Tracking would definitely rip up a tyre in this way if the tracking is out, the wheel (tyre) could be pointing to one side causing the tyre to "scrub."
A shock absorber fault would show up as bare patches on the main part of the tread as the suspension would be "bouncing" the wheel and causing irregular contact with the road.
I agree that the suspension should be checked as checking the tracking with a worn track rod end, ball joint, or bush would be completely pointless.
Thanks for all the advice, booking it in shortly and cycling to work currently despite freezing temperatures!
One quick question - there's a very handy Halfords autocentre nearby, as in literally two minutes down the road. I know there are horror stories with these types of places (Kwik Fit etc) - would they be okay to do something fairly straight forward like tracking though? They've got the tyres I was looking at for the same price as Black Circles, and will align the wheels for £30 at the same time which would make things easier than taking to my garage afterwards....
What make of tyre is it?
Budget tyres, not a brand i've heard of but can't remember of the top of my head.
There is a direction marker in the middle of the picture and I think you're onto something, it looks like a rear wheel arch.
Sorry meant to say earlier, on in the correct way, front wheel arch.
Any opinions on Halfords for tracking? Not sure how complicated a job it is...
Also, do I need 2 or 4 wheel tracking?
Just to add to the mystery, the same problem appears to be effecting both the inside and outside edges.
Any further ideas? From my limited knowledge I thought that tracking issues usually affected one edge, rather than both...
Dot code?
Tracking would often show up on one edge. It could have other alignment problems. Tracking is just front toe.
I did look for this but couldn't find anything similar. I've attached photos of all the markings I can see? Sorry for the poor quality of the last one.
Any good? The tyre brand is a Fulda, which a quick google suggests is not quite as cheap as I originally presumed. The other tyre is much worse in terms of wear - probably around 3-4mm left. Could this, or under inflation be the cause? They're also very clearly marked as winter tyres...
I also noticed as I looked that there's some flaking of the tread in the central portion of the tyre too. Not as bad, and difficult to take a photo of, but definitely present. I've spent a long time looking at photos of tyres on google images tonight, and haven't spotted anything similar. Any other ideas?