# Tire Cupping Blues



## Sleuth GTI (Sep 24, 2009)

I have a 2006 GTI with 50k miles on it.
About 5k miles ago, began hearing slight rumbling in car.
Now , it roars loudly and constantly when driving. Checked bearings, joints, etc. all ok.
Traced it to tires. The inside edge of the rear tires are 'cupping' .
This is my 2nd set of tires. OE tires were Conti Summer 225 40 18. No problem whatsoever with uneven wear.
Replaced these with Goodyear All Season Formula 1s , also 225 40 18.
I rotate them at abt. 8k . The front tires dont seem to cup. I believe the rear tires are the 'culprit'. 
Or is the problem in alignment? Are GTIs prone to this problem? Do I need a 4 wheel alignment? How often? Manual is silent on this.
Would appreciate help as I am going to replace tires this month.
Any one else have this problem before?


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## JDriver1.8t (May 20, 2005)

*Re: Tire Cupping Blues (Sleuth GTI)*

Are you using spacers, and are you at stock height or lowered?
The GTI has a solid rear beam that does not allow for allignment. To change the allignment they sell shims that are placed behind the entire hub assembly. An allignment shop will sell these and be able to install them.


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## Sleuth GTI (Sep 24, 2009)

*Re: Tire Cupping Blues (JDriver1.8t)*

No spacers and ride height is factory.
I guess I'll take it to friendly vw dealer for measurement of spacers.
Are certain brands of tires more suceptible to cupping or eneven wear?
At 50k are the springs/shocks showing their age, causing uneven wear?
Thanks JDriver


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## JDriver1.8t (May 20, 2005)

*Re: Tire Cupping Blues (Sleuth GTI)*

It is possible that yous suspension components are showing wear.
Most manufacturers recommend replacement of shocks and struts at 100k. At 60k, my front struts were completely blown. The rears normally last longer.
I believe your rears are very easy to remove. 3 bolts IIRC. You can pull them out and check their compression and rebound.
The allignment can be 'in spec' and still not be good. This is because there is a wide range of 'good' since there is no adjustability. 
Either way, allignment should be checked and corrected. The rear shocks should be checked as well. They are relatively cheap to replace if you do not go with OEM.


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## VMRWheels (Aug 11, 2009)

*FV-QR*

cupping can be caused by bad alignment, your toe is probably out of spec. Bad toe eats up tires like no tomorrow








[email protected]


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## teutoned (Jul 29, 2008)

*Re: Tire Cupping Blues (Sleuth GTI)*


_Quote, originally posted by *Sleuth GTI* »_
Are certain ... tires more suceptible to cupping or eneven wear?


yes, certain tread designs can be more likely to cup/feather. directional tires are in this category. usually set up for the rh side or lh side and usually never get rotated to the other side of vehicle due to extra labor involved.


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## Sleuth GTI (Sep 24, 2009)

*Re: FV-QR (VMRWheels)*

GTI is still under warranty. Will have suspension checked. Thanks


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## Sleuth GTI (Sep 24, 2009)

*Re: Tire Cupping Blues (teutoned)*

will get 4 wheel alignment. dealer offers it for $80. Tires are at wear indicators, will try a differnt brand. Thanks for info!


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## Sleuth GTI (Sep 24, 2009)

*Re: FV-QR (Sleuth GTI)*

will try different brand tires. Thanks for infol


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## guinness133 (Jun 25, 2009)

*Re: Tire Cupping Blues (Sleuth GTI)*

I have an 08 GTI that does this as well. It's annoying as hell!!! They are Bridgestone Potenzas. I took it to Volkswagen, they said it was just that the tire tread was cupped.......I friggen hate it!


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## JDriver1.8t (May 20, 2005)

*Re: Tire Cupping Blues (guinness133)*

tire rotation every 5k will slow the process


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## Sleuth GTI (Sep 24, 2009)

*Re: Tire Cupping Blues (JDriver1.8t)*

Thanks for info JDriver. I went to TireRack and viewed the survey on the Goodyear F1 tires. 95% of the Audi, VW, Pontiac and Nisan owners complained abt. noise and or cupping.
Some had done alignments, rotations, spring/shock inspections, etc, with no improvement.
Discovered later that Goodyear is replacing the F1 with Eagle GT in a silent 'recall'. 
Tire Rack customers that qualify may get their F1 tires replaced without charge.
Mine are on the way.
At any rate, it seems that spirited drivers of curve-hugging cars inherently are prone to this condition [perhaps the camber,etc. is set for 'aggressive' . 
Lesson learned; I will rotate my new Goodyears every oil/filter change [5k miles].


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## Stabin wagon (Oct 16, 2009)

I have a2004 GLI and it cupped in the rear too. my rims where out of round and my bad tie rods didnt help. replace tie rods and new rims 3K so far and no sign of cupping.


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## lancemcv (Jan 2, 2006)

*Re: Tire Cupping Blues (Sleuth GTI)*

I have horrible cupping on my MKIV R32 Goodyear F1 rear tires and even a little on the front. I bought them from tirerack so I am going to call and see what they say. I just put my winter tires on and had my 40,000 mile check up, VW said I should replace my rear shocks.
I only have 44,000.00 miles on it. I do hear some noise now that my winter tires are on the car
though, when I turn left I hear a slight whirring sound in the rear. Granted I have hit some huge pot holes with the car living on one of the worst road in the US Rout 9w was a pot whole mind field until they just finished repaving it.







I have had to by some new winter rims but I didn't think my suspension would go bad with such low miles on the car. My winter tires have no sign of cupping which is strange. They are now four years old so perhaps it's my summer rims or the tires or the shocks.... any input would be appreciated.


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## Sleuth GTI (Sep 24, 2009)

*Re: Tire Cupping Blues (lancemcv)*

My Gdyear F1's were noisey and cupped. The Tire Rack thru Gdyr. replaced them free with Gdyr Eagle GTs.
With only 1k on them it is too soon to tell , but so far so good. The Eagles do not turn as crisply as the F1s because they do not have the carbor fiber in the sidewalls. Yet, the grip is all I could want. 
As I stated before VW says to rotate tires at 10k. I will rotate at 5k to see if that helps. You may want to try it also. 
At 1st I thought it was a GTI/R32 'defect' that caused the cupping. But researching it extensively told me that Pontiac, Nisan, Audi and others were having this problem with F1's too.
What brand are your winter tires? How many miles do you have on them with 4 years of winter use?
My GTI has 51k and dealer inspected my suspension/shocks, etc and pronounced them good. 
Hope this helps lancemcv.....


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## tim421zambonie (Nov 9, 2009)

i have a MKIV 2005 Jetta Gli and had the same problem and i noticed the problem was me. I didnt rotate my tires every 6,000 mile. Iwent to get everything checked and they said alignment is in specs, rims arent warped and the tires are ture and not "out of round". "out of round tires" have to have an inch or more side to side movement and up and down movement. ALL tires arent perfectly round so out of round is when you break a belt in the tire and it makes the tire shift and twist. It has nothing to do with the car, suspension, tires etc.. The problem is that allot of the cars not just VW are having this weird 45 degrees angle cupping. I work at a tire shop and i see it all the time. customer complains of a loud humming and vibration coming from the rear. so i look at the back tires and they have the same cupping problem. I ask them " when was the last time they rotated their tires?" they said "about 10,000 miles ago". I tell them it is caused by not rotating the tires. they ask what can i do? i tell them either purchase new tires on the rear and just keep they rotated every 6,000 miles and you will not have that problem. i know this because it happened to me and everyone that comes in with the same issues with the tires. Just remember to keep the tires rotated. Now if you have a larger size rim on the rear then you cant rotate. so you will have to deal with the tire problem.


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## lancemcv (Jan 2, 2006)

*Re: Tire Cupping Blues (Sleuth GTI)*

I talked to tirerack today and customer service told me there are no complaints about the F1s
they did not offer to do anything for me as far as a free trade to Eagle GT's and that cupping doesn't constitute replacement. Is there really a silent recall?? Should I be more aggressive with tirerack?? I haft to say I have not done any tire rotation except for switching my summer to winter tires. Winter tires are on their own 17 inch rims.
Tirerack said it must be suspension or alignment issues which is what VW said and that I need new rear shocks. I read most people don't get new rear shocks until about 90,000 miles. Is that true? It is hard for me to know which tires were bought when because three of the tires were replaced over time when I got bubbles from hitting the curb parking and hitting massive pot wholes. They seem to bubble pretty easily. I am thinking of upgrading to the new Golf R which I heard will be in the US in the spring. , I don;t really want to dump in a bunch of change for new shocks etc if I am going to sell the car and will be open to the buyer about the shocks. It would be a waist to dump in the cash for someone who might want to make some mods when they get it.
Does anyone know if this is fact or rumor. See below...
Now, the R32's successor, the 2010 Volkswagen Golf R, has been confirmed to come to the U.S. Volkswagen has officially announced that the car, dubbed the Volkswagen GTI-R for the U.S., will come to the U.S. early next year. 
The GTI-R has Volkswagen's 4-motion all-wheel-drive system and the same powerplant as the Scirocco R. The 2.0 liter TSI engine produces a whopping 265 horsepower, the most of any Golf, and enables the car to reach 62 mph in 5.7 seconds (with a standard manual transmission). If equipped with a DSG dual-clutch gearbox, the car reaches 62 mph in 5.5 seconds. 
see link below.

http://www.prlog.org/10377569-....html


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## lancemcv (Jan 2, 2006)

*Re: Tire Cupping Blues (Sleuth GTI)*

Thanks for the replies, I would like to know if you contacted goodyear first to get the tires replaced for free or was it tirerack, because tirerack said they had know complaints.


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## Sleuth GTI (Sep 24, 2009)

*Re: Tire Cupping Blues (lancemcv)*

I called Tire Rack 1st. They told me Gdyr. was accepting F1s that had uneven wear and were noisey. The sales rep informed me that Gdyr was replacing F1s with Eagle GTs. Would I be interested in such a program? They told me I had to buy 4 GTs and that if Gdyr. decided that their tires were defective, I would receive a full refund on the price of the new GTs.
So I bought them. After mounting them, I shipped the F1s to Tire Rack. 1 month later I was re-imbursed .
I do not know why Tire Rack is now saying no problems with F1s. Perhaps the 'recall ' is now ended. Gdyr. has solved the problem?
At any rate, my faith in Gdyr. has been restored. 
And I will rotate my tires quite often; much sooner than VW suggests!
If thats the only penalty for the unmitigated joy I get when I drive my superb GTI, then so be it. Its defineately worth it.


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## Sleuth GTI (Sep 24, 2009)

*Re: Tire Cupping Blues (Sleuth GTI)*

Forgot to say thanks for the info on the GTI-R. I did not know it was confirmed for the USA.
Hmmm, do I really need 265 HP? Isnt 200 HP enough? No and no. However, my 06 will be paid for in 7 months; maybe its time to visit my VW dealer in spring.......


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## spackletoe (Jun 19, 2006)

*07 GTI - Yokohama S-drives cupping*

It's an '07, and it's on it's 3rd (and a half) set of tires. 

Stock tires got noisy, they got changed out for... 

4 Yokohama S-Drives in Oct 2008 @ 29,125 miles 
then 
4 more Yokohama S-Drives in Feb 2010 @ 46,705 miles 
then 
2 Yokohama S-Drives (replaced fronts) in Jan 2011 @ 56,501 miles 

This is all with regular dealer visits which included rotation. 

Every single set of tires has cupped and become noisy. I have had the alignment done multiple times and I get different explanations (usually requiring me to buy stuff) when I bring it in. This week when I bring it in for alignment check I fully expect the whole "you need new shocks" thing. I tried to change brands after the first set of S-drives but they were out of stock so I got a free upgrade to a better tire... which was guess what: more S-drives! 

The yokohamas are great when they're new, but after the first rotation they're crap. At least on this car. 

Just wanted to share my experience.


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## keyman712 (Jan 11, 2011)

*2010 GTI Tires Cupping*

I just had my 20,000 mile service, drove of the lot and the noise was there. I took it back in and they said the front tires were cupping and that it was common for low profile tires and that I just had to deal with it. My question is, why would you match a 40,000+ tire to a car if it's not going to last that long? I called coustomer care and they said they would cover 50% of the cost of 4 new tires, I said I don't think so, VW created the problem so they should cover the cost of fixing it. I'm still trying to get some answers. This is my first VW and I think it will be my last, I say that because in 20,000 miles I have had several problems with the car and for the money we pay for these things we shouldn't have these kinds of problems. I was looking forward to being a part of what seems like a large community of VW lovers but I can't deal with the constant stupid issues, that's why I dumped Ford.:banghead: On to the next manufacturer.


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