Front rattle from "cupping"???

So, the service tech is saying my rattle in the front, driver side isn't from the loose mud flap clips as discussed here a lot, but from my tires "cupping"?

What the heck is this???

 

Your tires are wearing unevenly.
You should be able to see this with your eyes.
Just Google “tire cupping”???

 

As I think you already suspect your service tech is making stuff up, probably because rattles can be hard to diagnose.

 

Tire noise can manifest itself in strange ways; I've heard cupped tires before that sounded exactly like a metallic grinding/whirring sound that had me convinced (as a passenger) they had a bad wheel bearing... but nope, a new set of tires fixed it for them.

A rattle seems like a bit of a stretch to me though... I could see vibrations from a cupped tire causing something else that was already loose to rattle; but without hearing it myself, having a hard time imaging it being just the tire itself.

Perhaps rotate tires and see if the sound changes or seems to come from a different location after? (assuming for only front being cupped and rears still looking good)

 

Good idea!

@BiggestAUfan how often do you rotate your tires?

 

Tires have been R&B by Toyota every 5k and the truck has never been off road (don't judge) so there's no way anything is bent. I'm thinking about having the dealership document they think it's from the tires, that way when I get new ones (which will be after 36k miles, I can hold them accountable to the warranty repair to fix it under the "bumper to bumper warranty.

 

It seems weird that you would have any unusual wear. Do the tires look cupped to you?

Bumper to bumper does not include regular wear items, so tires would not be covered unfortunately.

 

This.

If you can see cupping on the edges of the tire, overinflate them and see if the rattle goes away. That could help pinpoint the culprit.

 

You should have received a separate tire warranty information when you bought the truck.

 

Bad shocks can cause cupping, along with other suspension.

 

I had some destination MTs cup. It was awful.

The back end of the lugs was 1/4” lower than the front.

Never figured out what caused it.

 

It’s kinda like chasing a snowball down hill. The bigger it gets, the faster it rolls. It could be an almost immeasurable alignment or balance issue… then once the cupping starts, it’s a runaway train that becomes un-fixable really quickly.