Tires cupping

I also have cupping issues on my fronts only... I have fox coilovers but have them basically maxed out for the most lift (beyond what fox reccomends) and was also wondering if this contributed to my tire issues. My tires have also got insanely loud over time compared to when I first bought them.

A quick Google search says cupping is caused by irregular up and down motions of the wheel (bouncing). Maybe I need to increase the dampening in my front coilovers or reduce the lift.

 

My 5100s are at 1.75 lift (not maxed out). Every time I've had it aligned they tell me all is good.
Taking it on thursday to a suspension and steering specialist to see if they can figure out why cupping is so persistent on this truck.

 

I've run 5100's for a while with no cupping. What tires are you running? I think finding out your actual alignment numbers will be a good place to start.

 

Always cross rotate truck tires, it reverses the tread direction and burns off the bad.

 

I run bfg k02. Have about 30k miles on em now. Cupping started getting real bad at about 20k. I've rotated every 5k.
As for the numbers unfortunately I never new what I was looking at on the paperwork they gave me so I threw em out

 

Funny you say that.
Just had em rotated at walmart and asked them to cross rotate. They didnt.

 

The set of KO2’s we had required way too much weight to balance them compared to our Nitto Ridge Grapplers. I heard BFG is supposed to be or has a fix in place for the same. But it seems many folks have still have balancing issues. This correlates to prolonged cupping issues. Maxed out lifts above 2” with stock control arms will usually suffer from positive camber angles.

 

Before the ko2s i had cooper dicoverer ATPs and had the same issue. Though at one point with the ATPs I missed a tire rotation and they went 10k without rotating.

 

You're right with the ko2s and the weight to balance them is CRAZY. you should see all the weights I have glued to the inside of each wheel I have.
My next tires definitely will not be K02s.

 

How do you like the ridge grapplers?

 

They’ve been great. Got 30k on the FJ. E load. 35x12.5 17. Comfortable and still quiet good road manners. Horrible in snow but great on dirt and rocks. 15k on the Tacoma. 1 rotation. Even wear. Quiet for being a hybrid mud/all terrain tire. Basically the twin sister to Toyo Open Country RTs

 

Tacomas do a good job at having even tire wear compared to other vehicles on the road when everything is in spec. New F150’s on the other hand have tire wear issues from day one. My new F150 work truck and every other one in our fleet has the same issue. That being said, the most likely culprit is your shocks. At 50,000 miles my Bilstein 5100’s were all needing replacement on my Tacoma. Tire cupping was one indication, the other was that the ride wasn’t as good as I remembered it being. Replaced the shocks, rotated my tires and all is back to normal for the last 15,000 miles. I worked in the tire industry for 9 years and can honestly say I’d rather balance just about anything other than a Tacoma, Tundra or 4Runner, just super finicky vehicles.

 

I also have an f150 truck at work. Never had a problem with tires and the ride is real plush and soft. Offroad is a dream compared to the taco. Dont get me started with the bad though...I absolutely will never buy a f150 if I want reliability

 

When my f150 work truck hit around 60k miles it needed an engine swap. Have 85k on it now with the 2nd engine and it's already sounding like they swapped it for a diesel and burning oil like crazy. Absolutely hate that truck!

 

But I digress...

 

Sounds to me like toe could be part of the problem if rotated properly. I have never had a rear wheel drive vehicle that called for 0 toe before this one. If you run a little low air and 0 toe ( factory spec) I tend to think the tires are getting a slight toe out as you drive which would increase wear on the inside. I have had a slight toe in on every 4x4 I have owned since about 1970 and with proper rotation never had a wear issue.My Jeeps never saw an alignment machine I did it with just some backyard ideas and tire wear was never an issue. The more sidewall the tire had the more toe it got . 35-12.50-15 used to get about 3/16", shorter sidewalls a little less but always had some toe-in

 

So hopefully problem solved.
Took it to suspension specialist and they determined toe out was the culprit. Had it aligned and seems to ride smoother but still has considerable steering wheel shake at about 50mph and up (assuming the cupped tires is the cause)
Anyone know if they will wear smooth eventually? I've read mixed opinions.

 

Once they are cupped it dont usually get much better. Increase the air pressure some may help the shake slightly. That way you are not riding on the cupped part as much. I cupped a few and never got much better no matter what I tried

 

Get your wheels balanced if you have not done that recently. Alignment wear can cause uneven tire wear, which throws balance off. Ask which type of balancing is being done, some shops do static balance for trucks. If possible get a dynamic balance (weights on the inside and outside of the wheel).