Anyone else have Tire Cupping Problems?

I have a 2000 Explorer with AWD. The tires I have are Goodyear Wranglers and they have about 40,000 miles on them. The Explorer has 55,000 miles on it. Latley the front tires have become very noisy. At first glance I could see nothing wrong with them. I am getting nice even tread wear. But upon closer inspection I noticed there is some very minor tire cupping on the inside tread of both front tires. I am not real religious about rotating my tires because with AWD all four wear pretty evenly. So I am guessing they haven't been rotated for about 10,000 miles. I just rotated them and the noisy has now moved to the rear (as expected) but is quite subdued now. The tires were just rebalanced about 3K miles ago too.

Does anyone know what causes this cupping? Has anyone else experienced it themselves? Maybe rotating the tires more often is the answer....I don't know. Any insight anyone can provide will be appreciated.

 

[410Fortune]

Sounds like AWD and turning might be causing the problems...
Have you checked the alignment? Upper ball joint issues? I am not sure just trying to get you pointed in the right direction.

Rotate every 2 oil changes, thats what I do.

 

[james t]

Shocks, balljoints, AWD, not rotating them, these are a few of the things that can cause cupping. If you have 40k on a set of Wranglers without religious rotation then you should be happy.

 

[IAmTodd]

My BFGs cupped like mad with 3k rotations. And that was with 2WD, and good aligment.

 

[Carls97x]

I'm going threw the same **** wright know and it makes me so mad. I hate that noise and the little Vibration that it gives off. I think this will be mine reason to get me a real set of tires. I have the stock 235 and jumping up to the 32x11.50r15. I can't wait

 

[Dave S]

Thanks for all your input everyone. I figure my Goodyears will last another 10-15K miles so I am just going to keep them rotated and see what happens. Then when I get new tires, I will have the front end aligned and the upper ball joints checked out.

 

[Bronco638]

I'm having the same issue with some Goodyear Wranglers. I rotated them to be sure there wasn't something else going wrong with the passenger side front suspension (where the noise was coming from). After the rotation, the noise is now where the cupped tire is. Since they're trash, I'll drive them into the ground or until the BL is on and I can fit my BFG 32s. Then I'll go have an alignment done.