,toe/camber settings,wrong size wheels.....etc

Also i seen a car go through the NCT two weeks ago and the tyre sidewalls were in a bad state but the owner put it through anyway and it passed.If you have good thread on 3/4 surface area of the tyre and depending on the wear it might pass.
 
Absolutely. But if all is ok with the car, the outside deges of the tyres will still, on most vehicles, wear more than the rest. Underiflation. Trust me. And now that cars are getting heavier, wear on the sidewalls is happening. Thats dangerous as there is no tread there so no grip in the wet and you run the risk of pulling the tyre off the rim. Disaster! Also the sidewalls are thinner and will be damaged if they are rubbing the road during turns. It seems to me that 32psi is a magic number or something! From small cars to big ones, 32psi is supposed to hold them up. Doesn't wash with me im afraid.

ollie
 
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