Situation. In 2016 I purchased a new Ford Escape AWD. After 12,000 mikes I noticed the front tires had a slight "feathering" like pattern. Took it in to have it checked out. They assigned it to their best alignment expert, a Jag certified tech. Jag and Ford just happen to share the same service building. Tech comes out to the waiting area and explains the tire wear pattern is NOT misalignment, but a pattern he suspects is caused by braking, higher speed braking. No way did the he know that 95% of the mileage was highway, with higher speed braking. Tech completed a full 4 wheel alignment, first checking the suspension/steering and wheel bearings. Alignment required no adjustments. Everything was tight. So what gives? Tech explained that this really happens on all cars, but becomes noticeable on tires with softer rubber and deeper treads. Ex. Jags with summer tires. He rotated the tires and reset the TPMS senor locations. His advice, "If you like doing this yourself, don't wait till 12K, just follow cross pattern as described in owners manual and purchase a TPMS tool to program the ECM to know the new locations." Never got a chance to thank that tech who is now retired. Now I rotate tires on all my cars and owning a TPMS tool (Autel TS508) has made the TPMS relearn task possible. Owning Nissans now, the same tool makes it possible even if it requires an extra step via an OBD connection. To all the techs who help us home techs, I THANK YOU !!!

Guys like that are invaluable. He's right, under hard braking, your camber and toe changes, which can cause some feathering.

If they're not directional, you can also flip the tires on the wheel to extend their life.

Feathering also occurs from hard high-speed turning. Basically, if you're driving it hard, feathering can happen.