How Does Tire Tread Affect Ride Quality?
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Causes of Tire Tread Wear
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Tire treads wear down for a wide variety of reasons. Normal driving wears down the treads slowly, as the rubber rubs against the pavement hundreds of thousands of times. The balance of the car can cause the tires to wear down even faster...and unevenly. In a front-wheel drive car, the engine and most of the weight is in the front, wearing out the front tire treads faster than the rear ones. Turning wears out the outside wheels faster than the inside ones. Bumping into curbs, taking long curving freeway entries, driving on rough back roads, and sudden stops and starts can all take their toll on the tire treads. If tires are rotated and replaced in a timely manner, the driver should not notice the tread affecting the ride quality. If they are not rotated, however, the tires can damage the car's handling.
Tire Wear
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As the tire treads wear down, they make the ride more bumpy. Tires typically do not wear completely evenly, and small irregularities in the shape make the car bounce and jolt around more. In addition, there is less rubber on the wheels, providing less cushioning over jolts and bumps. Worn down tires also don't grip as well, particularly on rough surfaces or in rainy weather. New tires have channels in them to direct rain water out from under the tire and prevent hydroplaning. If the tire wears down too far, these channels become dangerously shallow, and the car starts to lose grip on wet roads.
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Uneven Wear
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In order to prevent uneven wear, the front and rear tires occasionally need to be swapped. This process is called tire rotation, and it is recommended about once every 4,000 miles. If the tires are not rotated, they can wear unevenly, leading to additional problems. The car may not stay in alignment well, or it may handle unevenly, gripping better when turning in one direction than the other. It may become difficult to control, further exacerbating the problems of normal tire wear.
Specialized Tread
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The tires on most cars are all-season radials. They are a sort of compromise tire. They provide good driving on wet and dry roads, and provide enough traction to run on gravel or unimproved dirt roads. Race cars generally use special tires called "slicks." These tires are completely smooth, allowing them more contact with the road. This lets them grip to the road extremely well for quick starts and stops and high speed turns. Slicks, however, have no channels to divert water from under the tread. If the road is wet, the car hydroplanes out of control. Summer high performance tires behave in a similar way to slicks. They perform very well in dry weather, but they are not safe in the rain or snow. On the other end are snow and off-road tires. Both kinds are designed to provide extra traction on slippery or uneven surfaces. When they are on flat roads, however, these tires give a bumpy ride. They are safe to use on the road, but don't grip as well at high speeds as all-season tires.
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