Tire cupping - how to prevent?

Going around corners too fast will do it, although Prius owner can rarely be accused of going anywhere too fast. ;-)

Having under-inflated or over-inflated tires will cause this.

When tires are under-inflated, the sides of the tire take more of the weight of the car than they're designed to, causing the tread on the outer parts of the tire surface to wear first.

When tires are over-inflated, the center of the tread is extending out past the sides of the tread surface and taking more of the cars weight than designed, causing the center of the tread to wear first. Because most Americans rarely care about their tire pressures because we are lazy, most cars have under-inflated tires, and are thus cupped.

Just toss the tires in a landfill and put 4 more on the credit card. <spit>

 

I may be wrong but I always thought tire cupping was a tire balance problem.

 

He just don't know what cupping is and gave the wrong explanation.

 

HOW TO READ TIRE WEAR

Cupping
Cups or scalloped dips appearing around the edge of the tread on one side or the other, almost always indicate worn (sometimes bent) suspension parts. Adjustment of wheel alignment alone will seldom cure the problem. Any worn component that connects the wheel to the car (ball joint, wheel bearing, shock absorber, springs, bushings, etc.) can cause this condition. Worn components should be replaced with new ones. The worn tire should be balanced and possibly moved to a different location on the car. Occasionally, wheels that are out of balance will wear like this, but wheel imbalance usually shows up as bald spots between the outside edges and center of the tread.

 

Over the years I had problems with cupping. Assuming they are balanced my problem was not rotating the tires every 4 or 5,000 miles. When I didn't rotate I would end up having to get them trued.

 

my daughters 04 at around 60,000 miles had nokian tires that cupped and got really noisy. my wifes 08 hycam tires started making noise around 15,000 and we replaced them because of cupping at 30,000. in both cases, dealer told us alignment, balancing and suspension parts were fine. they told us we needed to rotate more and i think they were right because we neglect that. we were told it is not unsafe if you can stand the noise, but the only fix is new tires. it's hard to believe at 10,000 that missing one rotation could make that big a difference. and really, all rotating does is try to even out the wear because no suspension is perfect.

 

alokeprasad,

I don't know what the official Toyota policy is on the 3rd generation, but on the 2nd generation ('04 thru '09) you could get the dealer to do a FREE alignment under 20,000 miles or one year (whichever comes first) if you had a handling or wear complaint (some suspension parts were getting bent by the way some truck drivers were lashing down the cars on their transporters) & to me cupping is definitely caused by bent/damaged parts and/or bad alignment. Ask your dealer for the free alignment (if it's still allowed by Toyota) right away.

Ken (in Bolton,Ct)

 

Tire cupping is usually caused by an alignment issue. Some brands of tires are more susceptible to it than others, however.

 

Do not worry it will go away in a ~1,000mi. Front tires wear edges and rears don't, only in the center.

Personally I avoid this by not rotating tires. Fronts wear about x2 faster then rears, when they get bold you replace them. If rear get bold and fronts are still good you move front to rear and get new fronts. Maybe once in life of the car you'd need to buy and put 4 tires.

This worked for me for many years/miles/FWD cars; but let the flaming begin.

 

Don't hate. I just gave what I thought the explanation was.

Irregular wear describes what everyone else is describing in this thread. I always thought cupping was the sides of the tread surface getting worn before the center, hence cupping. They can be noisy, too.

I've been known to be wrong in past once or twice. ;-)

 

whenever i ask a dealer about tires, they tell me i have to go to the tire mfg. authorized dealer.

 

Make that thrice

Cupping is when shallow cup shaped recesses or scallops are worn into your tires. Usually along the edge of the tread but not always.
They can because by worn shocks/struts, other worn suspension parts and sometimes balance.

The cups or scallops aren't always a continual strip of scallops, sometimes they are spaced apart.

 

On my OEM Goodyears, the inside tread blocks became what I called "feathered". Each block was turning into a little ramp in the direction of rotation. If you ran your hand along the inside tread, around the circumference, you'd feel the little ramps like some kind of ratchet wheel.

It was on the front and back. I rotated regularly, and they never went away no matter the position. I never could tell which position caused it to happen.

In the end they were VERY noisy. It sounded like I was driving the Flintstone-mobile.

I pulled them off at about 25k. They checked the alignment (all 4) and it was within tolerances.

I went back with Michelin Energy Saver A/S. No signs of this same phenomenon yet (at about 10k).

I've owned two sets of Goodyears in the past few years. Both have had serious issues that were resolved by switching to Michelins. Goodyear is now on my ban list.

 

That is another legitimate use of "feathered" for describing tire wear.

That is usually a tire design or manufacturing problem. The fact that one brand of tire did it on your car and not another brand is another indication of that.

You can even that out by rotating in a X pattern so the tires get moved to the other side of the car. That won't fix the problem but it will even out the wear and keep the noise down.

Factory tolerances are sloppy so the cars can be thrown together on the assembly line, built with very few adjustments available and to minimize warranty alignments. If you are having a wear problem and the alignment dimension that would cause that problem is near the limit, try adjusting it to 1/2 the limit or better.

 

I've described m y tire cupping issues in previous posts, and it is still happening. The car sounded like a diesel after the cupped rear tire was put on the front, so I tend to agree with the 'never rotate your tires' philosophy.

The first time was at 5,000 miles on the car, so I presume it wasn't worn parts. Toyota bought me new tires, and did an alignment, but now I have cupped tires at 8,000 on the new set. The dealer described all four tires as at least slightly cupped.

This is disappointing, and the solution is not obvious. I can't buy new tires every 5,000 miles.

 

when i first purchased my 04, the stock tires lasted 15 to 20k miles. the goodyear comforthreats with 80k mile warranties only lasted 25k miles...

since i've switched to 17" rims, any crappy tire i can find usually last 20k miles... i see this as a good thing. (heavier rims made them wear faster too)

with the miles i have on this car, i'm pretty sure i need new bushing and such.. i have not lifted the car to check because i just moved into this house and really don't have the tools to lift it and hold it there safely. (safe = a large block of wood for me.. and i don't have that!)