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I have a 2002 with 21,000 miles. The orignal GYs cupped on the inside front & rear. At approx 6,500 miles I noticed they were starting to cup so I had an independent alignment shop to align. I replaced those tires at 13,000 miles because of the noise. Bought four new tires and had them installed and four wheel alignment by local Chev. dealer. With 6,000 miles on these tires they were starting to cup. I took it back to local dealer and they rechecked the alignment and said was still within factory specks. At 8,000 miles on tires the cupping is getting worse so I again take back to dealer and they recheck alignment and still within factory specks. Service mgr. calls GM tech and ask for help and was told by tech that that was the nature of beast that Corvette had that problem and thats just the way it is.
I am sure other owners have had this same problem. Did GM offer to help?
Cupping can be caused by an unbalanced tire condition, faulty wheel bearings, loose parts, fatigued springs or weak shock absorbers. Check the condition of the shock by forcefully bouncing the front end of the car several times and releasing it on the down stroke. Failure of the vehicle to settle after two strokes suggests worn shocks or struts.
All of the above were checked by dealer and found no problem. My question is has anyone had any help from GM on this problem. If you have had this problem what were you able to do solve it? GM says that it is the nature of these cars to do this.
Another cop-out by GM. I can not believe that it is "the nature of the beast" to have cupped tires after 6K miles. Even though everything checks out OK according to GM, try to find an alignment expert, and have them check your car out. And like the above posts suggest, make sure all your other front-end components, including shocks, are in good shape.
PS Give up going to the Chevy dealer. Have they helped you at all or fixed the problem? No.
Last edited by WetteVette; Aug 30, 2007 at 07:10 PM.
I have never been able to get cupping out of a set of tires once it starts. I have replaced entire suspension sytems as well as other parts and the cupping does not go away. Hope you get it fixed, get another alignment shop to verify the specs.