My 07 MCS with sport suspensions has 55K, local mileages mostly. Recently I noticed my rear tires are cupping on the inside edges. The failing struts usually cause the cupping on the tires. How long were your stock MCS struts last? Thanks,

 

well i'm at the same mileage as you pretty much, 56,000 miles and still original.

 

20K so far...

 

111K+ and no problems.

 

~ same mileage as you with and '07. Just installed Koni Yellows all the way around. Better ride. Hear the Koni FSD are great too.

Check with an alignment shop before replacement unless you can feel clunking or un dampened bouncing.

 

Please explain this cup of the rear tires because I think there supposed to because of how BMW has the rear wheel camber out in the rear. My inner part of my rear tires are low on the inside area of the tread, then rise highest just before the center of the tire, then the other half (more than half) of the tire has an even wear out towards the edge.

Have 50,100 miles.

 

Much more likely a bad alignment, which is possible from the factory.

That said, the OEM struts/shocks aren't that good in my opinion, even the sport suspension.

 

"Cupping" usually doesn't mean wear just on one shoulder of the tread. It usually means wear at many different places on the tire. As if you had spun the tire a little, sanded some of the tread off, turned it another 15 degrees, sanded some more off, turned it another 15 degrees, and so on. The intervals aren't always even, either.

 

So cupping is to be expected on Mini Coopers? I have my alignment papers in front of me and everything's in the green or within specs, both sides are equal which is probably why they look alike. Both rear tires are worn so much alike you could call them clones!

 

Got a pic of the tires?

How long ago was the alignment? What are the specs? What are your tire pressures?

 

No, it is not. I was trying to clarify what "cupping" was; it looked like someone was thinking that even wear along the shoulder of the tire was "cupping", and was due to bad shocks.

Even wear along the outer shoulder is due to driving the car sufficiently hard around corners. More negative camber should be added, or the car driven in a less aggressive fashion. (But who wants to do that??)

Even wear along the inner shoulder is usually due to a combination of negative camber and toe-out. If the toe is brought back to a more reasonable amount, the wear should decrease even with a good bit of negative camber.

Cupping, or uneven wear, is usually a sign that the shocks are bad, or that some of the joints in the suspension are allowing movement and slop.

 

Back to the subject I am still interested finding out what the typical mileages on the stock struts when cupping occurs on both rear tires.