Question about loud road noise and tire cupping

[jwhangen]

Hello,
I have a 2007 AWD Pilot with about 110K miles on it. I’m now on my second set of tires (the first set was Bridgestone, the ones I have now are BF Goodrich). I’ve gotten such excessive wear on the front driver’s side that I’m now in need of a replacement for at least that one tire, and I also get horrendous tire/road noise.

My Honda dealer looked at it, and discovered that I have cupping on that tire, and they say this is what’s causing the road noise. I asked the Service guy why that one tire is cupped, and his reply was that “some brands just cup versus other brands” (these are BF Goodrich tires). He also tells me that needing a third set of tires on a truck with 110K miles is not excessive because I’m driving around on truck weight, not a car’s weight. To me that’s an evasive answer, and I suspect that something about my suspension is causing the cupping to occur.

My question is this: do some brands just cup on their own? Or is there something specific that’s screwed up with my Pilot that needs to be looked at? Is needing a third set of tires at 110K excessive, or is that normal?

I’m really losing faith in this dealer….

[cofetym]

I think the suspension needs to be checked. Some cheaper tires are susceptible to cupping but BFG makes a decent product. That being said you might possibly just have a bad one.
If there is excessive bounce from a bad strut that could definitely lead to this situation. If the strut is bad you'll need to replace the other one also. Get a second opinion and keep us posted.