Uneven tire wear can happen at any time in the life of a vehicle. If your Nissan Caravan is experiencing this situation, taking corrective action when you first notice it is important. Otherwise, you may end up needing a new set of tires.
Nissan Caravan Uneven Tire Wear Causes
There are a few conditions that can lead your Caravan’s tires to wear unevenly. The majority of the time, it’s going to be a problem with the alignment. Although, we recommend checking the tire pressure first. If the tire pressure has been off for a long enough period of time, the tires will wear in the center or the edges. There’s more on that below.
Alignment Issues
The alignment of your Nissan Caravan’s tires is set to balance these two factors:
- Tire Wear
- Handling
When your vehicle leaves the factory, the engineers who designed it have the alignment set to be the best possible combination of tire wear and handling. As your Caravan’s suspension deals with everyday abuse, the wheels can be thrown out of alignment.
When this happens, your Caravan’s tires will not wear evenly. Handling usually suffers as well.
Camber Angle
The camber angle is how straight up and down your tires are. If they were completely up and down, the tire would make its best contact with the road whenever you are going straight. That’s not when tires need to make their best contact.
Tires need to make their best contact with the road while cornering. This is where camber angle comes in. Camber makes sure that this occurs by always leaving the tires angled slightly for cornering.
When you have too much camber, one side of the tire wears faster than the other, since that side is in contact with the road.
Toe
When your Nissan Caravan leave the factory, its toe settings are adjusted for the best performance and longevity. The toe angle is the degrees in that your Caravan’s tires face each other, or the degrees out in which they face out from one another.
When the toe angle is off, only the very edge of the tire usually wears out. Here’s a good diagram that shows what toe angle is.
Overinflated Tires
If your tires are worn in the center, but the tread looks pretty good on the sides, that’s a classic case of overinflated tires. On the inside of your Caravan’s driver side door there should be a sticker. That sticker will have the proper tire inflation amounts for your exact year and model. Make sure that is the level that you inflate the tires too.
Under-inflated Tires
When your Caravan’s tires are worn on the edges, that indicates that the tires are under-inflated. Just like with the over inflated tires, look at the door panel, get the proper PSI number for your exact vehicle, and air them up accordingly.
Suspension Problems
If your Caravan’s suspension components are worn out, it can cause some strange tire wear patterns. It can cause a condition known as cupping. If you were to look at your tires, they would have diagonal wear marks in them. This is a serious issue, and you should bring it in to a mechanic right away.
Conclusion
Good luck seeing what’s causing your Caravan’s tires to wear unevenly. If the pressure looks good, go ahead and bring it in to an alignment shop to have them take a look at it. If there is anything you would like to add, please leave a comment below. Good luck!