If the previous owner of our car was say ‘a little on the heavy side’ and never carried passengers, would the front driver’s side tyre be more worn than the others?

Bimbo question I know, however all the other tyres are fine with plenty of tread.

It’s a possibility but would need to be pretty heavy !
and in a very small car.

Would be more likely that the tracking/camber etc was out.
Or maybe a worn/broken shock absorber.

Thanks

No, unlikely it would make any appreciable difference. More likely to be cheapskate maintenance – fit 2 new tyes, use the spare, leave the least worst tyre on – or the issues above.

Depends on the car, the seating layout and a few other things but not to an extent that you can measure over it’s lifetime.

Car’s a V50. Spare is a spacesaver, so not that. Other three tyres worn pretty evenly.

It’s possible that the original tyre was damaged and the owner replaced it with a part-worn (rather than doing a pair).

Reckon he replaced the front nearside tyre at one stage most likely due to an unrepairable puncture.

Yep, from previous (& recent 🙁 ) experience, I’d agree with nealglover – tracking & wheel balance would be worth checking first (could be other things, but they’re most likely).

FWIW, we bought a small 4×4 that’d previously been owned by a ‘big-boned’ person/manatee – the tyre wear was even all round….just a shame all the suspension bushes and drivers seat were completely kna**ered….oh, and even with no-one in it, the car always had a slight lean to the right when viewed from behind.

oops, just read ‘part worn’ replies – yeah, could also be that.

You could also check the date codes on the sidewall, if its the same as the others then its more likely to be an alignment problem. If its different, its probably a part-worn, or was the best tyre and wasn’t replaced with the other three.

See here: (not a UK site, but the info is the same)
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=11

Sorry another question.

We have winter tyres now, so would the garage have re-aligned to correct the problem (last week) when swapping them over, along with tracking and wheel balance?

Probably not. Were the tires on different rims (in which case almost certainly not) or did they need to fit winters to same rims (in which they hopefully checked the balancing but probably not the alignment) Did you ask them to check the tracking?

Same rims, and I asked over the phone before booking, would the money include balancing, the reply was yes.
However being a lady, I know nothing about cars, so have to take their word for it. It was a tyre type garage though, family run.

Unusual for drivers side tyre to wear more. More often passenger side wears slightly more, being the outside tyre when negotiating roundabouts, also when turning right out of junctions is a bigger radius than turning left, putting the N/S under more load/wear. 😕

Tyre fitting should normally include balancing but not alignment. How old is the car? Alignment check wouldn’t be a bad idea on general principles if it’s had a decent amount of use.

If, when you go above say 50mph the steering wheel starts rattling then the tyres might be un-balanced. But balancing (how well distributed the weight of the wheel is around the axle) has little to do with alignment (are they are pointing in the same and correct direction?)

Will check tomorrow. All seemed well on the motorway yesterday.
Car is 2008.

Another thing to think about is the position of the drivers weight is never as far forward as you think. Take a look at any normal car and most of the driver weight will be getting on for half way between front an rear tyres. Made like that to provide the smoothest ride possible for the front seats as they are the most used.