2004 1.8T 50,700 miles. Toyo Proxes FZ4 225/45/17 (installed at 27,700 miles rotations every 5,000-10,000 miles)
About 1200 miles ago (maybe 3 weeks) after rotating my tires I noticed some noise, mostly at higher speeds (60 mph and above). I took a look at the tires and it appears the insides of the tires are wearing unevenly. The "blocks" of tread alternate higher and lower, which from what I've read is whats called "cupping". I think its related to my alignment issues after I had the car lowered back in January.
The car drives ok though it seems maybe I can feel a bit more resistance, but not much, it's mainly the noise that is driving me crazy. Short of buying new tires, I figure I can either rotate the front tires to the back and keep them there to eliminate the noise, but this will make my fronts wear out much quicker. OR I can take the two front tires and swap them right to left, which would involve having the tires taken off the rims and remounted on the other side. This would put the cupped portion on the OUTSIDE which I would think would minimize additional cupping and hopefully get rid of the noise (which is my biggest problem). I dont know if this would work but Im basing my theory on the fact that I have negative camber in the front so the outsides wear less. I know once they start to wear that way there's not much you can do short of getting the tires shaved and I wouldn't know how to go about getting that done.
As far as I can tell the rest of my suspension is in good shape. I know the sound is sometimes a possible bad wheel bearing, but the sound started immediately after the rotation and doesnt change when turning the wheel. I had all four wheels rebalanced last week and it didn't change anything.
Which one of the two ideas I listed is best? (Or is neither a good option?)
About 1200 miles ago (maybe 3 weeks) after rotating my tires I noticed some noise, mostly at higher speeds (60 mph and above). I took a look at the tires and it appears the insides of the tires are wearing unevenly. The "blocks" of tread alternate higher and lower, which from what I've read is whats called "cupping". I think its related to my alignment issues after I had the car lowered back in January.
The car drives ok though it seems maybe I can feel a bit more resistance, but not much, it's mainly the noise that is driving me crazy. Short of buying new tires, I figure I can either rotate the front tires to the back and keep them there to eliminate the noise, but this will make my fronts wear out much quicker. OR I can take the two front tires and swap them right to left, which would involve having the tires taken off the rims and remounted on the other side. This would put the cupped portion on the OUTSIDE which I would think would minimize additional cupping and hopefully get rid of the noise (which is my biggest problem). I dont know if this would work but Im basing my theory on the fact that I have negative camber in the front so the outsides wear less. I know once they start to wear that way there's not much you can do short of getting the tires shaved and I wouldn't know how to go about getting that done.
As far as I can tell the rest of my suspension is in good shape. I know the sound is sometimes a possible bad wheel bearing, but the sound started immediately after the rotation and doesnt change when turning the wheel. I had all four wheels rebalanced last week and it didn't change anything.
Which one of the two ideas I listed is best? (Or is neither a good option?)