tires cupping and noisy

[marknliz]

Hi, this 2002 LW100 is eating tires. The wear pattern is cupping on the inside, the car has 100,000 miles and the ride seems very good, no bouncing, shimmying etc. It seems to be the rear tires which are doing the damage and all allignment specs are in except the camber is out just a little bit on both rears. The tire place wants to sell me four new struts and two rear coil springs at a cost of $1000, I don't think he knows what he is talking about. Any ideas? Thanks, Mark

[sierrap615]

its the camber, i say go to the dealership for a second option, i know basicly nothing about shocks, struts, and springs, but this sounds like something that can be adjusted without replacing.

[sierrap615]

i just heard from a unreliable source that saturn put out a TSB, something about using shims to change camber. check with your dealer to confirm

[marknliz]

Thanks, I'll look into it. Mark

[rpgibbs]

Originally Posted by marknliz

Thanks, I'll look into it. Mark

We had 2000 Saturn LW1 that we bought new in the summer of 2000 and had the same problem (cupping) of the OEM Firestone Affinity tires. We had only 13000 miles on the vehicle before it was sold this past June. A relative of mine has a 2000 LS1 and had the same problem. I did some checking on the internet and found out that quite a few L Series vehicles have this problem and it was due the to the rear wheels being out of alignment. I went to the local Saturn dealer where we purchased the vehicle and they checked it out and indeed the tires were cupped (all 4 tires were cupped since they had been rotated) and the rear alignment was way out of specs. After some discussion between the dealer, myself and Saturn HQ they agreed to replace 2 of the tires and realign the rear (using a factory TSB featuring shims) at no cost to me. I had to buy 2 new tires but my cost was around $171 versus the total bill of around $900 (it was an all day job). The vehicle was still under warranty at the time. I have talked to several people who also have L Series Saturns (one being a 2001) and indeed they had the tire cupping problem also. So if you have this problem check with your dealer and ask about the TSB (shim fix for the rear alignment problem)

[marknliz]

Well that is what we ended up doing. The car is out of warranty and the dealer put the rear camber shim kit in and I got Big O to give us another set of tires (they didn't tell us the camber was out) and about $500 later I think we are in business. Thanks for the help, Mark

[EXACTOL]

IReviewed the 6 comments on tire cupping caper. I have this problem on ny 2000 LS1. Anyone have further comments on this situation. Thanks

[bdusek]

Have the same problem -- barely two months out of factory warranty! Vibrations at 70mph with a "flapping" noise. Told by Saturn service that it would be $1000 with the 4 new tires (I guess they presume I'd buy tires from a dealership). Thanks to this forum, I cannot wait for the service manager to call me back on this, so I can discuss the known problem Saturn has had with the L- and LW-series of cars with respect to the need for a shim kit installation.

In that regard, I'd be interested if anyone else has had success with Saturn service folks on this issue.

[hufhouse]

I bought an '02 L300 with about 48,000 miles on it. The first time I went out on the highway, I noticed the noise. The previous owner had all of his work done at Saturn and kept all the receipts. I found he had replaced all four tires and had the shims put in at about 27,000 miles due to "tire noise." So, I wound up putting on four MORE new tires at about 49,000 miles. I took the car back to Saturn along with all the receipts, and they were kind enough to check the rear alignment for me. They said that it was within spec and that the shims were indeed there. So, I think there must be another problem causing the cupping besides the rear alignment and shims...but I definitely would start there since it is a known problem.