I've gotten different advice from different people, but wanted to hear from the veterans here about this. If your tires are "cupping" on the inner side of your tires, what could be the direct problem related to that? When you drive the car and get to about 30-40mph. you hear the tires sound like, "wa wa wa wa...". I heard it could be either faulty tires, worn dampers, alignment, balance, or loose tie rods. Could it one or a combination of these things? Oh, by the way, the suspension is completely stock. Thank you in advance for your input.

 

What tires is the cupping on? Is it just one tire? Usually cupping means something is bent or broken. An alignment might help , and it will tell you if something is bent. Has the car been in any accidents lately?

 

Definatley recommend an alignment, whenever people have tire problems its almost always caused by an f'd up toe angle......

 

from my experience, i think its worn shocks or underdamped.

 

The tires are Continental-Conti Touring All Season. The sound was first noticeable when the tires got rotated for the first time. The tires were new when the car was bought with 50k mi. on the odo. already. I guess the first thing to do is to do an alignment and then get new dampers because it sounds like the dampers are starting to knock a little.

 

weak shocks/dampers can definitely cause cupping and general bad tire wear, choppy edges of tread. Also worn out suspension bushings, in addition to balljoints and tie rods.

If you jack the car up and shake each tire holding it at a 9 and 3 o'clock position , and at 12 and 6 that will find anyting REALLY worn out, you can also use large channel lock pliers at either end of the upper and lower balljoints, and try to squeeze them together, there should be no up and down play in the balljoints.

Rear trailing arm bushings often are really worn out, cracked, and can cause a good alignment to drive poorly due to dynamic alignment changes.

 

I guess at the next oil change I do, I'm going to really have to get in there and check everything. I feel overwhelmed already lol! Thanks for all the advice everyone.

 

i would get an alignment as soon as you can . a good shop should be able to save whats left of you tires unless its too late.

 

Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.

 

Struts, i wouldnt think a tie rod would cause this because your tie rod only controls lateral movement, and cupping is a result of a up and down movement.