M35X - Tires cupped after 15,000 miles!!

[zerbs68]

I have a 07' M35x with 40,000 miles and I replaced the OE tires at 25,000 miles with a set of Goodyear Eagle F1 All Season 245/45ZR/18. These tires have been great in rain, snow, and all around handling but I recently took the car into infiniti because of a really annoying whirring/thumping sound while driving at any speed. The Infiniti dealer replaced the front wheel bearing and hub assembly but the sound still remained, I was told the tires were cupped and should get them looked at. I went to Discount Tire and they confirmed the tires are all cupped and said Goodyear would give me a one time credit of $85.00/tire but I would have to pay almost $600.00 for a new set! They said this is a common problem with vehicles with stiff suspensions but I'm not buying it. I'm outraged that after 15,000 miles Goodyear/Discount Tire is basically telling me to buy a new set of tires.

Has anyone experienced this before and what was the outcome?

[M4T5]

High performance tires dont last long from the beginning. Did you rotate them every 7,000mi or less?Have you had the alignment done when you placed the new tires on? An indication of a pull left or right, or no pull at all is not a way to check it either. Only a machine can do it properly. If you haven't been doing these items, then your cupped tires are expected.It also seems as though you had worn parts on the front of your car already. That's another issue that can cause poor tire wear. You have to look at the entire picture before you blame one item.

J

[szh]

First I have heard of this with this brand of tire. the Goodyear Eagle F1 All Season are pretty highly rated tires (for an All-Season, that is!) and they should last pretty decently down to their tread life without problems, I would think.

In general, as long as the tire pressure was correctly maintained (at about 34 to 36 psi), and the tires were rotated/balanced every 3000 to 3500 miles or so, you should not experience problems till the tread is down to about 4/32" to 3/32". If you did not rotate often enough, or maintain correct pressures (measure cold inside the garage before any miles on the tire) then improper alignment or improper suspension components can cause problems with uneven tread wear and cupping.

What is the date of manufacture on the side of the tire, BTW?

Z

[zerbs68]

Thanks for the tips M4T5, I do in fact have the tires rotated at Discount tire every 6000-7000 miles and religiously check the tire pressure and maintain at 33 psi per manufacturers recommendation. I also had the front end re-aligned a couple of months prior to getting these new tires because of an encounter with black ice, a high curb and $1,200 in suspension/rim damage.A majority of the 40,000 miles on my car are highway miles and I notice that at times my tires will heat up to 37-38 psi on the highway. I did hit a huge pothole during the highway construction season in Chicago which bubbled both the front and back tires which were replaced by the current Goodyears at 25,000 miles.The car steers true from a dead stop or at 80mph and I recently had the toe and camber checked at the dealer when they replaced the front wheel bearing and it was within mfr. specifications.What is the mfr. recommendation on changing shocks as I've tested mine and they seem fine.

Thanks again

[M4T5]

I wouldn't worry about your shocks at this time. The only indication of a bad shock at this time would be if you can see visible leakage running down the side of your shocks/ struts or if they look damp from them leaking down the sides of them in the past. A greasy build up on the shocks would be a good indication that they have leaked or are leaking.I wouldn't worry about them until around 80-100K miles.Just a tip, try having them rotated every 5,000mi or if it's easier, every oil change (3,750mi). Then you can directly blame it on the tires. Yeah, I agree, at 15,000mi they shouldn't be doing this so soon.I think I'll be using the Falken 452's when mine need to be replaced. There seems to be quite a few members that have had good luck with them. The price is very reasonable too! At $175 each, that's not too bad. Here's a link: http://www.falkentire.com/xhtm...ire=1

J

[Q45tech]

Leaking shocks are the ultimate indication of total failure, but shocks are wear items and suffer performance declines from day one. 4 years is a good useful life for shocks, something like 50-60,000 miles. By then the internal nitrogen charge has dissapated and they won't self expand, rebound is less than 50% stiff as new.

With soft high performance tires 3500 mile rotation [remount and flip] is the norm compared with 7500 for harder high wear tires.

Anyway by 8,000 miles directional tires begin to get noisey and feathered due to suspension geometry of tire and weaknesses in tire block undelying attachment which allow heel toe feathering.

[ken in az]

Don't forget, suspemsion components tend to heat up as you drive which means that basically the bounce test means squat if that is how you tested them. Shocks heat up and the oil will loose it's viscosity causing the shock to loose the dampening power it once had.

Also any wheel balance issues can cause cupping as well as wheel bearing problems. It sound to me that when you had the damage repaired that the shop missed something that is still causing your tire wear problems.

Cupping is a dynamic problem that normally can't be diagnosed by putting it on a rack traditionally, the shop may need to deflect the suspension in either direction to gain the knowledge of what is really happening.

I used to be an alignment tech and sometimes we'd need a test car to see what the numbers are supposed to look like and compare them to the said vehicle with problems before we could narrow it down. The books didn't always have the numbers we were looking for.

Good luck on your quest to get it resolved - I know it "shouldn't" be this tough on the consumer, but it is something we all have to deal with as some problems are cause by almost an infinite number or irregularities.

[New2Import]

Do you let the car sit for long periods between driving? If so you need to park on a couple pieces of carpet so you want get the flat spots in the tires.