Tire's cupping?

FL RENNY · **Joined:** Mon Nov 07, 2005 4:30 pm **Posts:** 458

I went and had my tires rotated today, they guy said that they were cupping up front. Meaning the outside of the tire was wearing more.......
Has anyone had this problem? Is it something related to my alignment? I had the front end adjusted back to factory specs after the lift and tires....?? HELP Thanks

ATXKJ · **Posted:** Sun Feb 11, 2007 6:38 pm

If it's the outside of the tire - yes it's alignment - the Toe-in is off causing the tires to scrub.

however the term 'cupping' normally means uneven wear - low spots - not the entire edge - just spots - which normally means the shocks (or for the front the struts)are dead - they're not damping properly so you're bouncing and getting uneven wear.

also killing the struts is the common problem with an On The Top lift - unless you've made custom bump stops to prevent damaging the struts.

LiLredLibby · **Posted:** Sun Feb 11, 2007 7:12 pm

FL RENNY wrote:

I went and had my tires rotated today, they guy said that they were cupping up front. Meaning the outside of the tire was wearing more.......
Has anyone had this problem? Is it something related to my alignment? I had the front end adjusted back to factory specs after the lift and tires....?? HELP Thanks

How often do you rotate? Could be lack of rotation.

FL RENNY · **Joined:** Mon Nov 07, 2005 4:30 pm **Posts:** 458

LiLredLibby wrote:

FL RENNY wrote:

I went and had my tires rotated today, they guy said that they were cupping up front. Meaning the outside of the tire was wearing more.......
Has anyone had this problem? Is it something related to my alignment? I had the front end adjusted back to factory specs after the lift and tires....?? HELP Thanks

How often do you rotate? Could be lack of rotation.

lol, I've been told I rotate too much. Since I bought the BFG's at Wal-Mart, they came with free balance and rotation for the life of the tire......so I get them balanced and rotated every 2-3k miles :lol:

I do that intentionally to try to stay away from this problem. He showed me that the outside of the tire was wearing the most......so I dont know if thats cupping...or just uneven wear? Sorry I dont know the correct term. SO is there a way to check my struts? I would that that if they were dead then the inside would be wearing? And they seem to be the same as before the lift, I have only been off road once in 20k miles with the lift....except for the beach, but that is nothing serious on the lift.

tjkj2002 · **Posted:** Mon Feb 12, 2007 10:58 pm

Quote:

Since I bought the BFG's at Wal-Mart

That's your whole problem there.

1300ZUK · **Posted:** Tue Feb 13, 2007 12:16 am

whats your driving style, these tall heavy poorly balanced pigs aren't exactly at home in the corners :oops:

1300ZUK · **Posted:** Tue Feb 13, 2007 12:18 am

you live in florida?

have mud terrains and have only been off-road once in the last 20K. Not to be too negative, but i think next time i'd get all-terrains, its not exactly uncommon for Mud terrain tires to wear funny on the street. And with large lugs they can loose their balance pretty easily. Do you have any odd vibrations while driving?

if you do have all terrains, then i'd guess you have other issues, besides the tire, like a tie rod, ball joint, or alignment issue

performancechef · **Posted:** Tue Feb 13, 2007 10:49 am

My 2 cents, check your ball joints, upper and lower. If the alignment was set to oem spec, and you have loose balljoints, the dynamic toe and caster angles will change beyond what the oem designed into the suspension as your driving. Ever push a shopping cart with a bent wheel mount? the wheel shimmies back and forth, although not as dramatic in your truck, the vibration may be so slight that the MT's may actualy absorb most of it through the side wall. I would recomend going to a different shop then the one that did your alignment. Have them check the ball joints, and read the current alignment. Bring your last alignment spec print out and compare it to the new reading. If the caster and toe has changed since your last alignment, then you know for shure you have something loose in the front end causing the cupping.

FL RENNY · **Joined:** Mon Nov 07, 2005 4:30 pm **Posts:** 458

1300ZUK, I do have All-Terrains........TJKJ2002, why does it matter where I got the tires? BFG's are BFG's right? If not, let me know so I'll do a better job next time. And PERFORMANCECHEF thank you for your input, it's funny you say that b/c I just had the Lower Ball Joint recall done on my Jeep last week...so maybe that was the problem? I guess I'll take it back to the guys who did my alignment and get them to go over it another time.

tjkj2002 · **Posted:** Tue Feb 13, 2007 3:13 pm

Quote:

why does it matter where I got the tires

I was messing with you(sorry),it just leads to the story about wallmart telling companies that they will buy a certian # of products for this price,in turn the companies use crappy material in those items to cut there cost.I would think the alignment is off,with factory upper control arms you can't get it in factory specs(camber) and the new balljoints may have thrown the alignment off also.Also check the tie-rod ends,if worn they can cause tire cupping.

McMoney · **Posted:** Wed Feb 14, 2007 6:07 pm

I had the same problem on my tj. I was told i was cornering to fast. :roll:

Slowing down in the corners stoped the wear on the edges.

ATXKJ · **Posted:** Wed Feb 14, 2007 10:10 pm

FYI - the standard method of checking struts - or shocks is to manually bounce a fender several times and then let go - it should stop bouncing almost instantly - if it continues it's got problem - if it's really bad you can see oil leaking down the struts/shocks.

With any lift - if you don't have All's upper A arms they won't be able to get all of the wheel alignments specs centered - they can get close - but - I think it's camber that the best they can do is at the edge of the factory spec. Normally that's good enough especially with frequent tire rotations.

rechecking alignment and ball joints is a good idea.

Tire's cupping?

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