Azera Owners: Do You Have Suspension Issues? Options

[grayknight]

This might sound dumb, but here goes- has anyone experimented with replacing the shocks with the shocks that the Sonata's use on there cars? They don't seem to have and problems. And what about any other shocks for that matter that matches up by any other car?

P.s. I have an 06 built in Oct/05 and no problems-YET!

[andyman32]

Well, I drove the car two more times this week and I couldn't reproduce that wallow. Same route & speed every time of course. Was it real? Or did I dream it? Hmm...

I do keep glancing at the passenger side dashboard waiting for a crack to appear...

Paranoia 15 months into ownership I just can't shake. *sigh*

[petergun]

All the people that don't intend to experiment with their suspension and are not willing to sink in some money to do it just need to stop complaining and suck it up. Nobody is putting a gun to your head and forcing you to keep your Azera. Unfortunately, you will have to upgrade your suspension to something other than OEM parts if you want a better ride because the parts obviously, well, suck. To blame it on the design of the suspension without knowing something about the actual parts that are on the car is not being very factual. You have to know something about dampers, spring rates, unsprung weight etc. to have a deeper understanding of the problem. In the meantime, please enjoy your car as best as you can.

[petergun]

Sonata shocks (dampers to be more correct) would work for a little while but again, Sonata is a lighter car and the spring rates and the dampening is different so you would wear out your dampers faster. Also, you would have to change the springs as well. The Sonata's suspension was designed with American roads and American driving preference in mind. The Azera was designed for the Korean market, mostly. I can just imagine the Korean big wigs trying to push the Azera into the US market against the objections of their American counterparts because of the suspension. That does not mean that the suspension cannot be improved.

[tcarr925]

It is not too difficult to replace these shocks. You order the 2008 version of shock (I know they fit, they are on my 07 car) It cost $400 for all 4 corners. I changed them myself, I have a spring compressor for the front. The rears are very simple to change. If not, take them to a shop. The jiggle that I had is all gone. As I said in previous post, I had tested the stock fronts after I removed them and they were really different. Thats bad. That caused the car to jiggle left to right when going over bumps. I replaced all four and it feels like a BMW. Firm. No wallow. Handles very good even at high speed. I have 15K miles and these 2008 shocks feel like the day I put them on. The 2008 shocks are physically different- I posted pictures showing the difference. Hyundai obviously figured out the old design did not last and as I found, there are differences between 2 units with the same part number. Its only $400 to buy these retail. You spent $25,000. Its worth it. Just search for my posts- part numbers and how to do it are listed.
On another note, I did not like the tan floor mats either and I dyed them with carpet dye. I thought it would be hard to do- but it was easy. Hot water and a vial of powdered dye and gloves. Pour the dye on the mats in the yard. Let them dry 2 days. (it took a long time to dry and they look bad until they dry.) But when they finally do dry, I have cocoa brown mats that say Azera, have pegs to keep them in place and look great. They dont show the dirt and shoe marks like the tan mats.

Last thing I found, Fram oil filters may be trouble for us. I had no problem replacing the oil 3 times. Last change, I used a Fram oil filter. They gave me a rubber O ring for the oil cartridge top. I used it. I found oil weeping up from around the top, makes a mess. I just changed it out with a Purolator O ring. No leaks. I thought Fram was the good stuff- Past Tense.
PS I still really like this car. Great ride- super quiet inside. Great Stereo. Needed backup sensors so that cost $45. And fast. For $25G (+$445) I could not come close with anything else. By the way, the cracking dash would be fixed under warranty. And Sonata shocks won't fit. Relax, its a good car.

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[boostedfc3s]

Fram has always been cheap junk.

[Gator65]

All the people that don't intend to experiment with their suspension and are not willing to sink in some money to do it just need to stop complaining and suck it up. Nobody is putting a gun to your head and forcing you to keep your Azera. Unfortunately, you will have to upgrade your suspension to something other than OEM parts if you want a better ride because the parts obviously, well, suck. To blame it on the design of the suspension without knowing something about the actual parts that are on the car is not being very factual. You have to know something about dampers, spring rates, unsprung weight etc. to have a deeper understanding of the problem. In the meantime, please enjoy your car as best as you can.

The very low resale value is the "gun" being held to our heads. "eexperimenting" and "sinking some money" down the well is not a good solution. For this many people to have problems and for Hyundai to not be able to fix it after three different sets of shocks, it is a design problem. Either the design of the suspension or Hyundai's "design" for the parts they contracted for.

[campoly]

The very low resale value is the "gun" being held to our heads. "eexperimenting" and "sinking some money" down the well is not a good solution. For this many people to have problems and for Hyundai to not be able to fix it after three different sets of shocks, it is a design problem. Either the design of the suspension or Hyundai's "design" for the parts they contracted for.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/clap.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beer.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/trophy.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/59.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/gunsmilie.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink2.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/liebe011.gif)

[petergun]

Well, it is the design of the parts if you have to know. 1 of many good proofs of that is the fact that new dampers work well on the Azera but "wear out" after 5K miles. It is not the design of the suspension. In fact, the suspension design is a modern design that incorporates good mechanics of the suspension. Even GM just recently started to use modern suspension technology in their latest cars so Hyundai is trying to be as efficient with their cars as possible.

The dampers (shocks as they are sometimes called incorrectly) and the springs are the problem. I bought a set of coilovers, installed them, and the results are amazing. I installed the coilovers when my car had 10K miles and now I am at 34K and they still perform as intended, meaning the ride is nice and firm but very comfortable with good handling. There was no deterioration of ride at 15K miles or 20K miles or at any other K miles.

It is one thing to come on this Forum to voice your opinion about suspension but if you are not well informed than it seems to me that your purpose is to have a "bitc**ing" Forum where you can air your grievances and blame things that are not to be blamed. Unless you intend to fix the problem, complaining about it will not solve your problem.

The fact that Hyundai does not want to fix the problem . . . well . . . it a toss-up between cost savings and admitting they used a faulty product in their cars. Recalls have a way of damaging a company's reputation so if it's not necessary, they won't do it and rather opt to fix the problem as quietly as possible.

[campoly]

Well, it is the design of the parts if you have to know. 1 of many good proofs of that is the fact that new dampers work well on the Azera but "wear out" after 5K miles. It is not the design of the suspension. In fact, the suspension design is a modern design that incorporates good mechanics of the suspension. Even GM just recently started to use modern suspension technology in their latest cars so Hyundai is trying to be as efficient with their cars as possible.

The dampers (shocks as they are sometimes called incorrectly) and the springs are the problem. I bought a set of coilovers, installed them, and the results are amazing. I installed the coilovers when my car had 10K miles and now I am at 34K and they still perform as intended, meaning the ride is nice and firm but very comfortable with good handling. There was no deterioration of ride at 15K miles or 20K miles or at any other K miles.

It is one thing to come on this Forum to voice your opinion about suspension but if you are not well informed than it seems to me that your purpose is to have a "bitc**ing" Forum where you can air your grievances and blame things that are not to be blamed. Unless you intend to fix the problem, complaining about it will not solve your problem.

The fact that Hyundai does not want to fix the problem . . . well . . . it a toss-up between cost savings and admitting they used a faulty product in their cars. Recalls have a way of damaging a company's reputation so if it's not necessary, they won't do it and rather opt to fix the problem as quietly as possible.

Ok.... so you're a car company who set out to offer a fine automobile with a modern suspension that should give a great ride (and it does when the shocks are new) but one of your design teams makes the decision to use shocks that don't jive with the springs and after a few thousand miles you have a car that rides like a 63' chevy pickup truck but you put it on the market anyway and soon customers start to smell a rat.

Those customers (as ignorant about the technical side of suspensions as they are) start to complain about the ride quality. You don't want to admit that one of your design teams made poor decisions concerning the suspension so you down play it and pull a Jedi mind trick by releasing a TSB for "noise (the infamous clunk)" because a clunk is much more benign than saying that there is a potential safety hazard because of worn out shocks.

*petergun, are you cringing every time I use the term "shock" rather than damper?*

Some of your customers have the shocks replaced as per the TSB and are happy for a few thousand miles but, soon thereafter, they are back again complaining about the ride quality.

At the dealership level the force is strong and the Jedi mind trick is used like a brick wall. With a wave of the hand they tell the customer: "the ride is within specs"..."problem could not be duplicated at this time"..."tech says ride is "normal"..."the company will only replace the shocks once under the TSB"...yada,yada,yada......

**BTW, wrong as it may be, the dealer service people use the term "shocks"**

Some customers turn to your corporate district service rep for help but there is no sympathy there. Only a cold, final, mater-O-fact response that there is no problem.

After a period confusion and head scratching by the customer, the customers confusion turn to anger and the customer no longer has faith in the "industry leading" warranty which is so highly touted as one of your best selling points. This combined with a lot of smaller but annoying niggling problems that require numerous trips back to the crappy dealer service department is really putting a damper (pun intended) on the company reputation.



Now some of said customers see something like this on an Internet forum: "All the people that don't intend to experiment with their suspension and are not willing to sink in some money to do it just need to stop complaining and suck it up. Nobody is putting a gun to your head and forcing you to keep your Azera"
and it looks like they are being told to either:

A. like it or lump it

b. shut up and just get rid of the car... *as if*

c. shut up and "experiment" by sinking a significant amount of money in an attempt to fix a problem created by one of Hyundai's design teams.

d. get off of poor Hyundai's nuts about it.

f. all of the above


Moving on -

"It is one thing to come on this Forum to voice your opinion about suspension but if you are not well informed than it seems to me that your purpose is to have a "bitc**ing" Forum where you can air your grievances and blame things that are not to be blamed. Unless you intend to fix the problem, complaining about it will not solve your problem."

Now, I'm not mechanically inclined and I don't know the nuts and bolts details of how a suspension works, but then again, I don't feel like I should have to either. I'd like to think that when I buy a (msrp) $31K car I shouldn't have to "fix" or redesign the suspension by experimenting with aftermarket products that may or may not "fix" the problem for x amount of money.

I think that I and many other members (current and past members) have a very legitimate "grievance". On any public forum, you have to take the good news along with the bad news. It, IMO, is what makes a forum healthy. I'm not bitc**ing just cause I like to bit**ch about something. When I first got my Azera, nobody was a bigger fanboy and proud of their Azeras than me. My "bitc**hing is a culmination of a problem that cant be fixed by conventional channels, more problems from a new car that one would expect from the likes of Yugo or Fiat and very, Very, VERY poor dealer and corporate support.

Some people come to a forum like this for positive reinforcement about their purchase. Some come to try to glean some info (good and bad) before they purchase to take the pulse (so to speak) of current owners who've had a chance to make some sort of evaluation about the long term use of the car. But some come and bring their cognitive dissonance - my car is infallible because I hate the thought that I may have made a bad decision - baggage with them and don't like it when others have something negative to say. I'm one of those who would rather hear/see all the scars and warts along with the good stuff.

Check it out:

I've had to make 7 trips back to the Hyundai dealer for "fixes" (some small, some not so small). That is 6 more trips back to a Hyundai dealer for "fixes" than I had to make with my last 7 Japanese cars. (I could tell you about my 1990 Dodge caravan that spent more time in the shop than on the road but that's a whole other story). The big "experiment" for me was trying out a Hyundai in the first place....it didn't work out for me. This is my last Hyundai. Such is life.

Having said that.....

I'm John Q Public. The ride on my Hyundai car is dreadful (wasn't always the case though). It is not my fault and there doesn't seem to be a solution that doesn't require experimentation and significant money according to some voice that comes out of cyberspace claiming to be some sort of suspension expert telling me to politely STFU, "suck it up", and "experiment" for a fix.

Petergun, come on now!.......

"All the people that don't intend to experiment with their suspension and are not willing to sink in some money to do it just need to stop complaining and suck it up".......!

"It is one thing to come on this Forum to voice your opinion about suspension but if you are not well informed than it seems to me that your purpose is to have a "bitc**ing" Forum where you can air your grievances and blame things that are not to be blamed. Unless you intend to fix the problem, complaining about it will not solve your problem."

Are you serious! Really.......

[petergun]

Campoly

Good explanations and you are pretty much right on the money. It ultimately comes down to being realistic about the situation and not letting it get to you. I also had the wallowing and excessively floaty ride in my Azera but guess what, I provided a fix to the car that my Hyundai dealership would not have been able to do. Knowing what bad customer service lot of Hyundai dealers provide, I am going to be realistic about the situation and either A) sell the car and not complain about it, or (IMG:style_emoticons/default/cool.gif) provide solutions to the problem myself if I am to keep the car for a while, which is my intent.

I respect people's comments on this forum and their desires to fix the issue that Hyundai ultimately messed up. I took the opportunity to point out misconceptions that people have about the root cause of the suspension problems on the Azera. You just cannot positively say that the problem is the suspensions design and not consider the dampers, especially if you have not experimented with the car at all. I am not saying you should - it is ultimately up to you and what you want to do. My advice for you would be to sell the car and buy a nice Japanese Camry, Avalon, or Accord. Any Hyundai car is a good deal if you are willing to keep the car for at least 8-10 years. But if you'd rather prefer to trade in your car every 3 years, than you have just made a big mistake due to vehicle depreciation. If ownership longevity is your purpose, than upgrade the suspension and be dramatically more happy with the Azera's handling and ride comfort. It might also make you go to the "unfriendly" Hyundai dealerships less which is just great for anyone's overall health.

[campoly]

Campoly

Good explanations and you are pretty much right on the money. It ultimately comes down to being realistic about the situation and not letting it get to you. I also had the wallowing and excessively floaty ride in my Azera but guess what, I provided a fix to the car that my Hyundai dealership would not have been able to do. Knowing what bad customer service lot of Hyundai dealers provide, I am going to be realistic about the situation and either A) sell the car and not complain about it, or (IMG:style_emoticons/default/cool.gif) provide solutions to the problem myself if I am to keep the car for a while, which is my intent.

I respect people's comments on this forum and their desires to fix the issue that Hyundai ultimately messed up. I took the opportunity to point out misconceptions that people have about the root cause of the suspension problems on the Azera. You just cannot positively say that the problem is the suspensions design and not consider the dampers, especially if you have not experimented with the car at all. I am not saying you should - it is ultimately up to you and what you want to do. My advice for you would be to sell the car and buy a nice Japanese Camry, Avalon, or Accord. Any Hyundai car is a good deal if you are willing to keep the car for at least 8-10 years. But if you'd rather prefer to trade in your car every 3 years, than you have just made a big mistake due to vehicle depreciation. If ownership longevity is your purpose, than upgrade the suspension and be dramatically more happy with the Azera's handling and ride comfort. It might also make you go to the "unfriendly" Hyundai dealerships less which is just great for anyone's overall health.

I agree with you on almost every point except: A) sell the car and not complain about it

A. It's very hard to swallow the loss on selling it especially since I like the car and I originally planed to keep this car for the duration. I think Hyundai needs to stop dening that there is a problem, suck it up and issue a recall for whatever is causing the problem and not have the consumer foot the bill for their mistakes.

B. The "consumer complaint" can have major benefits to both the consumer and the business. 96% of dissatisfied customers don't complain. They just move on and the business never knows why people stop buying their products or services. The business can wither and die a'la GM and Chrysler (I understand these two will be resurrected in some fashion). Consumer complaints are beneficial to us collectively and in theory we ultimately get better products and services (hopefully industry wide) provided the business is listening and making adjustments.

When a company isn't doing the right thing by consumers, I think it should be out there for everyone to see. I perceive that Hyundai is doing a lot of things right and is in a good position to become an even bigger player in the US auto market and I wish them well. I just happen to think Hyundai isn't doing the right thing in this case.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/beer.gif)

P.S - I do dread going to the Hyundai service depts. There are 3 near by me and they all in desperate need of some good old fashion customer service training...ihmo.

[rodneya332]

The dampers (shocks as they are sometimes called incorrectly)

Oh oh!
Somebody better tell Monroe!!

http://www.monroe.com/

[TheWidowsSon]

The dampers (shocks as they are sometimes called incorrectly)

Oh oh!
Somebody better tell Monroe!!

http://www.monroe.com/

ZING!! Nice one. LMAO (IMG:style_emoticons/default/bwekk.gif)

[andyman32]

This is a touchy subject for everyone, I somewhat hesitated to bring it back up. I honestly just don't depend on this car or drive it often enough to have the kind of emotional investment in it that I CERTAINLY would if this were my only daily driver - and, in fact, by the end of this year, it MAY be just that.

One thing is real simple & true, you buy a $30k car, it should ride smoothly & quietly. That's a perfectly reasonable customer expectation in 2009. You can go to an awful lot of other brands out there and buy a car for $30k or less - some entry-luxury, some more basic transportation, but all of which will provide a smooth quiet ride. Whether I'm having the problem and just not noticing it, or I'm not and others are, these are legitimate concerns and it's on the dealer to act as the customer representative - they're the first line of customer relations. Saying "we sold you a bad car, sorry, go suck an egg" is not an effective resolution of a legitimate mechanical issue.

And many, if not all, dealerships, will be coached up on good customer service. The warranty IS a joke when you take your car in and every single time you do, you're treated with suspicion and even derision. And that's not an accident. That's a combination of poor training, and/or BAD training (being TAUGHT to avoid helping the customer at all costs). You go in expecting resistance. Bad suspension or not, if you have to put up with that every time you need your car to be serviced, that warranty is indeed laughable. Buy another brand and if it needs a new oil pump in 8 years, take it to Corner Joe's Garage - Corner Joe is bound to treat you better than the Hyundai dealership service department.

These are two things I'll agree with, problems or not, any day of the year. Great warranty, but knowing what I've had to deal with at MY dealership for even the most minor issues, and the way the customer service folks reacted to me (even being friendly and reasonable), I'm really not inclined to buy another Hyundai product, for that reason alone.

If you're a person who enjoys open, unjustified confrontation with customer service representatives who have been trained to avoid helping you at all costs, Hyundai is a GREAT car for you.

[petergun]

Well said andyman 32. I completely agree with your reasoning. That is why I do my own repairs and basic maintenance on my Azera as well as my wife's 4-Runner. Since I change my own oil (no dirty rags used to clean the oil filter assembly) and I have upgraded my suspension to something 1000 times better I have probably jeopardized my warranty a little bit. Fortunately, I have been blessed with the desire to do this kind of work myself and enjoy it. Let's face it, the Azera SHOULD be riding much better than it is. However, I work for a company that used to be owned by an foreign company and the politics that went on were ridiculous; sometimes there seemed to be no justification for it except for pure ego. What I am trying to say in relations to Hyundai is that the Azera is a Korean car and it has been noted a few times that it was designed for the Korean market in mind. I can just see the Korean big wigs pushing this car into the US market when the suspension was designed for the Koreans all along. I would not be surprised if the US counterparts resisted a bit but ultimately a company is a pecking order system and the best decisions are not always made. However, I still believe that the dampers are defective and the springs might be too stiff for them and ultimately wear them out. I want to keep the car because besides the suspension, the car is awesome (so far). However, I have to agree with other Forum members here - I am not buying another Hyundai again because the suspension short-comings do continue with the Genesis sedan and the Genesis coupe (visit www.gencoupe.com and see what I am talking about). Hyundai should reexamine its R & D suspension department back in Korea and in the US to see what is going on and why they cannot get it right. I suspect it is many variables. My next car will be probably a Lexus or an Infinity (hopefully I can afford it by then).

[JonQuest82]

Hey, I'm new to the Azera family just purchased a pretty pearl white '06 with 20k miles a week ago. I love this car's looks! And I don't normally like white cars. And yes I have the wallow. But I'm really not regretting my decision. I'm learning I have to drive this car a little differently (in corners) to acommadate for those suspension shortcomings. It's still a nuissance however. I still love the car though, and for the money, it's a steal. An equally equipped Accord is about $3500 MORE! Given the suspension though, I guess that old adage 'you get what you pay for' rings true. Sooner or later that cost diff will bite you in the a**.

Petergun, which coilover system did you use? I'm willing to make up some of that difference to have an Azera that handles like a dream. .

[petergun]

I purchased the seoulfulracing.com coilovers. They sell soft, sports, and hard types. I am aware that the sports have spring rates 10/8 and the hard 12/10. I purchased the sports and they work great on the car. The soft are probably too soft for the US streets and are only intended for Korean roads. However, I do feel that getting coilovers where you can adjust the damping rate would be better. These are more costly and you can find them on kspec.com.

Good luck.

[Gamle-ged]

Enjoy your new ride! I've been enjoying my bought-new 2006 Limited for just over 38,000 miles so far, and I'd likely buy another, but as I keep a car "forever" it might be a decade or so before I'm looking again...
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/grin.gif)

[rminor]

Are all of the people (I'm one of them) that have had NO suspension problems just lucky. Or are we just ignorant when it comes to cars, and deaf because we can't hear the "clunk". My '07 has 35k miles now and still rides as well as it did when new. I drive on a bumpy, potholed road every time I leave and enter my subdivision and listen every time for any unusual noise. Nothing other than tire noise. My brother-in-law recently bought a new '09 and it seems to ride and sound the same as mine.