Your Tires Are Telling On You

Hey there. I'm James with Local Tire and Wheel, and I've been doing this for... oh, twenty-five years and then some.

Today I want to talk about something I call "Your Tires Are Telling On You." Because they are. Every one of 'em.

Alright. Let's get into it.

So... bring me a worn-out tire, and I can tell you how you drive.

I'm not guessing. I'm not doing a magic trick. It's, uh... it's written right there on the rubber.

And once somebody shows you how to read it? Well. You'll never look at a tire the same way again. Sorry about that in advance.

Anyway. Here's the three things they say.

First one. Both outside edges worn down. Middle still looks... fine, actually. Looks alright.

But that tire's been driven low on air. Not flat. Just... low. And the edges end up carrying the load the middle oughta be handling. So they give out first.

Now — flip that around on me. Middle worn slick, both edges still got tread on 'em. That's too much air. Tire bulges out in the center, and it's riding down the road on a strip about... I don't know, three inches wide? Something like that.

Same tire. Opposite problem. And both of 'em are really just somebody not checking their pressure. That's it. That's the whole thing.

Okay. Third one. And this... this is the one that costs real money.

Worn on one edge only. Usually the inside edge — the one you can't see unless you get down on the ground and actually look. Which nobody does. Including me. On my own truck.

Air pressure can't do that. Only one thing does that. And that's your alignment.

So. I had a fella come in here a while back, and he was... he was certain we'd sold him junk tires. Fourteen months, they were done, and he wanted somebody to answer for it.

And honestly? Fair enough.

So I got down there. Looked at the inside shoulder. And... yeah. Worn clean down. While the rest of that tire looked damn near new.

Those were good tires. His truck had been quietly eating 'em from the inside for a year, and nobody ever thought to look.

He wasn't wrong to be mad. He was just... mad at the tires.

Oh — and there's a fourth pattern too, I almost forgot. Patches of wear, kind of scalloped? Like somebody took a little scoop out of the tread every few inches. That's usually suspension. Shocks or struts, letting the tire bounce instead of staying planted.

But look. None of this takes a professional. It takes a flashlight. And about ninety seconds.

So here's what I'd like you to do.

Next time you're out at your vehicle, get down there and look at the inside edge of your front tires. Run your hand across that tread, outside to inside, and just... feel whether it's even.

If one side's low and the other isn't? Well. Your tires have been trying to tell you something for a while now.

And you don't have to buy a thing from me to go look. Just go look.

Alright. That's all I got for you today.

Thanks for spending a few minutes with me — I hope that one was worth your while. And listen, if you do find something down there you don't like the look of, come see us. Eight stores, all of 'em right here in Arkansas, and there's real people in every one.

We're local. It's in the name.

Take care of yourself.