Tires: Tire cupping, tire cupping, inflation pressure

Question
Barry,
Is tire cupping always on the rear, other than perhaps a bad bearing on the front? I have been told that I should replace the struts on my Camry due to the fact that i have cupping on the right front tire, which was recently rotated from the back. I didn't rotate the tires as I should have, so I thought that may be the problem.

What would be your thoughts?
Thanks
John

Answer
John,

The term "cupping" is widely misused.  What you probably have is "irregular wear", which is caused by misalignment and aggravated by insufficient inflation pressure and insufficient rotation practices.

So the first step would be to have someone look at the struts and make an assessment of their condition.  Regardless of whether the struts are good or not, the alignment should be checked and adjusted.

But you should be aware that fixing the alignment (the problem) doesn't address the symptom (cupping).  Unless the tire wears a new pattern into the tire or the tire is replaced, the cupping will still be there.