I have a 1999 F150 4X4 extra cab with a short 6.5 foot bed. The tires are factory original Goodyear Wrangler RT/S, LT245/75R16. The front tires on this truck are cupping very badly causing very high road noise. At 15000 miles the dealer realigned the front end, and rotated the tires. All this did was cause the good tires that had been on the rear but now on the front to cup and the road noise to increase again. At 30000, the dealer again rotated the tires and realigned the FE. Again the cupping continued. At around 36000 miles I had the tires rotated, which quieted the tire noise somewhat, but within 1500, the front tires were as noisy as ever. Could there be a problem in the FE suspension that the dealer is overlooking? Has anyone else who has experienced this problem found a cure?

 

Rotation at the recommended 5,000 mile intervals would have eliminated or reduced that tendency.

 

Goodyear Wranglers once they wear a bit funny get and stay VERY noisy. We have/had them on both of our F150's (98 & 01) and they are just noisy tires. Wear them out and buy something better

 

I agree with SVT...
Had the same thing happen to my stock ATs. Tried the whole alignment / rotation thing. Finally got fed up and replaced them. The Ats were just plain bad tires all around. I think it's a problem with the tires. My Michellins are wearing just fine.

 

True "cupping" is caused by worn shocks that allow the tire to leave the ground more often and impact back down harder. Try gettin some new shocks if youre searching for things to do.

Ive noticed that a lot of the old RTS's have something that looks like cupping and is pretty much unfixable, except to get new tires. I have the newer style RTS (the ones with the larger tread blocks) and they are wearing perfectly. A lot of times the front will do this if the rear is over-loaded. In the GY tire shop i used to work at we had a guy with a chevy come in that had RTS that were all messed up on the front but he also had a cab over camper weighing down the back end and the truck was visibly raked to the rear so the tires were bouncin up front.

Bottom line, if shocks are good or have been replaced just wait till you cant stand it and get new ones

 

To All,
I wish there was some way to just say some things and eeryone to know exactly what you're saying but I'll try.

I work in a tire shop so I have gained a large amount of info on tire wear and tear problems. First of all, and I can't emphazize enough, ROTATION. The key to long treat life is rotation of your tires. For example. (God I need a diagram...) As the leading edge of a tread Block leaves the ground (In a forward rotation, this block is just leaving the ground) the force of the tire tries to pull this block "up" from the ground, causing the rear end of the tread block to be torn upwards. If you'll notice, I can almost guarntee you that this is the case with your tires, the worn end is the back half of any tread block. (assuming you have only done front to back rotations). Combined with the extra weight of the frond end of the vehicle causing extended stress on the tires, this is the main cause of cupping.

Secondly, you could have a problem with your suspension. Typically this occurs most often or 4wd trucks that carry the extra front load and typically stiffer suspension. As you drive along, some roads at certain speeds will create a harmonic vibration in your springs (very bumpy ride) wich can cause cupping. This is usually a more extended "wavy" wear expanding over more than one block or entire blocks may have this wear. However, This should be a last concern. Only if you have RELIGIOUSLY rotated your tires and you're still having cupping problems should you have shock absorbers replaced. after all, new shocks are around $400 or more, a tire rotation and re-balance, 16 bucks.

I use the Michelin LTX MS on my baby. The plethera of lateral tread sipes give excellent traction. However, I am aware that I need to be very careful with the rotation frequency because of this design. Technically the sipes divide the blocks so more pulling etc....

I'm sorry this was so lenghtly everyone. I'm really just trying to help. Rotation every 15k miles just isn't going to cut it. by regular 5k intervals, you're going to increase the life of the tires by nearly 50% so it's worth it.

 

Yup, I agree -- and that's why my post was short and to the point.

I chased steer axle tire wear issues/complaints for quite a time (wrote the manual for a then-newly-released steer axle at the company I work for) in the capacity of what would now be called the "Region Rep" for the Great Lakes U.S. and all of Canada -- and I learned to 'read' tire wear quite well.

What you would have said, given more time & print, is that the large lugs of those tires "wear-over" due to braking torque on the front tires. This, allong with the added natural edge wear caused by normal turn-scuffing -- and exacerbated in those vehicles that have Limited Slip differentials (which slightly 'resist' turning ever-so-slightly) -- and just keeps getting worse until/unless the tires are rotated (fr>r; r>fr) so that the resultant change in direction for torque can even-out the wear.

The tires are good in mud/snow BECAUSE of those big lugs (with lotsa air between them) -- and/but they sure make noise when those lugs 'slap' the pavement.

Have you noticed how the tires on the 'big rigs' got so quiet in recent years? It's because there's no 'air' between any big lugs on the edges of the tires. Road tires don't have big lugs. Mud/Snow tires do -- and the result is noise and whacky wear.

 

Yeah....15 or even 10 is not enough. I can testify to that. Next set of tires, I'm going pay heed to the 5000 rotation recommendation.

 

While I took 2 years and 2 appts. to dealer and they didn't get it . They have looked after maint , tire rotation and warranty issues ,my problem was a vibrartion at over 45 mph and last year they replaced a ignition wire something to do with TSB on coolant leaking onto a coil. This week I came out of warranty and asked about this vibartion again , they said you may need to get the wheels forced balanced but they don't have a machine. I took it to a Tire dealer that I have used on my other vehicles over the years , and the first thing he said " you have tire cupping ". You cannot fix the problem once its there it only gets worse. When they did the aligment it was out of spec amost .7 toe in . Everyone a least with a 4x4 should get an alignment within the first year it is covered under your warranty but only the first year. Looking back it might have saved those tires I replaced . Anyway the bottom line replaced with Hankook tire (don't kown if anyone has heard of them but in northern BC they have ) no vibration a lot more quiet tire and better handling .

98 xlt 4x4 sc 4.6l

 

My brother has worked for NTB/Sears for a while selling tires. He told me these trucks are very hard on front tires. He said the Ford alignment specs cause it. All shops will only warranty an alignment within manufacturers specs. If you want them to wear evenly, without rotating, you have to get an alignment guy who knows his **** and can set it up right. It's out of spec though and they won't warranty the alignment or tires. I've run tires on many vehicles for 30K miles w/o rotating (different sized rims/tires) and they all wore fine. You dont have to rotate if the vechicle is setup correctly. The tires on my truck which WAS aligned by Ford in the first year but WERENT rotated are cupped bad up front. BTW I didn't rotate them because I don't want them to last a long time. They suck. If you don't know what to look for in a cupped tire, it will show up as uneven dark and light spots across the tread blocks.

 

Now that I know better, I will never buy directional tires again. I've been living with the racket of cupped tires for 20,000 miles now. The only way you can rotate them correctly is to dismount them and switch sides. I've only been going halfway out of money concerns, front to back. They seem to get worse all the time. I was stupid a while back and let Pep Boys do an alignment on it. Big mistake! When I had it redone at a dealer a month or so later, they said it was so far off it was pathetic. Of course I should've known better, the wheel was a few degrees off when I got it back from PB. To make a long story longer, it's unidirectional tires for me from now on,,,,98

The tires, Yokahama AVS/ST's. Handling is straight out of Mustang GT territory, but god they're noisy

 

My RTS's have some nasty wear along the edges. Is this the "cupping" being discussed here?

 

The cupping is evidenced by the lugs on the outside edges of the tires wearing unevenly. The lugs will be different heights rather than all the same height. This causes the tires to be extremely noisy. I hope you don't have this problem because it is a real pain. From what I have read from other members who responded, the cupping cannot be corrected.

 

Mine cup on the inside edge of the front tires only, guess it had too much outward toe or in camber? Not really up on my alignment lingo,,,,98