Question about cupping tires

[AndyT3]

Hey guys, I just replaced my tires a little over a week ago, as the old ones were cupped pretty bad. I got an alignment about 3 days after installing the new tires. I'm starting to notice a very slight bit of cupping on the outsides only of both front tires. Not too sure whats causing this, both hubs are less then a year old, and everything in the front end is tight. Any ideas?

[robalero]

cupping is due to a suspension work needing fixed ( aka struts or shocks )

[AndyT3]

My upper strut mounts are making some noise, but primarly just rears.

[robalero]

then your upper strut mounts are causing your cupping and possibly the struts too if their worn and no longer have any spring left to them

[zzyzzx]

I've had cupping (on an Escort) and it was caused by bad toe. An alignment fixed it. I had to replace all 4 tires on that car after the alignment. The car was new and I bought it new, but with bad alignment. A rudimentary search on the Internet tells me everything from crappy Chinese tires to alignment to suspension issues can cause this to happen, so try posting some more details about your car. I can also tell you that you definitely don't want to drive the car like that ... everything shakes loose on the car. I suppose you could put thread locker on every bolt on the car as an alternative.

[robalero]

he just had his alignment so its probably his struts or strut mounts causing it ( or both )

[TdotAlero]

+1 for suspension parts. This is a common problem with most cargo vans too. Except the whole tire gets cupped, not just the edge.

[jayson_waltz]

cupping is not just alignment, actually alignment has little to do with it. Out of alignment is more just wearing one edge more than the other not cupping as much. Cupping is most often caused by worn suspension parts or tires out of balance. If the alignment didn't fix it try a balance then start looking for worn suspension parts, unless you know of parts already worn then do them before anything.

[TdotAlero]

Pretty much what happens is the tire does not "work the way it should".
What I mean is that instead of it rolling smoothly on the surface it does something else. Like Jayson mention above it could be the improper ballance, causing the cupping. More likely though it is the suspension parts. The shocks do not work properly and the tire get's "dragged" on the ground causing cupping. Just though I will bring up and explain on of the causes of this odd tire wear.

[AndyT3]

Well thanks guys. I know their balanced okay, because I did it myself at work on our tire machine when I put the tires on, and I made sure each wheel was balanced perfectly.

Guess its time I start looking into struts.... or maybe just mounts. I mean it still rides pretty nice, or maybe its just me, I don't know.

[jayson_waltz]

Thats the best way to know, do ti yourself. then you know for sure you can move on to the suspension parts.