Tires Cupping

I have a 2006 Buick Terazza with about 55,000 miles on it. On my last visit to the dealership they made a note on my inspection report that the tires were "cupping". I did not see the notation till I was at home and they did not go out of their way to mention it to me.

Is this caused by under inflation? balance? not rotating often enough? mechanical problems? or what. Also will this problem on the tires be corrected or are the tires permanently marred??

Thanks for any answers.

 

I would check your tires pressure. If your tires are cupping from the middle out then you need to air up. If cupping from outside air down.

If you have someone drive your vehicle and you follow them you can tell by just looking where your tire is blacker. Its always worked for me when i need to look at my tire wear.

My tire pressures for my 95 F250 Diesel Regular Cab Long bed are 60psi in the front and 45 in the rear.
Almost all of my weight is in the front of my truck and not much on the back so I aired down my rears so more tread touches the ground. My tires are rated at 80 psi.

As for damage if you air your vehicle right after its cupped it will eventually even out.

Hope this helps

 

Front or rear tires? Rear tire cupping usually comes from rear wheel aliment, Rear toe out. Front tires many causes,

 

What kind of tires are on the car?? General Motors had a bad problem with cupping on Uniroyals back in the day.

 

Kinda a 3 phase problem... Tire rotation. Important because the weight of the vehicle is 75% up front. Tire balance. To keep the tire from hopping and get a smooth ride... Struts. A mushy strut may yield a comfortable ride, but with balance issues will allow the tire to hop down the road till a cupping pattern occurs........Alignment can be thrown in there too, but if the struts are good and the tires are balanced, alignment problems would scuff the tread off evenly.......

 

The tires are the originals that came on the van, Goodyears. Since they have nearly 55,000 miles on them I cannot complain at all. They still have pretty decent tread depth left.

The tires are maintained at 35 psi as per GM suggestion. There does not appear to be any scuffing or one sided wear that I usually associate with an alignment problem. The cupping appeares to be on the outside edges.

I am not so very concerned about saving these tires since I have a ton of miles on them. My question is more geared towards preventing the same problem when I get new tires. The tire size is P225/60 R17 and they don't come cheap. It would break my heart (and wallet) to ruin new ones.