Tire Cupping??

I have recently noticed on the driver side front of my 02 Ext Cab the tire is starting to show signs of cupping toward the middle inside section of the tire. I have noticed that the tire has been louder than usual but just noticed the cupping the other day. Any idea as to what would be causing this? I am due a tire rotation but for t to just be on one side makes me think that something else is causing this problem. Tires are Nitto Terra Grapplers. I jacked it up and did the wobble test and didn't find anything out of the ordinary. What could be causing this?? Thanks in advance.

Edit: Should I just go get an alignment and see if they can determine the problem while doing the alignment?

 

Alignment? If the alignment is off it can cause cupping. A camber setting could only affect one side but wouldn't necessarily cause a noticeable pull.

Also worn struts/shocks that do not prevent oscillation of the springs after absorbing a bump or drop. Also could just be the one side.

Also tire pressure could be a culprit.

Instead of the jacked up "wobble test", do a "dry park test". Leave the vehicle on the ground and have someone turn the steering wheel back and forth (putting a steering load back and forth). While they do this climb underneath and look at/feel your tie rod joints, ball joints, and steering rack bushings.

Sometimes a worn part won't reveal itself without a load on the suspension. The drooping changes the angles the parts are sitting at and can hold them "without any play" while they are actually worn at the standard angles of operation.

Note: A dry park won't catch everything but is usually more revealing than shaking the tire with your hands.

Edit: I would be willing to bet 7 out of 10 1st gen tacomas on the road today have worn steering rack bushings that often go unnoticed by a shake down test.

 

Anyone else? Opinions?

 

alignment, which could be worn tie rods, ball joints, control arms, sway bar bushings etc...

 

mine was upper and lower ball joints, they had to fix that before they could do an alignment

 

Sorta what I was thinking because they wont be able to align it if something is shot. Was just one tire cupping like in my case?

 

If I remember right yes. The drivers side was messed up and causing premature wear. I noticed it when I bought it but thought it might just need tires so I was already getting new tires and had them fix and align it before I got the new tires put on.

 

Alignment. That's it. Period.

Frequency needed to retain alignment depends on how the vehicle is used (or 'events' like potholes or off road mishaps) and wear of components that contribute to the alignment process.

How long since your last one?

 

Ive only had the truck since February so I'm not sure when it was done last. I'm planning to get alignment done soon. So if something else is wrong then Im sure they will find it while doing the alignment

 

Correct.

I do recommend taking it to a shop known in your area to be very good with their work and fair with their practices. Alignments fall in to that mystical voodoo world for a lot of folks, where they don't know if they are getting the best bang for their buck or not.

Sometimes big box stores are ok, but it's because the tech cares, not the chain. If you don't have a direct referal to a specific tech, I'd stay away.

In my area I recently stumbled onto (via referral) a great independent shop for this. In fact, the local Jeep and truck mod shops both have alignment capability, but send their hard jobs to him. In other words, if they can't get it within the 'green light spec', they don't know how to figure out what's wrong. He does.

That's the kinda guy you want.

 

In my experience, once a tire starts cupping, it will never come back. Put it on the back would be your only hope to wear it back evenly. But usually being out of alignment is the cause. Various worn front end parts will cause this (resulting is poor alignment)

 

that's my experience

 

UPDATE: I rotated my tires about 1000 miles ago probably even less than that. Went to alignment shop last week to get it aligned and they checked all my tie rod ends, ball joints, etc etc. and said everything was rock solid and nothing was out of place. Put it on the alignment machine and everything was already lined up perfect. Gen even brought me out to the shop and showed me the numbers on the machine/screen. So today, being the curious person that I am check at my left front. Low and behold it has already started cupping just like before. What the heck could this be?? These tires only have maybe 25,000 miles on them and the tread has been wearing perfect up until this point. I'm completely stumped as to what the problem is. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

I had some pretty bad cupping cupping early this summer. Took it in for an alignment & had a really nasty toe-in situation. If you've already had them check alignment and bushings, and it came back that fast I would say that you've probably got a bad shock. It's ONLY the front driver side? Not both sides?

 

Yep only front driver side. Thought it might have been a bad tire. Rotated them and now it's doin it again. Shock is the only thing I can thing of at this point. Think it's shock or coil?

 

I'd say bad shock also.

Here's a helpful link if you possibly want to check toe, camber, & caster yourself.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/how-to-do-an-alignment-at-home.252256/

 

So right now I'm going with bad shock. Any one else have ideas?

 

I used to work in a shop that did alignments and have seen experienced guys miss worn parts. If it's just the one side, I would guess it's the strut. Can you see any visual leaking? Is the front end "bouncy" after hitting a rise or drop in the road? Can you push up and down on the bumper on that corner and does the truck keep oscillating up and down or does it quickly rest back at standard height?

I still think the steering rack bushings should be checked. Commonly overlooked and can be missed on an alignment machine if they only allow for slop under a steering input load.

 

No leaking is visual what-so-ever. And there is also no more bounce than there should be while driving or pushing up and down on bumper. I'm probably just going to replace the whole suspension with Bilstein 5100 and see if that solves the issue. Appreciate all the advice!

 

maybe try a different front end alignment place...