The 5-speeders can be quite notchy. The 2.0 petrol test car's was at the launch. But I ran an ECOnetic's for 13 months and that was okay. Yours can probably be adjusted at the lever end of the cables. Inner tyre shoulder wear is usually caused by chamfered edge speed cushions. Every driver needs to regularly inspect the hidden inner shoulders of their tyres for speed cushion damage because a sudden tyre failure as a result can be a killer.