My friend and I both bought ford 150 super crews in 2001. Both now have ~30,000 miles. On both trucks only the left front tire shows extremly bad tire cupping. Tires have not been rotated and tire pressure is correct. Ford says they have no problem. Both trucks have Goodyear RTS tires. Does anyone else out there have the same problem?

 

Hi Brisch and welcome to FTE

I think the main problem is going so long without rotating your tires. They should usually be done at every second oil change.
Have you had your wheel alignment checked? Might be a good idea.

 

Racerguy,
I realize that I should have been rotating the tires but; if I had, I would now have 4 equally worn (cupped) tires, rather than one. My last truck (1998 F150 club cab) went 75,000 miles without a hint of a problem. I rotated those tires only 3 times. Why would two different trucks (2001's) wear exactly the same? The alignment does not give any indication of a problem. The truck drives straight as an arrow.
Brisch

 

Brisch, I had an 01' Screw 4by, and also noticed that my front tires seemd to cup and feather. I don't recall if it was the right front, but I do know the front tires showed alot of wear when I traded it w/ 13.5k miles.
I now have an 03' Screw 4by w/ just under 6k miles on it, same Goodyear tires. These do not seem to be wearing as bad, and actually the fronts seem to be wearing very true.

 

You need to rotate your tires often. If you do this you wont have 4 worn tires....they wont wear as much is you keep them rotated.

 

i recently purchased a used 2001 f150 4wd supercrew and noticed that the left front tire was cupped pretty badly however the right front tire pressure was also low which i assumed led to this problem until i saw your post. i wll be keeping an eye on the front left tire for sure now.

 

Man.......not all tires get great wear. I know that it sucks....but that is the way it is. My Jeep came with goodyear GSA's and I got about 25K out of them (of course I wheeled the hell out of them, but still). I'd keep them rotated and get a good set of tires soon (i.e. not Goodyear).

 

I have the same problem and I have the same tires. With these tires, I was told, you have to rotate more often, between 5and 8000. Also, watch your lower ball joints, at 60 or 70,000 miles they will show signs of wear. The shop showed me the slop in my trucks lower ball joints and said this is common for the f150.

 

If caster, camber and toe are in spec, and the upper and lower ball joints have no play in them, I would look at the shocks.

Tire cupping often happens when the shocks are worn and the constant cycling up and down wears the tires as the miles add up.

You can push the front corner down hard and see how many times the suspenion cycles up and down. Fresh shocks will allow the spring to cycle once and then controll the remaining cycles. Worn shocks will allow the front end to cycle many times. If this is the case, it can and does cause tire cupping.

 

i'm sure we all understand the need to rotate the tires often on these bigger rigs. apparently what is at issue here is that it is the left front tire ONLY on several different 2001 model year f150 super crews. that is an oddity and something to pay attention to for all you 2001 screw owners. keep us updated

 

Not all tires cup, although Goodyear tires are notorious for this, especially the Wrangler series.
My Screw came with BFGoodrich, this was my first experience with these tires and they are great. Quiet, good tread, and absolutely no cupping after 25K miles.
Good rotation and shocks help with cupping, of course, but Goodyears cup no matter what shape the suspension is in.

 

i bought my 98 f150 supercab 4x4 a little over a year ago put new goodyear wrangler tires on it have somewhere around 30000 mile on them and have no signs of cupping but i rotate my tires every other oil change i work at a dealership and see this problem all the time with trucks and car that dont have there tires rotated every 6000 miles. cupping is most commonly only caused by a alignment or a rotation problem and most of the time goodyear or ford wont warranty this problem

 

Should have been rotated and alignment checked after the first 10,000 miles. Assembly line production means varying tollerences, so I always have mine checked under warranty. Just tell them it is pulling and they will check it.
Jimmy