i ve had my revos on my 99 4runner limited for about a year now and ruun about 18k miles on em . and as of recently i found a vibration which was blamed on cupping of the tire. the have never been rotated my bad. i just wanna know if tyhis is common on the revos and on the truck?. a mechanic i spoke with states that 4 runners in general make all tires cup evetually. how true is this? sorry for the long note but it seems that after you spend 170 per tire it should offer a bit more life before cupping even though i am partly to blame for not rotating.

 

18k is a lot of miles to not rotate your tires. I would say it has to do more with neglect than anyting else

 

well aside from stupidity no one else has ever had a problem?

 

Usually cupping of the tires indicate the shocks are worn but I don't know if it would show up that early or not.

 

I agree with IRONMIKE, usually cupping means the tires are bouncing probably due to bad shocks.

I have about 50,000 miles on my BFG A/T on my '96 and no cupping at all. I just measured the tread yesterday and all 4 tires are within 1/32 of each other. I rotate between 5 and 10K, watch the tire pressure carefully and have it aligned once a year.

I don't think it's a 4Runner problem.

Mick

 

20k without rotating the tires will cause cupping, even on good shocks

 

so whats the best selesction after i have the tires rotated now? the rear are better than the front so im gonna move em up there but wil more frequent rotations for my truck like every 5k help the tires taht are already cupped?

 

yes, more frequent rotation will help, but the fact of the matter is 2 of them are already jacked... i can flatten out cupped tires, but it takes a lot of hard driving, and tire spinning... by the time they are flat again, the tread is half gone....

 

Most of the time cupping is caused by bad shocks, unbalanced tire assemblys and even incorrect tire pressures. If you don't rotate them then I do agree with the other mechanic that most tires do cup eventually (but not always) on the front (steering) tires and to a less extent on the rears. Also make sure the pressure is adjusted properly to minimize cupping and replace the shocks if they are defective. Unfortunately, once they start to cup, they will continue that pattern even after you fix the problem. I'd start saving for new tires.......or not if you can live with the vibration and noise.

 

Wow Jim it always is good for me to learn something new. Thanks for clearing that up for me.

 

I have to admit that after about 50000km, I've never rotated my Michelins. They vibrated a bit from the beginning, but it hasn't gotten worse. I check my tires every so often, but I haven't noticed irregular wear patterns.
Michelins last a long time, which probably helps preventing cupping etc. also a bit.
It's about time to rotate mine though, just never get around to it.

 

The harder the tread compound the less tendency to cup (Michelins have one on the harder compounds which is why they tend to run for so long.....and also why they are also not as good in winter or on wet roads). Mine are around 50k miles and have no sign of cupping (very slight if it is there). So they answer is no, not all tires cup after a long period of time but most are prone to it and particularly if they are neglected (rotation, air pressure, balancing, shocks, etc).

 

Don't mention spinning tires on wet roads. Here in South West BC we get loads of rain, and bad road surfaces. The ABS kicks in quite often, but my Dutch style of driving doesn't help either.