3.8 HTRAC Bent Wheels

[ckon]

Last week I was informed by my local Discount Tire store tech that I have four bent wheels on my 2g Genesis HTRAC. The car had just had the tires balanced, etc., by Hyundai to solve a vibration problem and nobody had mentioned anything about any bent wheels.

I live in Michigan and admittedly we have some lousy roads but I've driven and maintained almost fifty cars used in my family for a long, long time and over all of the years have had only two, or possibly three, bent wheels on all of those cars. Now, suddenly, I have FOUR on the same car?

I've now had a total of eleven tires on my car and no one at Hyundai has bothered to mention discovering any bent wheels. If Hyundai is working on a vibration problem on my car, why haven't they mentioned the fact that I have bent wheels?

Has anyone else experienced anything like this? Are we now facing under specced wheels in addition to our vibration and sunroof problems?

TIA for any responses and/or suggestions.

 

[Alwaysforward]

Did Discount Tire show you where your wheels were bent? Was it located on the ID wall or OD wall of the wheel? Are they visible enough you could snap some pictures showing the location of the damage as compared to the location of the valve stem? Then we could all inspect our wheels in those same locations to see if there is a pattern. Just a thought!

 

[ckon]

Did Discount Tire show you where your wheels were bent? Was it located on the ID wall or OD wall of the wheel? Are they visible enough you could snap some pictures showing the location of the damage as compared to the location of the valve stem? Then we could all inspect our wheels in those same locations to see if there is a pattern. Just a thought!

Thanx for the response. I don't think any of the damage is obvious under those circumstances. The tech told me that two were slightly bent, I'm not sure of severity of the third, but he showed me the fourth on the balancing machine and it was very visible laterally. Things aren't looking good.

 

[JBoogie]

I have vibration in my car also. I was told its flat spotting but it never goes away once i start driving. My dealerships track record for fixing stuff the first time sucks so i might go by Discount to see if i have any bends.. I only have about 2200 miles.

 

[mdsbuc]

I have vibration in my car also. I was told its flat spotting but it never goes away once i start driving. My dealerships track record for fixing stuff the first time sucks so i might go by Discount to see if i have any bends.. I only have about 2200 miles.

Have you taken the Vibration Poll here?
http://genesisowners.com/hyundai-genesis-forum/showthread.php?t=16630

 

[ckon]

Have you taken the Vibration Poll here?
http://genesisowners.com/hyundai-genesis-forum/showthread.php?t=16630

Yes - please take the poll. And please post if there's any more bent wheels out there.

 

[cagilber]

If someone believe bent rims are to blame. Shouldn't someone take an after market set of rims to rule it out.

 

[ckon]

If someone believe bent rims are to blame. Shouldn't someone take an after market set of rims to rule it out.

As far as I can tell, the rims aren't causing much, if any, of the vibration. The problem is that common sense and experience tells me the rims are just insufficient for the weight of the car. I've NEVER had a problem with bent rims like this.

That doesn't mean that I won't have to end up with a set of aftermarkets because presumably these are going to get worse and Hyundai doesn't have anything better. Time will tell. The problem is that I really like the originals. They're the first original equipment rims I've had in a long time that I really like.

 

[xsolara]

Are you sure that Discount tire is just trying to sell you new rims ??? 4 bent rims ???
hard to believe...... This car isn't that heavy and the OEM rims are pretty beefy.....
If the rims are bent as they say then the tires must also have some damage

 

[OneFunGenesis]

If the rims are bent as they say then the tires must also have some damage

That isn't necessarily true. Tires are rubber and resilient. Rims will show damage where tires can bounce back quite a bit better

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[ckon]

Are you sure that Discount tire is just trying to sell you new rims ??? 4 bent rims ???
hard to believe...... This car isn't that heavy and the OEM rims are pretty beefy.....
If the rims are bent as they say then the tires must also have some damage

Very sure! Actually, as far as DT was concerned, the tech was saying that as long as the wheel doesn't cause air loss and the driver isn't sensing any vibration, the wheels are still considered useable. They do move the worst wheel(s) to the point furthest from the driver - the rear - to minimize vibration for the driver.

No, there was no discussion of replacing the rims and there has been NO tire damage at all. I agree - it's HARD TO BELIEVE.

Obviously, the OEM rims only SEEM beefy. I know this car has never been driven on any surface that could account for such damage - maybe one rim, but not four. I know how bad our roads can be but they can't account for this.

 

[ckon]

Did Discount Tire show you where your wheels were bent? Was it located on the ID wall or OD wall of the wheel? Are they visible enough you could snap some pictures showing the location of the damage as compared to the location of the valve stem? Then we could all inspect our wheels in those same locations to see if there is a pattern. Just a thought!

I was just re-reading this thread and your post brings up an interesting point. IIRC, the tech indicated that the damage was lateral. If that's correct, it seems to leave out anything like potholes. The wheel he showed me was one of the worst and was definitely lateral.

Years ago, I had a VW and hit a deep pothole during a storm and smashed bends into both wheels on the right side of the car. Two flats in the rain - such fun. Definitely radial distortion of the rims, nothing lateral. That's the only wheel damage I can ever remember on any of my cars.

 

[CanukV6]

I have been wondering if Bent Rims might be the cause of the highway speed vibration that I and others have reported after the tire swap to Michelins. If the OEM Rims are weak and easily distorted with lateral loads, then maybe the removal of the Hankooks and fitting of the Michelins is enough to distort the rims. Not everybody is reporting the high speed vibration after the tire swap, but that maybe because the severity of the distortion can be low enough in some cases to be cured by wheel balancing.

 

[ckon]

I have been wondering if Bent Rims might be the cause of the highway speed vibration that I and others have reported after the tire swap to Michelins. If the OEM Rims are weak and easily distorted with lateral loads, then maybe the removal of the Hankooks and fitting of the Michelins is enough to distort the rims. Not everybody is reporting the high speed vibration after the tire swap, but that maybe because the severity of the distortion can be low enough in some cases to be cured by wheel balancing.

I was wondering the same thing about distortion possibly being caused by tire removal and replacement on a low strength rim. My tires have been mounted and dismounted maybe six times now. I don't know how much exposure that is for a wheel that may not be as strong as it should be and how much it can take.

EDIT: I just talked to DT again and they said mounting and dismounting tires would NOT be likely to damage any wheel.

 

[shoelessj]

Geez,
No offense to you (or Discount Tire) but I would be thrilled if Discount Tire could mount four tires without damaging my rims. I mean they don't hire MIT grads to work there. I would be surprised if there was a torque wrench within a mile of the place.
If Tire Rack installers would call this to my attention I might listen but the chances of four wheels being "bent" are highly unlikely particularly if you cannot see evidence of damage. I know this is offered in the context of vibration issues, etc. JMHO

 

[ckon]

Geez,
No offense to you (or Discount Tire) but I would be thrilled if Discount Tire could mount four tires without damaging my rims. I mean they don't hire MIT grads to work there. I would be surprised if there was a torque wrench within a mile of the place.
If Tire Rack installers would call this to my attention I might listen but the chances of four wheels being "bent" are highly unlikely particularly if you cannot see evidence of damage. I know this is offered in the context of vibration issues, etc. JMHO

My experiences with my local DT have apparently been much better than yours. Seriously, they've been pretty good. PS: I could see the lateral distortion on the one wheel he showed me.

 

[shoelessj]

Chuck,
I don't question that they may be good guys and do a good job installing tires but to imagine you have four bent rims (or laterally challenged- unless you are doing some serious off roading) seems to challenge their level of expertise.
Certainly OEM rims cold be questionable. My son had a Sebring (1997) and the rims were a known problem. This showed up with clear deformation and loss of air.
Not defending Hyundai but they spent a bundle replacing tires because of noise issues- if there was a known wheel issue I have to give them the benefit of the doubt that they would address this.
I do appreciate that an open mind is a good thing but a lateral wheel deformation because of structural weakness would be way down on my list of concerns.

 

[ckon]

Chuck,
I don't question that they may be good guys and do a good job installing tires but to imagine you have four bent rims (or laterally challenged- unless you are doing some serious off roading) seems to challenge their level of expertise.
Certainly OEM rims cold be questionable. My son had a Sebring (1997) and the rims were a known problem. This showed up with clear deformation and loss of air.
Not defending Hyundai but they spent a bundle replacing tires because of noise issues- if there was a known wheel issue I have to give them the benefit of the doubt that they would address this.
I do appreciate that an open mind is a good thing but a lateral wheel deformation because of structural weakness would be way down on my list of concerns.

I think they replaced those tires because Hyundai thought they were causing the flat spot symptom and those of us that still have the problem know they're barking up the wrong tree.

I would be very happy for ANY explanation for the fact that those wheels are bent. I saw the deformation and if it happened while my wife or I were driving that car it means the wheels are not sufficient for the load they are supporting. There's no way or condition that explains the deformation that I can see and I'm hoping for any explanation I can pass on to help end the issue. I've been responsible for the care and feeding of fifty cars over the years and have NEVER experienced this, even on Michigan's horrible roads.

 

[Mark_888]

Geez,
No offense to you (or Discount Tire) but I would be thrilled if Discount Tire could mount four tires without damaging my rims. I mean they don't hire MIT grads to work there. I would be surprised if there was a torque wrench within a mile of the place.
If Tire Rack installers would call this to my attention I might listen but the chances of four wheels being "bent" are highly unlikely particularly if you cannot see evidence of damage. I know this is offered in the context of vibration issues, etc. JMHO

You probably don't know much about Discount Tire. They don't have a bunch of untrained tire installers there. Considering that tires and wheels are pretty much their only business, and they have been in business since 1960, and now have more than 900 stores, I would trust them a lot more than a Hyundai dealer tech who doesn't spend a lot of time mounting tires.

 

[xsolara]

You probably don't know much about Discount Tire. They don't have a bunch of untrained tire installers there. Considering that tires and wheels are pretty much their only business, and they have been in business since 1960, and now have more than 900 stores, I would trust them a lot more than a Hyundai dealer tech who doesn't spend a lot of time mounting tires.

I'm sure your experience with Discount Tire is very good but I like the proverb from President Reagan " Trust but Verify"..... So I was curious and looked for complaints and found this.
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/tires/discount_tires.html
These appear to be franchised store so quality varies with locations... Not a pretty picture