Flatspotting - finally fixed!

[NotMyMainAccount]

Backstory Threads:
No Good Vibrations Here
Hyundai Genesis Forum: PSA: Balancing our Hankook Tires

Well I am happy to report after a whole lot of zero response over a couple months from both Hyundai Motor America (HMA) and my dealer, the owner of my dealership called me and offered to do his best to get HMA to replace my tires. Within a day or two I got a call from the service manager saying the tires are in, would you like to drop by?

So I paid for them upfront but I have a letter from Hyundai promising to reimburse me the full amount providing I send them proof of ownership and of payment. I just sent the paperwork today so it's not a done deal yet, BUT the car has now rested overnight and was smooth as silk the following morning.

This car FINALLY drives like the $50k luxury sedan it is, up to and including the first few miles after resting for anything north of an hour.

For anyone curious I got the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3 (W or Y speed rated if you look them up on tirerack, mine are Y rated.) Here's the link just so we're all on the same page:
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Michelin&tireModel=Pilot+Sport+A%2FS+3+%28W-+or+Y-Speed+Rated%29

I will say Hyundai's legal team turned this from a fairly slam dunk customer sat story into one I'm lukewarm about. The verbiage in both the repair order at the shop and their letter to me stated that they were doing this as general customer satisfaction, and NOT because there's a problem that either the dealer found or HMA is admitting to.

That's such a bald-faced lie it's not even funny, at least about the dealer part. Not only did the head service technician sit in my car but he also sat in three others on the lot that all had balancing issues. One of them was so severe we considered turning back. Then after I figured out the warm part of the equation they actually measured the difference between cold and warm balancing with extremely precise equipment. Why else would .5oz need to be added to two tires and .25oz to a third, with very few miles in between the two road force balancing jobs? The only explanation is that the tires they chose, the Hankook Ventus S1 noble2 tires, significantly deform after sitting for a very short amount of time. (first balance was a cold balance, the second was a warm balance as described in the PSA post linked above.)

I get that they're trying to CYA, but they could have just said "for customer satisfaction reasons we're going to reimburse you for the tires, thanks for being a Hyundai customer we appreciate your business." That would have been great.

I'm not claiming to have all the answers, I cannot explain why several of you don't experience this issue yet others experience not only on their own Genny but on every other Genny on dealer lots. I can only hope this information helps you get the most enjoyment from your car. So happy to be done with this ordeal. Drive on fellow Genesis owners!

 

[ckon]

Good to hear it's finally resolved. Congrats.

 

[homeofstone]

Note that the new tires do not have nylon in the construction.

 

[Mark_888]

The verbiage in both the repair order at the shop and their letter to me stated that they were doing this as general customer satisfaction, and NOT because there's a problem that either the dealer found or HMA is admitting to.

If they admitted that there was a problem, they would have to replace everyone's tires.

 

[Mark_888]

Note that the new tires do not have nylon in the construction.

I found this interesting information on Tirerack.com about tire construction and flatspotting:
http://blog.tirerack.com/blog/roll-on/flatspotting-try-saying-no-to-nylon-and-yes-to-polyamide

 

[homeofstone]

I found this interesting information on Tirerack.com about tire construction and flatspotting:
http://blog.tirerack.com/blog/roll-on/flatspotting-try-saying-no-to-nylon-and-yes-to-polyamide

When I was with Goodyear we came out with aramid belt tires (polyamide) in about 1974 and flat spotting was never a problem with aramid. As I recall the fiber was developed by DuPont and is similar to Kevlar.

 

[DavidA5913]

The Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3 is a great tire. I put them on my 2012 Genesis and was really happy with them I wanted to take them off and put them on my 2015 as they only had about 10,000 miles on them, but they were a different size.

 

[Bernster]

Congratulations! The replacement is an excellent tire. Sorry to hear you had so much trouble getting replacement. Mine went very smoothly. Only had to wait several weeks for Michelin Pilot Super Sport(Max Performance Summer) replacements from Hyundai. Did not have to pay up front for them. I bought the car from a very high volume dealer and that may have made a difference in getting the replacement accomplished rather easily particularly when the service manager related that 5 other new Genesis vehicles in inventory had the same problem.

 

[jimb100]

This is an interesting situation in that not everyone has the problem.

My car sits for days at a stretch but I don't have the problem. Believe me, my wife would be complaining if ours was flatspotting as she is very sensitive to that sort of thing.

I live in Florida, but others in Florida are experiencing the problem.

My car was built last June but the problem exists with cars made before and after so it doesn't sound like just a bad batch.

I hope at some point we find out the cause of the problem but I doubt that will happen.

 

[Midnightsun]

Congratulations! The replacement is an excellent tire. Sorry to hear you had so much trouble getting replacement. Mine went very smoothly. Only had to wait several weeks for Michelin Pilot Super Sport(Max Performance Summer) replacements from Hyundai. Did not have to pay up front for them. I bought the car from a very high volume dealer and that may have made a difference in getting the replacement accomplished rather easily particularly when the service manager related that 5 other new Genesis vehicles in inventory had the same problem.

I assumed there was no replacement available for the 5.0 as tire rack comes back with no alternatives. Did they put the same size on in Michelins?

EDIT: Never mind, must have screwed up in my search as there are dozens to chose from. http://www.tirerack.com/tires/TireS...35&rearDiameter=19&rearSortCode=57751&tab=All

______________________________

Help support this site so it can continue supporting you!

 

[keithl]

Did you contact tire maker? I had an Acura years back that was notorious for flat spotting with the Bridgestones and I contacted Bridgestoen and they were awesome, actually offered me a much better tire just to pay the mount and balance fees. The tires in theory are warranted by the tire maker not the car maker.

 

[keithl]

The Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3 is a great tire. I put them on my 2012 Genesis and was really happy with them I wanted to take them off and put them on my 2015 as they only had about 10,000 miles on them, but they were a different size.

Those are the best tires I have ever had. Put them on my new A6 last year and at 14K miles they ride and handle great and seem to be wearing very well. They are a tad pricey, but well worth it.