Cupped Tire

[2000RX300]

I’m flipping a coin. Last fall I discovered that I had a rear tire that was cupping. The cause was fixed and my snow tires were put on. I’m getting ready to take my snow tires off and put back the summer tires with the one cupped tire. I’m trying to decide if it’s better to leave that cupped tire in the rear or rotate it to the front. The tires are fairly new and they have a lot of tread left on them. The cupping isn’t terrible but it’s enough that you can hear it when you drive at certain speeds. What would you folks do? BTW, it’s a FWD SUV. Would you rotate it to the front or leave it in the rear?

 

[Russell]

rotate. Might want to cross rotate to have tire going in a different direction to help even out wear. I am assumeing the tires are not direcctional.

 

[bepperb]

If the spare wheel matches I'd move it to that, get a new tire on the spare rim and move on.

 

[ahoier]

You got a decision....is it a front wheel drive vehicle? Typically, the front tires will "wear out" faster on a front wheel drive vehicle....sooo you got 2 options.


1) put the cupped tire on the front, and tolerate the annoyance of the sound, til it wears down, or...
2) put it on the rear, where you likely will not hear it any more But then you'll loose that tread on that tire from not being rotated properly.


I'd go with the first instance....just tolerate the noise, to get the life out of that tread....

 

[antonmnster]

Not to threadjack but I have the same problem but "directional" tires.

Can I run them backwards to even them out?

 

[yonyon]

Ideally, get rid of that tire. Failing that, leave it in the back until the beginning of winter, then move it to the front. A cupped rear tire on icy northeast roads can be the difference between a car and a pile of scrap metal.

 

[2000RX300]

Thanks Folks for all of the suggestions. I think that I am going to try Russell's suggestion and rotate the tires in a X pattern. That would put the cupped right rear in the left front for the summer. I may rotate them again before putting the snow tires back on in the fall... My spare tire is new but it's a differnt brand of tire.

Anyone see a problem with this plan??