This video demonstrates how to tell if your wheel tread is cupped/chopped and causing excessive road noise, or if you may have a bad wheel bearing.  It’s common to mistake uneven tread wear as a bad wheel bearing. This can happen to vehicles of all types, and is usually a result of bad shocks and/or struts, as well as alignment and suspension issues. This video is of a Mini Cooper S with run flats. I’ve seen a few of these same models that were extremely loud inside the car, almost to the point that you couldn’t hear yourself talk, so it may have something to do with RFT’s in particular, since Cooper S’s come without a spare, but like I mentioned I have seen this on vehicles ranging from VW Touaregs to Toyota Camrys. Tire brand is another thing that can influence it, but just like any vehicle can have this happen, I’ve seen tread cupping on low end tires, to the highest end, such as these Bridgestone run flats.

-Matt