My Type S tires are cupping under 10,000 miles

[Mrs. Carter]

The dealership told me my tires are cupping. I currently have less than 10,000 miles on my 24 type S. I do not track my car and I have not driven it more than 2 hours away. They are suggesting I purchase new tires. They have not checked my alignment or suspension. Is this normal? Should I fight back? Or shouldn’t just ignore it?
I plan to buy new All weather tires before winter. But I feel like this is just an excuse from the dealership to not root cause the issue. Any thoughts or suggestions?

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[Underdog]

If that tire is cupped it is not apparent to me from the photo. Any driveability issues?

If you are planning all seasons in a few months I’d just rotate these tires and the check the alignment once the new tires are on.

 

[StingertimeNC]

Honestly that tire looks great in the picture. This is likely a money grab.

Unless your car is pulling one way or the other I would ignore.

 

[optronix]

Yeah at minimum this is a tactic used to sell an alignment. Honestly it's not a terrible idea to get an alignment once a year/15k miles or so. But looking at a picture I don't see anything. Should be fairly obvious if you run your hand over it though.

If your tires are indeed cupping at 10k miles, then nothing is stopping the next set from doing the same until you identify root cause. On a 10k mile car, it's not unheard of for factory alignment to be out of spec. Failing that, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense for you to have worn ball joints or wheel hubs... although I guess if you overinflated the hell out of your tires it could lead to cupping.

My guess though is they're not actually cupping, because almost universally, dealer service personnel are idiots.

I don't usually generalize but I've reached my limits with the last couple visits to my local Honda/Acura AND Porsche service centers.

Unless your car is pulling one way or the other I would ignore.

I'm not an expert, but I always thought cupping exhibited vibration; I'm not so sure it would necessarily cause pulling in one direction or another. Now, the root cause of misalignment could cause that, for sure.

 

[StingertimeNC]

Good Point on alignment. Perhaps the service guy has no idea that PS4S tires have solid center ribs to begin with, LOL.

 

[Mrs. Carter]

If that tire is cupped it is not apparent to me from the photo. Any driveability issues?

If you are planning all seasons in a few months I’d just rotate these tires and the check the alignment once the new tires are on.

No drivability issues. There’s a “hitch” noise that they are trying to solve and they are blaming the road noise being too loud and causing them from being able to hear the “hitch” and diagnose it properly. So they’re suggesting I buy new tires so they can diagnose the noise.

 

[Mrs. Carter]

Yeah at minimum this is a tactic used to sell an alignment. Honestly it's not a terrible idea to get an alignment once a year/15k miles or so. But looking at a picture I don't see anything. Should be fairly obvious if you run your hand over it though.

If your tires are indeed cupping at 10k miles, then nothing is stopping the next set from doing the same until you identify root cause. On a 10k mile car, it's not unheard of for factory alignment to be out of spec. Failing that, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense for you to have worn ball joints or wheel hubs... although I guess if you overinflated the hell out of your tires it could lead to cupping.

My guess though is they're not actually cupping, because almost universally, dealer service personnel are idiots.

I don't usually generalize but I've reached my limits with the last couple visits to my local Honda/Acura AND Porsche service centers.



I'm not an expert, but I always thought cupping exhibited vibration; I'm not so sure it would necessarily cause pulling in one direction or another. Now, the root cause of misalignment could cause that, for sure.

I’ve had nothing but problems since I bought this car. From the day we purchased it to now. Nothing with the car but dislike the dealership so much!

 

[Mrs. Carter]

Good Point on alignment. Perhaps the service guy has no idea that PS4S tires have solid center ribs to begin with, LOL.

Good Point on alignment. Perhaps the service guy has no idea that PS4S tires have solid center ribs to begin with, LOL.

What does the center rib mean? I’m kind of a novice.

Yeah at minimum this is a tactic used to sell an alignment. Honestly it's not a terrible idea to get an alignment once a year/15k miles or so. But looking at a picture I don't see anything. Should be fairly obvious if you run your hand over it though.

If your tires are indeed cupping at 10k miles, then nothing is stopping the next set from doing the same until you identify root cause. On a 10k mile car, it's not unheard of for factory alignment to be out of spec. Failing that, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense for you to have worn ball joints or wheel hubs... although I guess if you overinflated the hell out of your tires it could lead to cupping.

My guess though is they're not actually cupping, because almost universally, dealer service personnel are idiots.

I don't usually generalize but I've reached my limits with the last couple visits to my local Honda/Acura AND Porsche service centers.



I'm not an expert, but I always thought cupping exhibited vibration; I'm not so sure it would necessarily cause pulling in one direction or another. Now, the root cause of misalignment could cause that, for sure.

there is no vibration while driving that I am aware of.

 

[boosted_canoe]

mine kind of looked like that but i cross-rotated them and they wore evenly up to when i replaced them at 55k miles. they get a bit loud for the first 500 miles after cross-rotation but goes back to normal.

 

[StingertimeNC]

Like when you look at the tire face on, the second row of tread from the outside has just a few hash marks in it, then the third row of tread (center of the tread surface) is just smooth rubber. basically as a sporty summer tire the more rubber on the road means more grip. Of course, not the best for hydroplaning resistance. The PS4S tires have a good mix of dry and wet performance characteristics. Especially for a summer tire. If the tire was overinflated, the center area would wear faster than the outside. I was just thinking if the service guy didn't know the center row was already smooth, with no tread blocks, he might think it was more worn than it really was.

Probably not the case but you never know.

 

[Underdog]

No drivability issues. There’s a “hitch” noise that they are trying to solve and they are blaming the road noise being too loud and causing them from being able to hear the “hitch” and diagnose it properly. So they’re suggesting I buy new tires so they can diagnose the noise.

Hmm sounds unscrupulous to me, and I ran an independent shop for a decade. Given your other post where you said you've had nothing but problems with the dealer, I would steer clear. Maybe you can tell us more about the hitch noise?

 

[Mrs. Carter]

Hmm sounds unscrupulous to me, and I ran an independent shop for a decade. Given your other post where you said you've had nothing but problems with the dealer, I would steer clear. Maybe you can tell us more about the hitch noise?

I’m not even positive what the hitch noise is. I know sometimes when accelerating it shudders. Not like it’s dying but the car is still rolling in neutral and it would sudder. They are saying it does that intermittently when accelerating too. But they can’t diagnose it until I buy new tires to get rid of the road noise.

 

[optronix]

Buying new tires to get rid of road noise is- let's just call a spade a spade- idiotic. These cars do have a higher than average amount of road noise, sounds like these moron techs are trying to blame that on you.

I have just absolutely zero patience left for dealer techs.

The unfortunate part is that they're the only way you can utilize the warranty. I highly suggest finding another dealer and try your luck again. Standards for dealer techs are hideously low but at least you can try to seek a second opinion.

Oh and it's absolutely worth the catharsis of naming and shaming the dealer- but I'd wait for a resolution first.

 

[Mrs. Carter]

Yeah at minimum this is a tactic used to sell an alignment. Honestly it's not a terrible idea to get an alignment once a year/15k miles or so. But looking at a picture I don't see anything. Should be fairly obvious if you run your hand over it though.

If your tires are indeed cupping at 10k miles, then nothing is stopping the next set from doing the same until you identify root cause. On a 10k mile car, it's not unheard of for factory alignment to be out of spec. Failing that, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense for you to have worn ball joints or wheel hubs... although I guess if you overinflated the hell out of your tires it could lead to cupping.

My guess though is they're not actually cupping, because almost universally, dealer service personnel are idiots.

I don't usually generalize but I've reached my limits with the last couple visits to my local Honda/Acura AND Porsche service centers.



I'm not an expert, but I always thought cupping exhibited vibration; I'm not so sure it would necessarily cause pulling in one direction or another. Now, the root cause of misalignment could cause that, for sure.

I have not inflated my tires at all since it was purchased. I haven’t had any warnings for me to inflate them.

 

[elh0102]

In a car this new, cupping would likely result from balance or alignment issues, not suspension component wear. I believe your dealer exhibits either integrity or competency issues. I would take the car to a well regarded tire or alignment shop for evaluation.

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