SPORTTRAC TIRE CUPPING IS FORDS PROBLEM.. NOT YOURS!

[Ron Tobias]

Badyears, rotated on a regular basis, balanced 4 times in 20,000 miles, replaced shocks at 15,000 miles, cupped terribly. Replaced them with Michelin LTX M&S, about 8000+ miles on them, so far no problems. I was not happy to spend almost $700 on tires and $150 on shocks for a $30000 vehicle that was less than two years old.



Blame what you want but a person shouldn't have such problems on a new vehicle of any kind. If it's a suspension problem, Ford should re-design, tire/shock combination issue; change one or the other. (oh wait, this is the company that weighed the cost of law suits against the cost of redesign during the exploding Pinto fiasco, or was it the Firestone tire debacle, no maybe the door jamming burning Crown Vic, hmm...) These are not issues consumers should have to deal with on a regular basis. It's not just Ford, I had a 2003 Tacoma, Double Cab, Pre-Runner that was a POS. That is why I traded it on the ST.



It's amazing what we have come to accept as consumers. In fact, I know someone here is going to make the, "it's a machine, machines are not perfect and sometime they break" argument.



My next one will probably be a four door Canyon (I'm just waiting for the Transmission on the ST to start slipping)

 

[Rod Halsell 2]

Took my '05 (with 3,500) miles in and was given an alignment and two new front GY's.



Local Ford service adviser gladly informed me that Ford had identified an alignment problem causing the uneven tire wear.



Will closely monitor going forward based on comments previously stated.



Is my second ST and never had this on my new '01.

 

[Wes Davis]

Rod do you have a TSB for this?

 

[Andrew Tollison 3]

what does it look like when the tires are cupping

 

[Thomas Rogers]

Andrew, the inside edge or the outside edge of the tread will have excessive wear, often from the edge in as much as several inches. The tread should wear evenly along the surface that hits the road, slightly moreso in the center. If the outter edges take the brunt of the wear, that's cupping. I think there are pics on this site somewhere.

 

[Mark Grumpy]

TJR,

the edges wearing is a toe issue - inside edge is toe out and outside edge is toe in. This is fixed with a proper alignment. Cupping looks like blisters or bubbles when it gets real bad, all across the surface of the tire. It is also called scalloping.



grump



[Broken External Image]:

 

[Thomas Rogers]

Sorry. You are right, Grumpy, I was confusing toeing with cupping.



Are the rears more susceptiple to cupping than the front?

 

[Mark Grumpy]

On a truck or unloaded trailer, yes. The lighter the load on the tire the more susceptible the tire is to bouncing. If I remember right the ST is 56/44% weight front to rear so there may be just a slight difference.



grump

 

[Andrew Tollison 3]

On my 04 ST the inside tread has a wavey pattern to it. It is doing it on all four tires. I rotate every 3,000 miles when I do an oil change. My father inlaws Ranger was doing the same thing. Both have the Goodyear Wrangler tires.

 

[john dunn]

we just love our 03 ST Adrenalin...... havn't seen any cupping as of yet and she has 37K on her and she runs as good as my REAL JAGUAR VDP ..... i hope to one day figure out how to turn on the DVD player thing in the back seat ..... might even try a movie...happy new year to all !



john & gloria

 

[larry whitlock]

2004 ST with 15,000 miles and just rotated my tires at 14,000. The rear tires went to the front and front back to rear. After the rotation, the rear tires that went to the front were BADLY CUPPED and I could really notice it after the rotation. I had to rotate them back to even out the ride. I have the stock Goodyear Wranglers and factory shocks, and had rotated my tires at 4,000, 9,500 and 14,000 and they still cupped. I did go ahead and changed my shocks out AFTER I saw the cupping problem and that has helped the ride. Since I moved the cupped tires back to the rear the ride has also smoothed out again.

 

[Rod Halsell 2]

Me,

I do not have the TSB info. The Ford Service Adviser called to get his information. Also have a "rocking chair" on the driver's side thus the reason he was calling Ford.



Rod

 

[Wes Davis]

Rod would it be possible to talk with your service adviser again and see if he can get some sort of write up on this to benefit all of us. I know when I go into my dealer they are going to tell me I need to rotate my tires and that will be the end of it.

 

[Oscar Lopez]

Service Bulletins

TSB Number & Issue Date TSB Title

05-11-11 JUN 05 Alignment - Irregular Front Tire Wear



you can find this at ALLDATA.COM they will not give you the tsb less you join but you can go to the service dept. with the tsb number 05-11-11 and the date it came out June 05



if you do a search and type "ford Recall and Service Bulletin" you will find alldata.com

 

[TrainTrac]

I just dropped my ST off at the dealer for some warranty work tonight (sway bar end links, problem w/tonneau cover, and rear headrest). I also inquired about the irregular tire wear TSB. The service advisor looked it up, and Ford only covers this for 12 months/12K miles. After that, you're on your own.

 

[Dave jackson 2]

2001 ST w/ Michelins at 65,000 miles with many miles left to go. NO cupping.

Changed shocks at 36,000 miles. Money well spent.

 

[TrainTrac]

I changed my shocks at 17,000 and still got some cupping. It's probably due more to the OEM Crapyear Wrangler RT/S tires than anything.



My next tires are going to be either Michelin CrossTerrains or the Goodyear Fortera Silent Armor.