Tire cupping

[crispyboy]

Wanted to get a few opinions on tire cupping.

Yesterday I had a 180 mile drive on the interstate. I seemed to be getting a vibration at 70 mph. The steering still seems tight. There are 32k miles on the truck.



Is this a front shock issue? Ball joint issue?



This morning I dropped my truck off at the dealer for the tie rod end recall and the service manager showed me that the front tires had a slight bit of cupping on the outside front edge of the tires.

I am running the stock Michelin tires and were rotated and balanced approximately 4k miles ago.



Any ideas?

 

[Bob4x4]

Straight front axle vehicles need regular tire rotation and pressure must be correct as well as balance.

 

[mwilson]

You might have thrown a weight off.



If the tire guys don't use the correct style of weight for your rim they will come off.



Mike.

 

[JFought]

all the tires i have cup with trailer hauling in the city.
I thinks its the high speed turing and breaking that does it. E range Michelns, D range Silient armor and now my E range Tera grapplers.

Even with correct rotate and air...

 

[RDeFayette]

Tire cupping is always an issue with a "block" style tread.

I know you have the "stock" Michelins but that doesn't help with the tread style.

A highway style tread (rib) is much less prone to cupping.

Excess toe-in can also agravate the situation with block style tread. My truck came with BFG's All Terrain T/A's (block tread) so I had the toe-in set to 1/8" TOE-IN total and that helped a ton.

 

[Slow Six]

I used the Centramatic balancers on my 03 and I never had any cupping at all right to the end of the tire life. I never rotated tires neither. I moved the Centramatics to my 2012. I think that balancing is important.

 

[crispyboy]

Thanks for the replies.
The dealer replaced the left tie rod end, rebalanced and rotated the tires. The technician said the balance was off a little bit and the other suspension components were ok.
I still have the same vibration at 70 mph. I guess I will have to set the cruise for 68 mph and be happy.
I figured the centramatics would have taken care of any balance issues. Makes you wonder if they really do that much... ... .

 

[RDeFayette]

Sometimes the vibration (harmonic resonance) you (we) feel around 70 can be attributed to the front driveline always turning even though it's not engaged at the t. case. there are alot of posts that this goes away when free-spin hubs are installed. just tossing that out there so you aren't chasing something that will never completely go away. I have the same issue with my truck, not really a vibration so much as an annoyance.

 

[Bob4x4]

There should not be a vibration from a shaft... ... ... It would be faulty,either not straight enough bad balance etc. Easy enough to ck just pull it off and drive it

 

[SierraRam]

This vibration do you feel in in the steering wheel or more through the body of the truck?