Tire Cupping 06' Avalon

[derrick1914]

I have a 06' Avalon XLS. I religiously rotate my tires at every oil change 5k, and maintain the alignment. I am experiencing cupping of my tires all 4. This will be the 2nd set of tires that have the same experience. All 4 tires are cupping. I currently have Sumitomo's...I hope I spelled that correctly. Anyhow, the dealer wants to give me a $100 per tire credit ($400), but I have to use this credit towards some Michelin tires. With the $400 credit, the tires are still an additional +$500...

The dealer wants to put a band-aid on the situation...I want to solve the problem.

What is causing the cupping ?

[pmesfun]

How many miles?

[TrailDust]

Just wondering if you can post up a pic of the tire wear, just to confirm that it's cupping and also which variety of cupping. A diagnosis is very tentative at this point, but cupping under the conditions you've described indicate that some suspension component like a ball joint or maybe a bad shock is causing the problem.

[derrick1914]

The tires are cupping along the inside portion of the tires. I have 73k miles on car and 35k on these tires. The service department has not even attempted to troubleshoot the problem...replace-replace-replace !

[TrailDust]

Well, improper camber could be one cause for inside edge cupping, but bad struts/shocks would also be another. That is assuming the issue is cupping and not feathering. I don't say that to be insulting, but rather it's like a medical diagnosis: Under some conditions two or even three doctors can come up with a different diagnosis for a problem. Anyway, locate a good, trustworthy private mechanic in your area and have them check it out instead of a dealer. Let us know what the problem turns out to be.

[TheUltimateBohab]

I’m thinking most of the problem is the brand of tires you said this is the second set this has happened to? What brand was the last set? Considering your car only has 73,000 miles on it now and only like 48,000 on the previous set it’s highly unlikely that your ball joints/struts are worn and they defiantly weren’t worn previously when was the last time you had it aligned? If your ball joints where worn whoever did the alignment would have known because the alignment would not hold, or if they didn’t align it properly it would cause the tires to wear weird.

[Mike Murrell]

I went thru the same thing with an '06 XL Avalon.

First set(factory) - Bridgestone RE92 - got 77K out of them. No problems.

Made the mistake of replacing with Bridgestone HP-550 - a Sears-only tire.

Noisy!!!

and scalloping to boot.

Switched out with Michelin Primacy MXV4 - a MUCH quiter tire.