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Comments
I took my Elantra in a total of 6 (count them, 6!) times to TWO different Hyundai dealerships and the problem remains. First, they wouldn't even acknowledge the problem until I showed them the TSB. Then they claimed it was "normal." After 3 tire balances, 1 with the Hunter machine (they wouldn't even do another Hunter balance as they claimed the first once was for "good will" LOL), the problem still existed. They even had the nerve to claim that my rims were bent from a pothole and tried to charge me for them. (this was ofcourse 10K miles AFTER I first reported the problem)
If you search Google or go to www.elantraxd.com, you'll see numerous people haveing the same problem. The concensus is that it is a design flaw afecting many, but not ALL models. If you search this exact forum thread you'll see over 100 messages concerning this.
Some owners have mentioned that the shimmy might not have to do with the wheels or tires at all, but due to the rotors warping under heat. Having myself and another mechanic look at mine, was a pretty good indication that this was quite possible. Having changed brakes and rotors on many cars (Mechanic and myself) and never had he seen (neither had I) such thin, cheap rotors placed on a car like those on the Elantra.
I was going to go down the Lemon Law route, but it is a costly and time consuming procedure. Also, depending on where you live, your results may vary significantly (states vary in how they implement and enforce lemon laws). Instead I wrote numerous letters to Hyundai Consumer affairs (elantraxd had a letter writing compaign a while back) to no avail.
It's uterly shameful, that Hyundai still produces the car with the SAME damn defect they've known about since 2001. You'll find owners of even 2006 models that have this problem.
I basically plan on driving this car a few more years (or until I can't stand the shimmy anymore), and then trading it in for a car that the company stands behind.
Certainly my worst service experience with any car company (Honda, Nissan, VW).
Not to mention, have you noticed that Hyundai service departments are the dingiest places on earth? How is it that VW, Nissan, and Honda remain clean and hospitible? I guess cost cutting has to come somewhere.
One thing that makes the problem hard to pin down is that there are many possible causes for "wheel shimmy" on a car--not just on Elantras. You mentioned several of them. Another I've heard about is over-tightening of the lug nuts. In reading other car discussions over the years I've noticed this same kind of shimmy problem popping up on other cars.
Have you tried going to a tire specialist to get a wheel balance? I wouldn't consider the folks at a Hyundai dealership to be experts in tire balancing. Maybe techs who do it for a living would be more successful.
FWIW, the two Hyundai dealers I've used for service over the years have very clean, tidy shops with great customer waiting areas. So don't judge an entire brand by experience with just a few dealers.
"Not to mention, have you noticed that Hyundai service departments are the dingiest places on earth? "
This is literally the case with my dealer...they bulldozed the place to a pile of rubble and are hauling it off with dumptrucks so they can put a strip mall in its place.
I have been pretty happy with the quality of our Elantra itself - but I was less than thrilled with the service departments (we also had used 2). The first dealer (that we purchased from) got bought out, and they replaced all the service people with newbies - most of which had no Hyundai experience. At one point, when my throttle position sensor started acting up at 45K, they told us they had no idea what the problem was and couldn't help us (even though I made them aware of the TSB for it). Sure, I could have written the Hyundai Corporate office, but it was easier to go to a new dealer as my wife was in nursing school at the time, and I was working a million hours a week.
The second dealer did much better than the first (fixed the throttle position sensor issue after 4 trips I think it was - but at least they never gave up). It apparently took that many trips, with us leaving it overnight for them to finally replicate it. But like I stated earlier, they sold off their property and will soon be a strip mall. Now since the bumper to bumper is out, the Mitsubishsi dealer that I use for my Outlander services my Elantra - they are fantastic to deal with.
We recently bought a new Honda to serve as my wife's daily driver. If we had based our buying decision solely off of the product experience, we probably would have strongly considered a Tuscon. However, due to our service department experiences, we went with the Honda product (we have heard excellent things about this dealer's service dept).
Can't say that I ever was in a Hyundai dealership that had a "dingy" service department. FWIW the ones I have been in have been pretty well maintained.
How is it that VW, Nissan, and Honda remain clean and hospitible? I guess cost cutting has to come somewhere.
Lets see according to you Hyundai service departments are the dingiest places on earth, since the Hyundai dealer I have used also sells VW's that means they also service VW's which means VW's service departments are also the dingiest places on earth.
The funny thing is that their Hyundai sales floor seems to be bigger and nicer than the VW sales floor. :shades:
Now really I have seen WV, Toyota, Nissan and Honda service areas that I wouldn't enter unless I had a bio suit on. I have also seen the clean and shiny.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
Because it has to do with the tolerances on the tires and rims. They try to make everything perfectly round and symmetrical, but there are variations in the tires and rims that happen to conspire to create a shimmy for a relatively small percentage of wheel/tire combinations.
I heard of this before I bought my Elantra, and yeah, I have a little bit of a shimmy or vibration at about 70. If I wasn't forewarned, I may not have really noticed it, to be honest, but knowing ithappens, yeah, I notice it. So far, I've done two tire rotations and did them both at a dealer that rotates and balances for $30. The balancing doesn't seem to have any effect, though; there is still a slight shimmy at 70.
If you log onto the Hyundai WebTech site, you can find a traing presentation that covers noise, vibration and harshness (NVH). In the wheel and tire section, it talks about Radial Force Variation (RFV). Basically, when the car is on the road, the tire acts like a spring in the radial direction, and some tires have variations in their "spring constant" in the radial direction as the wheel rolls, which can accentuate imbalances. This can't be detected or corrected with conventional wheel balancing which is why people talk about Hunter Machines. With a Hunter, the tire can be balanced with a simulated road force on the wheel, so any significant RFV can be found and corrected.
There used to be a direct link to Hyundai's training material, but they apparently reorganized their website and I haven't figured out the direct link to the new location, so you have to get a WebTech logon and look at the technician training. From the page that comes up when you log on, select Online Classes > Technician Internet Training > NVH > Tire/Wheel NVH.
Interestingly, they cite an example of why a technician should test drive a car after fixing an issue:
For instance: A customer reports a steering wheel vibration between 60 and 70 mph. The technician test drives the vehicle and (during the test drive) determines in is a wheel imbalance. After balancing the tires, for one reason or another, he doesn't test drive the vehicle after performing the balance job. The next day the servicne manager calls him in and he has to explain why the customer came back with the same vibration. Later he found out the right front tire had high Radial Force Variation and had to install a new tire. If he had test driven the vehicle after performing the repair attempt, he would have found it did not repair the condition and would require further diagnostic time.
ALWAYS VERIFY YOUR REPAIR!
And here is a link to Hunter's website that explains how their balancing machine works.
shimmy. They told me that right up front there is a
$90.00 fee and than if the tires need balancing, it would
be an additional $60.00! Sound right!
Another testimate to Hyundai's worthless warranty.
If its just that your tires need balancing take it to a tire store and have them do it. It would cost less that $60 and you won't have a $90 fee. If its your tires out of balance then you saved yourself a lot of money.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
The years just prior to to just after my MY Hyundai had used bad exhaust manifolds. Hyundai decided to give them a 10 year unlimited mileage warranty. Well mine went out at 130K miles and Hyundai replaced it at no charge, no questions asked, no hassle and in under a day.
To me thats standing behind your cars.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
I think you just caught them on a good day and got lucky!
Id bet that the mast majority of Hyundai dealers would NEVER
honor that repair as warranty work! Also, it depends on who
you deal with at the dealer. I dont think you can make a
blanket statement that ALL Hyundai dealers will cover this
repair as warranty for over 100,000 miles. I know Colonial
Hyundai in Trenton NJ would NEVER do this!
Actually Hyundai has recognized that there was a problem with the exhaust manifolds for Elantras (I think for 1998 to 2001 but not sure on those years) and has warranted them for 10 years unlimited miles. Since it is Hyundai that is warranting them and that they pay the dealer for the warranty work I am pretty sure that most dealers will honor it.
I called the four dealers closest to my home and all said that they would honor the warranty. So its not a case of catching them on a good day and being lucky.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
How is it that Toyota can place representatives on Edmunds boards to answer questions about early Camry transmission issues (My friend who owns an 06 Camry has received 4 calls from Toyota corporate just to assure her and she hasn't even had a problem with the car!) and expediate service, yet Hyundai dealers won't even acwknowledge the shimmy problem affecting thousands of consumers, Hyundai Corporate refuses to respond to any letters/emails/calls to Consumer Affairs, and then to add insult to injury, wants to charge customers to "fix" the wheel issue on supposedly warrantied autos or force them to seek out other alternatives at the owner's expense (tire centers)? And somehow, owners on this board who even suffer from the problem find this perfectly acceptable? "Just go to a professional tire center and pay them to balance your tires," "just replace your rotors...no biggie," "go out and purchase hub centric rings," or my favorite, "it's only a little shimmy, I can live with it on my brand new car."
Are expectations of Hyundai so low that when they do anything at all, it's considered superb service?
Lovely...
I didnt realize that problem existed with the Elantra....
Sorry, you are right than. I didnt mean to challenge you.
Yes seeing that it lasted 130K miles and I seriously doubt that VW, Audi or MB would have replaced it at that point.
Its called standing behind your cars.
Hyundai Corporate refuses to respond to any letters/emails/calls to Consumer Affairs,
Source?
Also remember that Hyundai did issue a TSB.
Now if you want to talk about cars with reliability issues lets talk German cars.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
How do I get access to all the current Elantra TSB's??
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
The shimmy problem that some Elantras and other cars have can be hard to solve sometimes. You appear to have one of those cars where the solution isn't easy. But before giving up, I recommend you try a shop that specializes in wheel balancing and has the best equipment and experience.
wheel balancing and has the best equipment?
Walking into a shop and saying..."Hey, do you specialize
in wheel balancing and do you have the best equipment?"
They will look at you like your from another planet!
At least in central new jersey.
Plug your zipcode into this webpage to find a shop with a Hunter GSP 9700 Balancing Machine. That's the one that can correct RFV.
I went into Mapquest and it looks like Princeton is pretty much the center of New Jersey. I plugged in Princeton's zipcode and it found 300+ shops with Hunter GSP 9700 Machines within a 50 mile radius of Princeton, including:
HUDSON HYUNDAI
599 HIGHWAY 440
JERSEY CITY, NJ 07304
Phone: 201-333-3100
Usually places that sell tires only or as their main line specialize in wheel balancing. So if the place has "lube and tune" in their name its a good chance they don't specialize in wheel balancing.
Most, if not all, places that specialize in wheel balancing invest in some pretty good equipment. The gap between pretty good and the best is very small.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
should take me out to around 160,000 miles.
If I faithfully do all the scheduled maintenance always
on time, 4000 mile Castrol GTX oil changes and the car
being garaged kept, can I possibly stretch out my 05 Elantra
to 160,000 miles without major problems??
Or, is this just asking to much for a cheap econo box??
Your thoughts and high mileage experiences would be
appreciated!
to 160,000 miles without major problems??
Don't see why not, close to 140K on my wagon right now. Its still running strong with only two things that went wrong. A cracked exhaust manifold (replaced under warranty) and a sensor replacement (that I paid for), and both happened well past 100K miles. I am hoping for 200K.
So keep your maintenance up and it should get to 160K and hopefully more.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
That being said, good maintenance is always the best insurance for longevity. It is unfortunate that many do not realize that things like alternators and starters can also be considered "maintenance" items, they just have a longer duration between replacement. An interesting math problem is to calculate how many revolutions an alternator makes per mile. Then understand that an engine also has idle time, different speeds during upshifts/downshifts. The fact that the bearings in a good alternator can last over 100K miles is impressive.
I agree. When I sold my 95 Ford Aspire last year to buy my Elantra, it was still running perfectly, had only one out-of-the-ordinary-wear-and-tear $400 repair, and had nearly 120k miles. For all I know, it's still going strong.
By the way, I owned a 1995 Sonata that is still on the road in Canada with 200,000 miles. Hyundai's are very durable and very inexpensive should you have to repair them. I have never had a serious repair on any of my 3 Sonata's.
I take offense.
OK I'll take defense. Its 3rd and 6 whats your move?
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
is and there is no way to spin it...its a cheap economy car.
When I say cheap, I dont mean its garbage, but rather
cheap as inexpensive, so please dont take offense.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
So no...not all Hyundai service departments are bad. The one in Saginaw Michigan is, in fact, the best I've ever dealt with in the 32 years I've been driving.
Any other good service experiences with your Hyundais anyone?
in you 04-06 Elantras??
I was watching Motor Week this morning and Pat Goss had
a segment on gasoline and all the additiives in gas these
days. Although is good for the environment, it may actually
be harmful to our cars.
So im just curious as to what brand and grade gasoline
may be the best to use for our Elantras.
Does anyone use fuel system treatments like a Chevron
Techron to clean injectors??
Techron to clean injector??
Gasoline these days have detergents in them already which keep your injector and system clean. IMO Fuel injector cleaners are a waste of money. I have never used them and have taken a few cars up to 200K with no injector issues. Currently have close to 140k on mine and no problems.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
http://townhall-talk.edmunds.com/WebX/.ef2a052/916!make=Hyundai&model=Elantra&ed- _makeindex=.ef2a052
Techron to clean injector??
This is anectdotal at best, but here's my experience: Out of a desire to do the best for my car, I decided I would use Techron regularly to keep things squeaky clean. It clearly says that it's safe for all fuel systems on the packaging. However, by the end of the first tankful, I got a Check Engine Light and the first thing the technician asked was "What kind of gas did you put in this thing? Did you use any additives?" I kinda played dumb and they fixed it under warranty; turned out to be a defective purge valve.
I've heard, though, that the sensors in modern cars are far more sensitive to additives than older cars, because newer cars have more sensors and they are more sophisticated due to fuel emissions standards. And if a sensor fails and your car still runs okay, most states will not let you pass inspection until whatever caused the code is fixed. Sometimes, the Check Engine Light goes out, but a code is still stored.
Bottom line is this: I bought a 4-pack of Techron, and 3 bottles are still sitting in my garage. I'm not putting them in my Elantra.
warmed up 2005 GLS sedan?
My 2005, when warm, idles at 750 RPM.
Is that normal?
Jim