Like everyone else I've been scratching my head about the bizarre problems with Ride Quality/Bounce and abnormal tire wear. I'm not sure that anyone else has put the two together. I did a search at google for "Cause of Tire Cupping", since IMO that's really the proper description. Every site I came across had the same text,

"Cupping can be caused by an unbalanced tire condition, faulty wheel bearings, loose parts, fatigued springs or weak shock absorbers."

BTW, here's a good link about the diff between feathering and cupping. http://www.microlsaipan.com/align.htm, which cites, "The most common causes of cupping are worn out steering and/or suspension parts"

Now if we consider the weak shock/stiff spring theory as the explanation for the bounce, don't we also have the cause for tire feathering/cupping?

Are the people who are experiencing the severe bounce, also experiencing cupping, and vice versa? Is it possible that the bounce is occuring for everyone but at a frequency that's not noticeable for most people... meanwhile its cupping the tires?

I hate to just throw this out there, but I thought it might make sense to someone else. Apologies in advance for starting a new thread, but I couldn't decide where to put this.

Just my 2 cents...

 

I seriously doubt it because the rear of the car "bounces" more than the front, and there's pretty much no uneven tire wear in the rear.

 

There have been quite a few posts, where I thought everyone mentioned the front was bouncing. Something to the effect of, "watching the hood undulate 3-4 times per second".

 

I had the cupping and after aligning it they found the wheels with Toe out causing the cupping. As for the bounce I think it is mainly the shock/spring combination, not in the way you are saying as the tires are staying on the ground and not bouncing but rather the car body does. I think getting better tires with stiffer sidewalls help reduce it and maybe liveable for most, but it seems like a shock/spring replacement might the only real fix. As for the cupping I hope the alignment fixes that.