My Kia Sorento Kx-3 CRDi (60 plate) has just had its 25,000 mile service at my local Kia dealership.

I was surprised to be told that my two front tyres were nearly illegal and were both worn on the outside. I agreed to the purchase of new tyres but asked for the old ones to be put in the back of the car so that I could look at them.

They are certainly very worn in that area but with little other wear on the rest of the tread. The back tyres were fine and corresponded with the readings taken at the 12,500k service last year (from the same garage).

I asked for a reason for this rather unusual pattern of wear to be told that although the front tyres were slightly under inflated, it was nothing that would have caused this problem; the tracking on the vehicle was fine and that the problem was caused by the 'tow' of the wheels.

This is, apparently, the angle that the wheels operate and that because of this, 25-30,000k is usually the life of the tyre so the wear was normal. Could this be correct? It sounds very odd that a tyre should wear in this way and in a relatively short mile-span, or am I being naive?

I drive a normal amount of short journeys with one long journey of about 500 miles every 4-6 weeks. I do not drive over much rough ground and have not, to the best of my recollection, had a major brush with a kerb or pothole during the time since the previous service and this one.

The writing on the tyres that were replaced is SOLUS KL21 KUMHO if that is any help. The replacement tyres are a Bridgestone. Thanks for any light you can throw on this.