British expression for cupped tires (tyres)?

I've never come across this expression before - is it the same in the UK?

Cupped to me means concave. So the tread would be worn in the middle - feathered usually refers to the outside edge(s).

But then I'm weird.

seems to depend where you look it up: this one shows cupped is major wear on one side :

there is quite a lot of good info about tyres on that site if you follow a few links around, obviously usa centric, but good nonetheless.

Ah, thanks. That expression I have heard before. I'll look it up.

Oddly, that site shows both feathering and cupping, with different causes.

Obviously the dynamics are different for a car an motorbike but 'Cupping' is something I get on my motorcycle tyres and as you say Dave, it is hollowing of the tread blocks and in my case the shoulder blocks mainly on the front tyre. It is an odd phenomena because the make / type of tyre has a strong bearing on the severity and how soon it appears. To me that rules out any alignment or shock absorber faults as they do not change. Also on a bike with the tyre treads being curved and not flat as with a car tyre, the wear on the shoulders means it can only happen when cornering. No doubt the problem is down to the centre of the problematic tread blocks getting pulled and scrubbed against the road surface while the edges of the block perhaps get pushed into the grooved areas and hence do not wear as much. I have found the softer the tyre the worse the problem. Tyre pressures do not appear to have much influence but when it happens the bike takes on an unusual feeling if instability even when riding in a straight line.

Gio

Thus spake Gio ( snipped-for-privacy@x.co.uk) unto the assembled multitudes:

Yes, on my bike too, the round profile of the tyres (especially the rear) eventually 'squares off' and that really starts to affect the handling, though as this is a very gradual process one gets used to it. Then when the tyres are changed, the sudden improvement in handling feels like a revelation!