How much will ball joints run me?? So bearings along could cause cupping? 

> Cupping tires can be caused by anyone of the following; or a combination of
> them. Number 1 is shock absorbers, ball joints (or alignment), improper air
> pressure and balance. Of course bad wheel bearings will cause/contribute to
> cupping. But most of the time it has been the shocks and ball joints.
> 
> Start by checking the ball joints, sometimes they will have a little "play"
> and an alignment will be within "specs" but the tires will still cup. Not
> every mechanic will check ball joints if the alignment appears okay.
> Paul
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Mark C" <obeechi@RUNBOX.COM>
> To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
> Sent: Sunday, March 21, 2004 9:41 PM
> Subject: Cupping of tires et al
> 
> 
> Hi.. I had a tire a blow out on the freeway... real fun.. it was a used
> tire, and it broke/split along the inner sidewall...
> 
> I replaced it.. and it didn't sound right... I went to a Pep Boys (this is a
> pepboy tire) and the guy just wanted to adjust the air... well it was the
> same as it was a couple thousand miles ago... and so I told him I didn't
> think that was the cause.. and he got condescending...
> 
> Then I took it to a VW mechanic, near the time of close... and he rode it
> around and said it was fine
> 
> Then I took it to another pep boys.. and they rebalanced the tire... the
> weight which was placed on the inside, had fallen off.. this took the
> shudder out... but it still didn't sound right
> 
> Took it to another Pep Boys.. (cause it was saturday).. and wanted them to
> check the bearings.. They ended up pressing some bearings in... 210.00....
> But... the noise didn't seem right... Now I was left with the feeling the
> didn't check out the bearings in the first place...
> 
> Took it to another Pep Boys (now it was sunday)... and this older mechanic
> it checked out... said my tires are cupping, that the front shocks are bad..
> and the rack and pinion is leaking...
> 
> Well the steering is fine.. in fact its been leaking for a long time.. even
> drove across the country with the same leak.... but would the rack and
> pinion cause a variation in sound or road to tire noise...
> 
> As far as the front shocks... they're bilsteins with 100,000 more or less
> miles on them... According to Bilstein they're supposed to be efficient to
> 98% for a 100,000 miles... but I did have a bmw wih massive amounts of
> miles, and had to replace those bilsteins which were actually leaking....
> 
> the bilsteins on the vanagon aren't leaking.. and the boge's they replaced
> had had about 100,000 miles and they had just seemed kind of soft.. whereas
> these seem more the opposite.. hard... and the road noise has a dirty not
> smooth quality to it from the front...
> 
> So is there anything they might have missed.. anything else that could cause
> a rotational dirty sound ... the tire that blew bent the wheel (I was on the
> freeway)... but I'm not using that wheel...
> 
> And as far as cupping goes... on a vanagon, is a bad shock the only cause,
> or is alignment also a cause... It stays pretty straight when I let go of
> the wheel, but sad to say, I've never even had it aligned since I got it...
> and the steering wheel isn't altogther straight when I go straight, it
> appears slightly turned to one side...
> 
> Thanks
> 
>