Tires (Cupping)

jdoug2007

Seasoned Expediter
:confused:
The driver side inside tire on the drive axel is cupping, but, no sign of cupping on the outside tire. Also, no cupping on the passenger side drive wheels. What causes that?
 

Moot

Veteran Expediter
Owner/Operator
Use a tape measure and measure the circumference of both tires. If the inside tire has a smaller circumference it may not be making full contact with the road when running empty or lightly loaded. When it does make full contact due to a bump in the road, a little bit of rubber gets worn off. Eventually this will show up as cupping.
 

LDB

Veteran Expediter
Retired Expediter
Is the problem tire the same brand/model as the others? Are they all about the same age and miles used? Since it's just one tire I'd suspect inflation pressure or balance more than alignment. As mentioned, if it's significantly different in wear that will also produce problems. Good luck straightening it out.
 

kinilu57

Expert Expediter
It could be an out of round tire. We had one. It makes the truck ride rough and can cause other problems. We finally broke down and bought new tires even though the ones we had on didn't have many miles. Not had a problem since. Be careful where you buy your tires and have them mounted. MAKE SURE they know what they are selling and how to install them properly.
 

FIS53

Veteran Expediter
Common problem with causing cupping was of course shocks being shot. They then allowed the tire to bounce more causing cupping. But check all the aforementioned ideas as alignment, tire pressure, out of round (a definite possible) and such as well as weakened suspension. Unusual wear of any type means a problem somewhere. Mixing tires on an axle can produce uneven wear.
Rob
 

EASYTRADER

Expert Expediter
Bent rim will cup tires also, if your truck shimmies as it goes down the road, bent rimm will do it. have you tires balanced at a REAL tire shop, not TA and ask them to check the rim.
 

Broompilot

Veteran Expediter
Not only a Bad Shock, but a defective Tire. Could have hit a Pot Hole and broke a Belt inside of the Tire.

More likely than not they are right though bad shock either way your gona probably need a new tire plus shocks.
 

nobb4u

Expert Expediter
After all the wonderful advice on this subject I will offer mine:

Might be you made the tire gods mad or it might just be bad tire Karma.:rolleyes:

Just making lite there are so many possibilities. Not much you can do to stop the cupping once it starts. Might try rotating it out of its position see if it happens to other tire or just gets worse in new position.
 

layoutshooter

Veteran Expediter
Retired Expediter
What kind of truck? I have a 2006 M112. I had that problelm. It was an alignment. I had it done once and it started to act funny right away. I had it done a second time. That guy told me that the truck was set up exactly to Freightliner specs. He said the only problem with that is Freightliner makes trucks, not drives them. He aligned it to his "specs" the truck drives like a dream since. No funny tire wear. I hardly have to "steer" the truck anymore. I don't get as tired driving. The passenger side is set up with a wedge almost twice the thickness as the driver's side. It now tracks like a dream. Layoutshooter
 

layoutshooter

Veteran Expediter
Retired Expediter
I got it down in Pennsylvania. The guy is near York, south of Harrisburg. I will look up his name and number and send it to you. I am not in the truck right now and the number should be there. Layoutshooter
 
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