Bad shocks or what?

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Bart Adkins

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I noticed some tire noise coming from my front left tire...I checked it out and I have SEVERE cupping on the inner edge of my tire...the crappy thing is, I only have 18,000 miles on my ST! Needless to say it's going to the dealership and I fully expect new shocks (or whatever) and a tire too, I mean c'mon man...the thing's brand new!:angry:
 
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You mean new shocks as the ST doesn't use Struts. And, the shocks are junk from the dealer. Most of us replace them and notice a huge difference. Hopefully they replace the tire or pro rate the diffeence since it has 18K on them.
 
That sounds good. I'm sure they will try and sell you some struts for your ST, since you don't have any on there right now. The ST does not have struts on it. It has a torsion bar in the front end. It sounds like your lower ball joint may be shot. Same thing happened on mone, but I was at 86k miles. My front tires cupped badly on the inside of both. Replaced the ball joints, and it then needed a new wheel bearing (because it was damaged by the bad ball joints). The new bearing for my ST was about 170 bucks (I have a 4wd)
 
If you put stock shocks back on, you will still get the tire cupping. If you have the GY/RTS tires they also need to be rotated, 4k to 5k miles.



I have rancho shocks and the crapyear tires have 4k since shock change. They are cupping now, but not as bad as when I had stock shocks. Going to rotate tomorrow...



Maybe you can work a deal with ford to install a good aftermarket shock, even if you have to buy them....
 
i had tires cup at 4500 mi. Dealer did an alignment and refused to replace the tire. Some people have had luck getting the tire replaced, but most others have not. I just went ahead and bought a whole new set of Michelins and now BFG's and haven't had cupping since....so my ST wasn't the reason (i've gone about 20,000 mi. on the different tires), the crappy tires might be. Good luck!! I feel your pain.



One last thing, if you read your warranty, I believe tires are no longer covered after 12,000 miles if I remember correctly. I remember mine started cupping at 4500 miles, they just rotated them and told me they "fixed" the problem (I was stupid and believed them) and then they started cupping again at 12,500 and they then refused me a replacement due to warranty restrictions. Oh well...my BFG's are 1000 times better.
 
Thanks everybody. I will look into aftermarket shocks, and I don't think the dealer will give me a problem about my tire. Within the last year my family has bought one Sport Trac, two Escapes, an F-150, and a 500 all from the same dealer and same salesman. I think they'd probably give me a pedicure while I waited for the tire if I pushed the issue.:D
 
Get new shocks! Even with the TT/SL, 3inch body lift, and 33X12.5 BFGS the ride is better with all that and new shocks than it was stock with the stock shocks.
 
I am running Monroe Reflex shocks and BFG Radial Long Trail T/A tires.



I did not have a major problem with cupping, but the tires did cup a minor ammount. That was with the Wrangler RT/S The BFG tires have been on my Trac for about 8,000 miles and they show no signs of cupping at all.



Honestly, Goodyear tires leave alot to be desired. The wet traction is poor, and that is a compliment. Snow is impossible with the Goodyear Wrongler RT/S tires...oops, I mean to say Wrangler, but they are just wrong tires. My regret is that I did not replace the Goodyear tires the same day I got the Trac.





Tom
 
Look into the ball joints too though. I had to have the left side ball joints replaced on the '02 Ranger I had before at less than 20,000 miles.
 
Jenn D



What you said about your cupped tires is the exact same situation as I have. Mine started to cup at about 4000 miles..........same results and story with the dealer. I however still have the tires on the truck, they sound terrible. What BFG model did you get ? How was the price ? I looking for something that looks ok ( white letters too ) ,does not cup , and is not priced out of my budget. I am getting tired of the snow tire sound......:unsure:



Thanks for the nfo
 
I had the same problem on my '04 except it occurred at 21K miles. The dealer said it was caused by a bad alignment (camber was off) and not rotating the tires enough. He suggested rotating every 5K miles. I had to pay for the alignment and they rotated the cupped tires to the rear. I'm now at 28K miles and so far no cupping on the front tires so it probably was the alignment. He did however make the suggestion that the factory supplied Goodyear tires were junk and suggested replacing them with Michelins which would hold up alot better.
 
yel-mel



I initially had Michelin Cross-Terrains on my ST (after the stock Wranglers) that I purchased from a fellow member. Then I replaced them with BFG T/A KO tires (265/75/R16 - slightly larger than stock w/TT-Shackle lift). I first priced them online, but found while the price was acceptable for my budget, it would cost me more in the long run to have them mounted (this may be only an Orlando thing....some people say they pay close to nothing for mounting in other places - it would have cost me $30 per tire here). So I called a couple of local shops and ended up getting them installed and completely taken care of for about $600. A bit pricey, but exactly what I've always wanted and 1000 times better than what I had. I am sure there are some people here that can chime in on a good aftermarket tire. IMO almost anything is better than those Wranglers on our ST's.
 
David



They also said it was my allignment and went ahead and did the allignment for me the first time i brought it in at 4500 mi. Then the second time around when the tires were cupping (at 12,500 mi) I took it for an allignment first at a local trustable shop, they said it was within specs but not perfect so they adjusted it slightly at no cost. Then, from the shop, I took it to the Ford dealer (knowing they couldn't blame the allignment this time) and sure enough the first thing they said was that my allignment was off. I said "oh really?!?!?! wow!" Then, they refused me the new tire due to the 12,000 mi. thing. I wrote a letter to Ford basically telling them the whole ordeal....mainly that they let me leave without FIXING the problem the first time, knowing the second time I'd come back and be out of warranty. Needless to say I didn't hear anything back. Ford cares huh? I took matters into my own hands and just dealt with it. At least I'll know it's taken care of now.
 

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