Tires: Tire tread wear, Tire Wear

Question
hi, recently i went shopping for a used suv, i found one that fits my budget but the two front tires had some wear on the outer sidewalls. My mechanic says that its due to a problem with the steering column and that the vehicle was probably in an accident. Is this plausible?

Answer
Robert,

You should be aware that steering tires tend to wear on the shoulders and drive tires tend to wear in the center.

So if the tires aren't rotated, a RWD will how this wear, and a FWD will be even because the steer tires and the drive tires are the same tires.

But wear on this only on the outer shoulders is dues to misalignment and one of the causes is an accident.

However, wear on the sidewall may indicate the tire was run flat, the tire rubbed against a curb, the alignment is quite severe (You ought to be able to see this!), or some other problem - some of which can be caused by an accident.