Question2006 Lincoln with 47000 miles on it. New Goodyear tires
got about 8000 miles on them, and one tire got noisy (kind of a
road noise) By feeling it it was "cupping" Struts are OK.
Replaced the tire, and rotated and balanced them.
I know this is vague. What would be your best guess as
to the cause of the cupping?
AnswerDick,
My usage of tire technical terms tends to be much more precise than the average guy's, but here's how I see this:
"Cupping" is technically caused by an out of balance condition or bad shocks.
- HOWEVER -
The term is so widely misused, in place of the more technically correct "Irregular Wear" and "Heel and Toe Wear", that in general usage there are a variety of causes.
Most likely you have irregular wear - and that is caused by mis-alignment and aggravated by insufficient inflation pressure and insufficient rotation practices. Since you have only 8K miles on the I think we can rule out rotation and inflation affects and concentrate solely on alignment - and perhaps a worn tie rod or the like.
