Ok, I notice my tires are wearing funny. They are 17's. They are cupping. Discount tire says take the car to the dealer as it is not worth rotating because the rears are cupping so bad. They say it is suspension. My question, is it possible that the offset of the wheel or the use of a spacer could cause cupping. Thanks

 

By "cupping" do you mean the inside is wearing faster than the outside?
If that is what you mean its because you have them overinflated.
Otherwise I dont know what you are talking about, got any pics?

 

Could it be an alignment problem?

 

cupping is generally when the tires are wearing in a rough up and down pattern acrossed the face of the tread. usually this is due to lack of rotation or bad suspension/parts. Most front wheel drive will cup the rear if not rotated and rear wheel/4wd will cup the front.

cupping after 5300 miles would be a bit strange on a new car. what brand tire, some don't wear as well as others.

If the shoulders are both worn down and the middle is fine underinflated. middle worn shoulders fine over inflated.

 

Erratic tread wear: sometimes called cupping, may mean the wheel is out of balance, or the shock absorbers or ball joints need to be replaced.

http://www.aaa-mountainwest.com/tire-wear.htm

 

has your vehicle been lowered?

 

There's the question.
If so, what were the alignment specs after you had it lowered?

 

also if it was lowered with just springs and the struts and shocks werent changed to accomodate the lowering springs, he couldve blown one of those and thats why hes getting cupping, the strut or shock is blown, so that wheel is hopping like crazy while he drives

 

cupping is 90% of the time from worn shocks and/or unbalanced tires