42 is way too high for the front. Contact patch is very small, effectively wearing off the center of the tire. Lower pressure would create a larger contact patch - thus spreading the weight over a larger area, wearing it off at a slower rate, and more evenly. I use 36-37 rear, 34-35 front for the street during warm season, and 2-3 psi less during the cold season. I like to keep the front 1-2 psi lower than the rear to make sure the front has more traction than the rear at any time. If the rear steps out it's not a big deal. However, the front stepping out is more dangerous.
If I wanted to try to fix a cupped front, I'd drop the pressure to 32-34 psi, and take a lot of turns without accelerating through the turn - either steady on the gas, or very slowly rolling off the throttle. This will ensure good load on the front, but without overloading it. I would avoid taking the turn with the throttle completely closed unless road conditions are perfect.
You are a bit confused on how air pressure affects tire ware as well as available traction between front and rear. I've never understood why anyone would choose to run higher pressure in the rear unless it's related to added weight of luggage or passenger. 2-3 pounds less pressure in the front will never equal the traction of the rear since the rear contact patch is almost twice the size of the front. Added tire pressure allows the tire to run cooler thus extending tire life, not reducing it!
Tuff, you are confused. But you are right - I didn't phrase it correctly. I didn't mean the front will literally have more traction. I meant I prefer to shift the bias in favor of the front having more traction that it would with higher pressure. Of all the people, you should know what I meant. So, once again - not bumping the rear pressure, but dropping the pressure on the front a bit.
And having high pressure on the front will eat the middle of the tire at the higher rate because the same weight is sitting on the contact patch of the smaller size. And yes, the tire will run cooler with higher pressure, but who cares. And for this exact reason I indicated that during cold season I drop tire pressure on both tires by a few psi - so they generate more heat during cold season.
Quite a stickler for the truth, but not for the spirit of the conversation.
And BTW it's tire "wear" and not "ware". See, I would've never mentioned because I understood what you meant, but I am mentioning it to support the spirit of your conversation... Very productive conversation.... Now, let's see what was the original issue... Ah, we are way past that. LOL Just shaking my head.
Switching to something positive...Did I mention in the past 15 min how much I love my turbo? Those short bursts to somewhere under 200 within a few seconds. No amount of cornering and knee dragging can replace that. Sorry Nic, LOL.. Your time will come.
IG, yes, my want of turbo accelleration has long past the point of obsession. I'm looking forward to the day that we can take a 200 mph blast on the beach run.
New question, I lost 35lbs since I had my sag and the rest of my suspension set up. I guess that it will work against my efforts to correct the cupping with lower air pressure. Please help. Thanks.