Goodyears Wrangler RT/S cupping....

[Viro]

2004 Sport Trac, 78000kms on tires....I bought the truch used so I'm assuming that they are the original tires...

I took a long trip last summer and shortly after returning I noticed a rumbling sort of sound and after a week or two I brought the truck in to have the tires balanced...all ok except one tire.

Still had the rumble...

Took it to my mechanic, couldn't find anything wrong mechanically with the front end so I figured it might be the tires...

So I drove another couple of weeks before feeling up the tires....the two tires I had on the driver side were cupped on the insides (maybe 3 cups on each), so I went and had the front rotated to the right rear and I didn't notice much of the rumble...

Until a month or so ago I started noticing it again and now it seems I can feel the fronts are cupping.....I really don't find the alignment all that bad. I'm sure it's possible that it's out a bit but it's not like I'm fighting the truck to keep it on the road. Generally if I let go of the wheel it has a light pull to the right (which I'd expect given the fact roads usually have a slight slope for drainage).

I still have good tread life on the tire left but I'm at odds on getting new tires and having them cup as well....I do most of my driving in town but I generally get on the highway once a week or so and put 100kms on them in a trip to the city.

Just curious as to your thoughts.....

 

[dogfriend]

Yep, that's what happened to mine (GY RT/S) - the outside edges started wearing in a weird pattern and they got louder and louder and louder. I got about 55k (miles) and probably could have gotten another 10k but was getting sick of the roar.

 

[Viro]

Yep, that's what happened to mine (GY RT/S) - the outside edges started wearing in a weird pattern and they got louder and louder and louder. I got about 55k (miles) and probably could have gotten another 10k but was getting sick of the roar.

What was your solution?....did your shocks/struts cause it? Bad alignment? Just the tires?

 

[dogfriend]

I think its just the tires.

The Goodyears were replacements for the Firestones that got recalled. I had 52k miles at the time. Shocks were replaced just before that at 50k.

I didn't have the alignment done, although the previous owner did at 15k miles. The Goodyears were on from 52 k to 106k, then I replaced them with Pirelli Scorpians. I now have 119k, I don't drive the Explorer very much these days.

 

[rMoyer]

mine do the same, im dealing with it till i can afford to get new tires...

im getting toyo proxes getting rid of the all terrain tire and going with a street tire

 

[ncranchero]

IMO, Goodyear RT/S tires are crap. I just put a set on my '08 E250 thinking the Goodyears would be a better quality than the OEM Hankook's I put 65K miles on. Boy was I wrong. The GY's about shook me out of the van if I went anywhere over 70 MPH. I had them rebalanced, same thing. After some serious discussion with the store manager they "found" that one of the tires had a "high" spot in it and replaced it as warranty. I have since read a lot negative feedback online concerning the RT/S's. You may have some issues with the alignment/shocks but I'd bet the crappy tires are the biggest problem.

 

[Squirrelmaster]

The RT/S's are garbage, unfortunately, and even though I've seen plenty of positive reviews on the tires, that is usually only from those that have less than 20K on the tires. On my '95 Explorer I had about 30-35K (I'm guessing since the odometer broke about 20K after I bought the tires), and they were in terrible shape and loud as could be, despite rigorous rotations and tire pressure checks. My solution ended up being trading in the '95 on my '04 ST, but had that not happened, it would have been to go to a different tire.

Tom

 

[JohnnyO]

Although the OE shocks on Sport Tracs are soft and probably contribute to the problem, the simple fact is that Goodyear RT/S's suck.

 

[Joe Dirt]

What tire pressures are you running? On my '95 running 30 psi they cup. At 40psi they don't cup. I'm running Coopers with a similar tread pattern. If you're running a less agressive van tire, you can run less pressure, but an agressive truck tread (split shoulder treads) need more air pressure to prevent cupping it seems.