Slide seal torn or compressed unevenly

A slide seal that's torn in spots or compressed unevenly across its length usually points to slide alignment being slightly off, not just seal wear — an out-of-square slide compresses the seal more on one side than the other over time. Replacing just the seal without correcting alignment often means you're back to the same problem in another year or two. Is the compression/wear even across the whole seal, or worse on one side?