Tire tracks as evidence

DEFINITION: Impressions left by vehicle tires on semisoft surfaces.

SIGNIFICANCE: Tire tracks are often found at crime scenes, and analysis of such tracks can provide important information for investigators. Tracks can reveal the size and weight of a vehicle as well as the brand, model, and size of the tire; these details may link a suspect’s vehicle to a crime scene.

By examining tire tracks, forensic investigators can determine the distance between two or more wheels of a vehicle, which can allow them to estimate the size, weight, and wheelbase of the vehicle. In addition to this information, the tread impressions that tires leave in soft soil, mud, dust, or snow reveal identifiable patterns: solid design elements interspersed with grooves. In addition to impressions, tire tracks can be skid marks, yaw marks, or scurf marks. Databases containing pictures of the thousands of different tread designs in existence are widely available, and forensic investigators can use these to find matches for the tire tread impressions found at crime scenes. By finding a tire tread match, investigators can deduce the brand, style, and size of the tire, which also gives them a general idea of the type of vehicle on which the tire is likely mounted.

Because tires on motor vehicles do not wear evenly, they develop unique use patterns If a suspect’s vehicle is located, wear patterns seen in tire impressions from the crime scene can be compared to wear patterns on the vehicle’s tires, often with enough accuracy to identify the vehicle positively as having been at the crime scene.

Forensic scientists record tire tread impressions by photographing them or by preserving them using casting, lifting, or advanced digital recording methods like photogrammetric methods and three-dimensional optical and laser scanning depending on the nature of the impression and surface. Photography is usually the method of choice when the impressions are shallow and tracks at the scene are not confusingly overlapped. Photographs are first taken of the general scene, to place the location of the tracks in context. A ruler is then placed parallel to each tread impression plane to indicate scale, and close-up photographs (overhead shots) are taken. When impressions are photographed in snow, they are first gently sprayed with a product called Snow Print Wax or colored spray paint to increase contrast.

Casting is a method of making a three-dimensional copy of an impression. This is the method of choice for deep or confusing impressions. Powdered casting material (gypsum cement) is mixed with water and gently poured into the impression. After the material dries, it is removed from the scene and cleaned by technicians. The resulting cast can then be compared to tires in the tire design database or to tires on a suspect’s vehicle. Three-dimensional optical scanning is used for recording tire impressions in snow. Impressions scanned through three-dimensional models show high accuracy even in different types of snow and under varied meteorological conditions. Courts generally admit tire impression photographs, casts, and three-dimensional models that match a suspect’s vehicle as physical evidence that the vehicle was present at the crime scene.  

The use of tire tracks as evidence is sometimes criticized by forensic investigators, some of whom consider the process of collecting and matching tire patterns to be difficult and unreliable. Unlike deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) evidence or other definitive processes, computer programs and scientific practices cannot definitively state whether a casting matches a particular tire. Instead, investigators must work to identify unique features, such as damage from a nail within a tread pattern, and argue that such unique features suggest that a casting or photograph is a match.

Bibliography

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Zhang, Song, et al. “Development of a Portable 3D Scanning System for Capturing Shoe and Tire Impressions.” Office of Justice Programs, National Criminal Justice Reference Service, Oct. 2020, www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/255633.pdf. Accessed 16 Jan. 2026.