Coupe alignment issue...

[Goose]

Compared to other performance cars I've owned, my Coupe's steering is less than impressive. The steering hasn't been awful, but I think I need to have the alignment checked.

My Coupe doesn't track too well on the highway - almost as if it's toe'd-out. The car requires constant minor corrections to stay on a straight line, and tends to be a bit more skittish than I think it's supposed to be. On-center feel is also pretty dull and the car is very susceptible to crosswinds.

Obviously, I have already confirmed that the tire inflations are correct. If I had to guess, I assume the factory spec on the Grand Touring setup (don't know if the track is different) calls for mild toe-in, if anything. I'll be curious if my local dealer even has alignment specs yet (since they don't seem to have much material related to the Genesis Coupe).

I'll keep you informed of what I find out...

 

[Fast01Rio]

isn;t this car drive by wire???

 

[Goose]

"Drive by wire" refers to a car's throttle input. Most modern cars utilize drive by wire for greater fuel economy and emissions reduction, among other benefits.

I haven't checked, but the power steering pump might be electrically powered (as opposed to the more conventional belt-powered pump).

 

[Fast01Rio]

oh yeah i forgot, then it's steering by wire. if i remember the Can-Bus is on this car right?

 

[Goose]

There really isn't anything known as steering-by-wire on any production car - yet. You could say there is if you count the GM Hy-Wire concept car of a few years ago - but there's only one and it's worth several million dollars. I'm sure other companies have other similar concepts as well.

Unfortunately, my steering issue is plain old mechanical alignment. No amount of computer wizardry (ie Can-Bus) is going to correct it.

 

[Goose]

Here's a link to a video on the Hy-Wire concept from Top Gear. Cool stuff...

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iiCrFp89hU"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iiCrFp89hU[/ame]

 

[John]

Sounds like a simple alignment thing, maybe the dealer will do it for free but I wouldn't hold my breath on that one

 

[Goose]

I agree that it's an alignment issue. My local dealer has been sympathetic and is willing to do an alignment for free within the next few thousand miles.

An interesting part of this situation is that, after some checking by my local dealer, Hyundai USA doesn't have the alignment specs yet for the Coupe. My local dealer has been very helpful and will call me once they have the alignment specs from the Engineering department at Hyundai Korea.

All part of owning an all-new model I guess...

 

[Turn In Concepts]

Factory alignments are always junk. They are inprecise and often horrible for performance.

One of the first things we always do with any new car we pick up is align it to a performance standard. It's amazing how a simple performance alignment can drastically change the handling characteristics of a car.

 

[Goose]

An update...

One week later and my dealer has not been able to get alignment specs to me; they're still waiting on the engineering dept in Korea to respond. I can't get things checked/corrected until the specs arrive. No help from the "customer service helpline" at Hyundai USA - the woman (sounded like I was calling India) had no clue and referred me back to my local dealer.

Poor support from Hyundai at this point. I'll be sure to keep you updated...

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[Turn In Concepts]

An update...

One week later and my dealer has not been able to get alignment specs to me; they're still waiting on the engineering dept in Korea to respond. I can't get things checked/corrected until the specs arrive. No help from the "customer service helpline" at Hyundai USA - the woman (sounded like I was calling India) had no clue and referred me back to my local dealer.

Poor support from Hyundai at this point. I'll be sure to keep you updated...

The factory specs are in the owners manual.

Here's what can help you though:

Front camber - about -1.0 to -1.5 (you'll need camber bolts)
Front toe - 0

Rear camber - about -1.0 for now (we're still modeling the rear, but this is a good compromise)
Rear toe - 0

 

[Goose]

Thank you very much for passing this info along.

For what it's worth, my dealer told me that even now Hyundai is still sorting out the final specs on the Coupe's alignment, citing issues uncovered in early magazine testing in California. They told me that the "official alignment specs" in their manuals were incorrect - if one is to believe my dealer.

My dealer tells me that they placed a call to Hyundai USA, who is waiting on Hyundai Korea's engineering department for "correct" specs. I have yet to hear anything as of today.

I've decided to drive two-and-a-half hours to a trusted alignment shop to see what can be done - even without factory specs. I'll be sure to take the info you've provided along with me, though. Between my feedback (I used to race cars), the shop's knowledge and the specs you've given me, hopefully something can be done.

Believe me - the shop I'm going to knows their stuff - Ralph Lauren (among others) apparently has had multi-million dollar cars shipped to these guys for alignment attention. By the look of the place, you'd never guess the cars they work on...

 

[Turn In Concepts]

Thank you very much for passing this info along.

For what it's worth, my dealer told me that even now Hyundai is still sorting out the final specs on the Coupe's alignment, citing issues uncovered in early magazine testing in California. They told me that the "official alignment specs" in their manuals were incorrect - if one is to believe my dealer.

My dealer tells me that they placed a call to Hyundai USA, who is waiting on Hyundai Korea's engineering department for "correct" specs. I have yet to hear anything as of today.

I've decided to drive two-and-a-half hours to a trusted alignment shop to see what can be done - even without factory specs. I'll be sure to take the info you've provided along with me, though. Between my feedback (I used to race cars), the shop's knowledge and the specs you've given me, hopefully something can be done.

Believe me - the shop I'm going to knows their stuff - Ralph Lauren (among others) apparently has had multi-million dollar cars shipped to these guys for alignment attention. By the look of the place, you'd never guess the cars they work on...

To get any camber adjustment in the front you're going to need 14mm cam bolts. We used the SPC bolts.

We'll have more details on those when we get our post up in the suspension area on our findings on the suspension.

We tried them in the lower hole, and found there was JUST barely enough room to get some in the upper hole.

On top of all of this is the poor bump travel out of the front. We have experience washout on the front end on a number of occasions due to bottoming the bump travel.

Right now we have fitted MUCH shorter bump stops that give us another inch of room before we hit the bumpers, but we're still hitting the bottom.

Uprated springs would help with this quite a bit, but then so would a larger front bar (to control roll whilst in a turn). As it stands we're going to look more at springs to start as we feel the springs do need addressing on this car.

On top of all of this you run into the issue of lowering the car. Right now we cannot at all recommend lowering the car. The lower control arms are already parallel to the ground, and until we figure some more out to address the poor bump travel any kind of lowering is just going to destroy any kind of decent handling from the front of the car.

All of this is topic for another thread though....

 

[Goose]

Again, thank you for your feedback on this subject. It's nice to exchange information with folks that understand.

As for me, I'm just trying to get my car to behave the way a decent GT should; crisp steering feel, good response to inputs, stability at speed, and a "desire to return to center" (I don't know the technical term for that one). The current dull steering feel, coupled with twitchy behavior is the worst of both worlds.

Hopefully my car's steering behavior can be improved through careful adjustment.

 

[Goose]

I had an expert shop evaluate my Coupe's alignment today. The bottom line is that the alignment is fine - unfortunately the Coupe's steering isn't.

The tech took the car for a test drive prior to putting the car on the rack. When he returned, it was gratifying to hear that his impressions were identical to mine. I had not mentioned any specifics about what I had experienced other than requesting an alignment check.

Although I had no "official" specs with me (Hyundai has dropped the ball on this), this shop can assess the situation without such help. The conclusion was that the car was set up just fine, with a very slight toe-in, a little negative camber, and a small amount of caster. We concluded that nothing would really be gained by playing with things, apart from reducing tire life.

Based on our collective experience, we concluded that the Coupe's steering is what one should expect for the price. BMW-quality steering (only an example) doesn't come cheap; to develop such geometry takes time, and Hyundai was trying to keep costs in check.

I'm sure the aftermarket (such as Turn In Concepts) may address the Coupe's steering shortfalls. Until then, I'm just passing along my experience on this issue...

 

[wild willy]

Exactly what is it not doing for you from a steering standpoint? And yes, I read your initial post......

 

[Goose]

My posts are meant to help others that may be considering a Coupe, or are experiencing the same thing with one they already own. I'm not trying to bash the Coupe - it's a great looking car for the money.

I value steering feel/feedback above just about every other quality in a car. Despite this, I failed to thoroughly get to know the Coupe before buying. The looks, the power, the price and other qualities blinded me to what I value, since (unfortunately) I drive a lot of highway miles. Frankly, I've made a stupid mistake which I may have to correct.

The Coupe fails to provide good feedback through the wheel, coupled with an artificial weight to the steering. Although the steering is heavy (but pretty dead), deviation from center results in an overboosted feel/overreaction to small inputs. Undulations in the road surface (ie dips) cause the car to want to alter course - not good. I recently experienced an unsettling instability when passing a truck; the weight transfer caused the steering to require excessive correction to stay controlled.

My alignment guy suggested that better tires may improve the situation slightly, but this is too expensive for an unknown improvement.

I know that the magazines have made little mention of the Coupe's steering, but I know what I like and I have my standards. I'm not trying to critique others that have no issue with the steering, but for me, the Coupe's steering leaves much to be desired.

 

[wild willy]

That's what I was looking for^^ When I do drive one I will be sure to get it out on the highway....Thanks for the tip!!

 

[JohnnyK]

My posts are meant to help others that may be considering a Coupe, or are experiencing the same thing with one they already own. I'm not trying to bash the Coupe - it's a great looking car for the money.

I value steering feel/feedback above just about every other quality in a car. Despite this, I failed to thoroughly get to know the Coupe before buying. The looks, the power, the price and other qualities blinded me to what I value, since (unfortunately) I drive a lot of highway miles. Frankly, I've made a stupid mistake which I may have to correct.

The Coupe fails to provide good feedback through the wheel, coupled with an artificial weight to the steering. Although the steering is heavy (but pretty dead), deviation from center results in an overboosted feel/overreaction to small inputs. Undulations in the road surface (ie dips) cause the car to want to alter course - not good. I recently experienced an unsettling instability when passing a truck; the weight transfer caused the steering to require excessive correction to stay controlled.

My alignment guy suggested that better tires may improve the situation slightly, but this is too expensive for an unknown improvement.

I know that the magazines have made little mention of the Coupe's steering, but I know what I like and I have my standards. I'm not trying to critique others that have no issue with the steering, but for me, the Coupe's steering leaves much to be desired.

I have put almost 2000 miles on my Coupe so far and I haven't experience anything close to what you are describing. My coupe has been performing great, I have been nothing but impressed by the response and the tracking. Maybe the Track package makes a difference with the 19" wheels?

 

[Goose]

You may be right, Johnny. Now that there are actually a few more Coupes within a drive of an hour or two, I may test-drive a track version. Believe me, if the track version solves the problem, I'll let you guys know.