2001 Passat and a Cupped Tire

[Sonny01]

We have a 2001 Passat 1.8T and it has a set of Douglas tires on it with about 20K miles on them. I kept hearing a thumming noise when driving and had a local VW dealer charge me $92.00 to tell me the tires were cupped. I took the car back to where I bought the tires and they took all of the tires off the car, rebalanced them and found one that had a cup on the inside tread about four inches long and not very noticeable. They said that the car needed an alignment. I don't know much about cars and tires but if I needed an alignment wouldn't some of the other tires show signs as well. I think I got a bad tire...

[veedubmechanic]

you should check the 4 control arms for wear and tie rods for wear.

if the car was aligned improperly and toe'd in too much it will still drive straight but will wear tires

[Sonny01]

Well...I took the car back to the dealer and ask about an alignment and showed them the tire with the flat spot. The only tire with any kind of problem is this one and it has about a 4" place on the inside tread that is flat and makes a noise when you drive it. The dealer says that if it was alignment problem then there would be cupping in other places and that I have a bad tire. The one thing I didn't mention is this car only has 45K miles on it.
I hate it when a dealer that I trust says one thing and Wal-Mart where the tires came from is saying something different.
One more thing...the Wal-Mart told my wife that the Douglas tires were made by Goodyear...I looked it up and Kelly Springfield makes them. I asked Wal-Mart which is right and they said Kelly Springfield owns Goodyear...is that right?

[veedubmechanic]

i believe goodyear owns kelly as goodyear sells more tires.

you can have a flat spot on one tire if that tire locked up during a hard stop

[Sonny01]

I understand about flat spotting a tire if the wheel locked up but this flat spot in on the inside tread and is only about 1 1/2" wide and 4 inches long. The tread going to the other side of the tire is perfect. With a locked wheel the tread would be flat all of the way across.

[veedubmechanic]

if you have excessive camber from worn out shocks or ball joints than the iner part of tire will wear and outer wont.

there is a special vw tool thats used to align passats because when correcting front camber and caster you loosen all the subframe bolts and install a special tool that slowly pushes subframe to align correctly. I am almost 100% sure wallmart or tires plus or any non dealer shop doesnt have this tool and aligns cars by only adjusting toe ( shadetree align ). the car will still drive straight but the tires will still wear unevenly and not noticeable till its too late.

[Sonny01]

Well...between Wal-Mart and the dealer it's been desided that I have a bad tire and Wal-Mart is going to replace it. I have taken the car in twice now and there has been a three hour wait both times. It's good that they are busy but I have to wait on the car so I'm going to try again in the early AM.

[Will12]

What is a good place to do alignment? I just changed 4 controll arms (what a difference in driving) and I would like to do an alignment.

[Sonny01]

I was just going to have the dealer do it. I figure if they needed parts they would have them plus they probably do more VW's when anybody.

[veedubmechanic]

vw dealer is best to get alignment done at.

second would be a reputable alignment/body shop or any european shop as they might have the special tools.