16,000 miles on BF Goodrich KM's present with cupping ware in the middle of tire.

Just returned from a visit to the local dealership service department. Second trip for the same problem. A month ago I visited them with the symptoms of TPMS sensors going off constantly and a vibration coming from the lest front of the vehicle that emits through the steering wheel and peddles. Resulted in the service tech and shop manager telling me that its standard road noise and that I needed more air in my back driver side tire. Before even leaving the dealership lot the TPM sensor goes off again. Pulled back and had a chat with the service department manager. I told them I would return once I had another break in my work schedule to bring my vehicle back in. Well a month later, the problem still exists so I took it upon myself to see if it was the left front tire that was the problem. I removed my spare tire and replaced the right rear with it. Moved the right rear to the front left side. Took a test drive and discovered that my vibrations had disappeared, the loud humming noise disappeared and the TPM sensor stopped going off. Problems solved?

So I rolled the original left front tire I took off to the back of the vehicle to put on the spare tire carrier. As I am rolling it I feel the tire moving up and down. After closer inspection I notice that the treads in the middle have some high points and some worn out low points. Quick internet search reveals this to be middle tread cupping. So, I adjust my morning work schedule to visit the dealership service department with my self diagnosed problem and resolution. Asked them to determine if something was wrong with the alignment or shocks that would cause said tire wear pattern. An hour and a half later, my vehicle is ready. When I read the service tech notes it stated that "The tire wear was a NORMAL wear pattern". "NORMAL" how can that be normal I ask. So again I ask to see the shop manager and get the same response as the service tech, but a little more info that my vehicle check out OK and that this was the result of my not getting the tires rotated every 5,000 miles as per the owners manual. So, I asked to speak with the Service department manager again. Long story short, they recommended I have the alignment check ($80.00) and the tire that was removed put back on and rotated according to the owners manual. So, now I am back to my original issue, TPM Sensor going off, vibrations (in the rear now) and the loud humming noise.

Is this truly a normal wear patter for BF Goodrich KMs, or do I have a bigger problem that I need to have another authorized Jeep service department look into?

raginkgin1 said:

Is this truly a normal wear patter for BF Goodrich KMs, or do I have a bigger problem that I need to have another authorized Jeep service department look into?

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Did you skip a rotation or two? That would cause cupping and said vibration as well increased road noise. I had this happen with my stock Rubi tires. Thought I was going to upgrade sooner than I did, so missed a rotation till about 10,000 miles. Once "cupping" starts it can be hard to even out the wear. Softer tires, bigger tires, air pressure, suspension also play factor.

JAGS said:

Did you skip a rotation or two? That would cause cupping and said vibration as well increased road noise. I had this happen with my stock Rubi tires. Thought I was going to upgrade sooner than I did, so missed a rotation till about 10,000 miles. Once "cupping" starts it can be hard to even out the wear. Softer tires, bigger tires, air pressure, suspension also play factor.

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Just my ranting as I am frustrated:

So if I had followed the maintenance schedule suggested in the owners manual (Rotate tires each time you have your oil changed), I should have had my first tire rotation done at 7,000 miles when I had my first oil change and then my second when I had it changes again at 14,000 miles. Obviously I should have realized that just because the service department did a vehicle checkup during both of these oil changes (of which tire tread depth is check) and passed my tire depth off as green I should have ensured they rotated my tires.

Mark this up as a lesson learned and ensure that the recommended maintenance is followed to the tee from this point forward no matter what the dealerships service department says is green/yellow/red.

Or should I assume that cupping happened between the 14,000 mile checkup vs 16,000 and that is truly was my imagination that I had TPM sensor issues and vibrations, and loud noises when I did my 14,000 mile oil change.

Ranting completed: Thanks for listening.

16k mi outta some bfg's? Sounds about right..

HDGasser said:

16k mi outta some bfg's? Sounds about right..

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Ugg! So if I am to fix my problem (at minimum two new tires) what other brand would provide me a better bang for my buck if I drive a mix of 80% paved road and 20% dirt/mud with minor rock crawling? I like the aggressive look of the BFG KMs.

HDGasser said:

16k mi outta some bfg's? Sounds about right..

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I got more than 16k out of my KM2's I had, I managed to get about 20k lol I'll never own BFG tires again

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If you don't rotate the KMs every 2,500 miles they will cup, sometimes badly. Even rotating at 5K is too late - takes another 1K to even them back out. If you went well past 5K, might as well get new ones.

Cross rotate them. Will slowly work itself out. My stock did this to. My own fault for not rotating them enough.

Most "m/t" tires need rotating every 3k miles.


Sent from a a few tin cans and some string.

raginkgin1 said:

Ugg! So if I am to fix my problem (at minimum two new tires) what other brand would provide me a better bang for my buck if I drive a mix of 80% paved road and 20% dirt/mud with minor rock crawling? I like the aggressive look of the BFG KMs.

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Nitto Trail Grapplers.

I had the same problem. My right rear started cupping badly. Took it up to the dealership around 13K miles and asked them about it. The guy asked what my rotation schedule had been. I said I rotated them initially at 10K (at my request mind you). I also mentioned that when I brought it in at the first 5K mile oil change, I specifically asked if any other routine maintenance needed to be done and was told no. He then said that his experience with M/T tires was they needed to be rotated at every 5K miles. When I told him about my request at the first oil change and was told nothing needed to be done, he really didn't have a good answer for me (without basically calling the guy I talked to that time a dumbass).

Long and short of it, I only had one tire develop cupping, which I've now moved to my spare tire carrier. All the remaining tires will be rotated myself every 3K just to be safe. Even doing that though I've noticed inconsistent wear patterns between the tires. They're not cupping now, but it's a noticable difference.

mattfl said:

Nitto Trail Grapplers.

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I got 33k mi. from my stock KM-2's, rotating every 2-3k miles, stock air pressure (too high IMHO) and one, just for grins, re-balance. At that point I couldn't take the roar and vibration. It's a Jeep, I know, but there are limits. Went to Discount Tire (shameless plug) and switched to stock size Nitto Trail Graps and do 5-tire rotations every 2k miles. The Nittos have 7k miles now and they're still like new. The KM-2's were surprisingly quiet and had good traction when new, but went away quickly as the miles accumulated. I think your situation is fairly normal and "Baby just needs a new pair of shoes!" Good luck.:yup:

i put used km's on my jeep with 15/32'nds of an inch, and took them off 20K later with 14/32'nds. rotated every 5000 miles, and so far the best tire ive ever had as far as life goes. michilin rubber will go a very long time if rotated and driven properly. sounds to me like an inflation issue

raginkgin1 said:

Ugg! So if I am to fix my problem (at minimum two new tires) what other brand would provide me a better bang for my buck if I drive a mix of 80% paved road and 20% dirt/mud with minor rock crawling? I like the aggressive look of the BFG KMs.

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personally I wouldn't run 2 different tire brands or tread patterns- that'll cause you a different set of issues.

at 80% road I'd look at an AT they are a little more forgiving in the rotation cycle. Any MT you get will require 3000 mile rotation and you'll want to do a 5 tire rotation.

I forget what the amount of tread depth difference you can run between 2 tires but you'll want to do a 5 tire rotation to keep them close in tread depth. If you run a worn tire and new spare at the same time it can cause issues if the tread depth difference is too much.