Cupped Front Tire — Font end Alignment Check OK

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Rdr854

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I noticed that my front right tire was scrubbing on the outer tread. Took it to the dealer who said that the tire was starting to cup. He asked about tire rotations and I advised that the tires had been rotated at 7500 and 15k services. The Suburban now has 17,500 miles on the odometer. Front end alignment check revealed no issues. I was told to bring the Suburban back next week.

What is going on?
 
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Rdr854

Rdr854

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As close to 35 PSI cold as possible - which is the recommended tire pressure on the vehicle tire placard. When tire pressure has dropped, I have gone back to the dealer to have the tires adjusted. Of course with the temperature swings over the past few weeks, the psi has been a little variable.
 

gat0r

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depending on how you drive... 35 cold will put you at over 40 on highway


https://www.tahoeyukonforum.com/threads/what-is-the-correct-tire-pressure.113797/page-2#post-1367969
^
ive since chg'd.... during spring/summer... i run 31-32 cold






3 options
playing card, temp or chalk trick to figure out what works best to start.
(as of late, i like temp & card tricks, best)

1) temp -
take temp on tires cold...inside/outside edge & middle for all 4 tires. then go for a 10-15 mile drive on highway. back home on a flat surface, check temps again. if the center of the tread is cooler than the outer sides...the tire is under inflated. if the center is warmer than the sides...then you are overinflated. if the outer tread is warmer than the inner or vice versa you have a possible alignment or carter/camber issue.


2) playing card -
on warm tires, inflate w/ air until you can slip a playing card under tire to edge of 1st lug. then slowly deflate tire until card drags on removal (if you cant remove card, you deflated too much)


3) chalk method is tedious for sure.
[concrete is actually the best choice, but you can also do this on asphalt.]
on warm tires, color a section of your tire with chalk to see how much tread is making contact with the ground. on a flat road surface. make a mark with soft chalk that goes all the way across your tread. then, gradually drive your vehicle forward about 50-60 feet and then backwards to starting point. (50-60 feet)

check out the chalk on the tire. if the chalk is only worn off on the center of the tire, reduce the tire pressure slightly and go through the process again. with the adjustment, you should see the chalk wear off more completely. keep making tiny adjustments in the tire pressure until the chalk wears off evenly and all the way across the tread. reapply chalk as needed for testing. you must complete this process for each of your tires.
 

swathdiver

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I noticed that my front right tire was scrubbing on the outer tread. Took it to the dealer who said that the tire was starting to cup. He asked about tire rotations and I advised that the tires had been rotated at 7500 and 15k services. The Suburban now has 17,500 miles on the odometer. Front end alignment check revealed no issues. I was told to bring the Suburban back next week.

What is going on?

If only the right front tire is scrubbing, that is usually a toe issue with the alignment and something recent. If it had been going on a while, it would manifest itself to the other tires as they were rotated. That or quick making hard, high speed, left hand turns!
 
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Rdr854

Rdr854

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If only the right front tire is scrubbing, that is usually a toe issue with the alignment and something recent. If it had been going on a while, it would manifest itself to the other tires as they were rotated. That or quick making hard, high speed, left hand turns!
You sound like the Technician who worked on my truck. He said the same thing - well, sort of.

The dealer did an alignment. The toe was ever so slightly out of spec, not enough to cause the feathering. The Technician knows that the Suburban is not driven hard and recommended more frequent tire rotations (at approx 3750 mile intervals) which he believes will make the tire wear more evenly.

As an aside, for vehicles that are not driven regularly or do short trips, he recommended oil changes twice a year rather than annually. That is consistent with advice from other experts regarding cars that do not get a lot of use or are driven on short trips so that they do not get up to sustained operating temperature.
 

91RS

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7500 miles is too long for a rotation. It needs to be done more frequently and the non-drive (front in this case) should be crossed side-to-side. If 7500 miles is the oil change interval you want to use then rotate the tires at 3750 (half way between an oil change) or change your oil change interval to 5000 (better) and rotate every oil change.
 

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