I went on a golf trip over the weekend down to southen KY. I took the boys down in my Azera as we had plenty of room in the oversized trunk. Plenty of room in the car as well and the drive was very cool relaxing as the temp outside was well into the 90s.

The car is fun to drive but wow the suspension sounds like my old 85 Dodge Dart. Instead of the clunk that happens when the car is going over bumps at 25 to 30 MPH now I even hear a rusty sweek or sounds like something is loose in the shock. Almost sounds like a rusty spring on the old cars when driving around 10 MPH. Most of the time when I have the air on or the radio on the noise is not heard, but when these devices are off wow it is very noticeable. The boys like the car but not the noise as they said to pay $27,000 for a new car it shouldn't have noise in the suspension.

By the way, I did get 30 MPG which is great.

This post has been edited by heypal: Jul 24 2008, 06:44 AM

Wonder if it sounds as bad from the outside going down the road ?

Wikky wikky wikky

Does the latest TSB on the shocks cover your year azera?

I've noticed on my car that when I have passengers in the back seat the rear end dips so low it looks like a 1980's loaded down Plymouth K-car with blown out rear shocks. The ride is noticably different too. For a car that is supposed to comfortably seat 4 and easily seat 5 you would think that the suspension would be up to the task of supporting 4 average sized adults without looking like I have it bagged and slammed in the rear.

:)

If you were to examine the rear shocks as I have, you would understand why.

These Mando rear shocks simply aren't up to the task.
They compress far to easily IMHO, especially when compared to the Bilsteins
I was told would fit but do not.

That and the fact that there is simply not enough rear spring
strength to begin to support a maximum permissable load.
A higher spring rating is indeed needed as you have discovered;
Perhaps a progressively wound spring?

With my wife and I in the car and only 200 pounds of kitty litter in the trunk, the back
end of ours becomes a low rider in the classic sense. It sits far to low IMHO.
And that is with a total of less than 600 pounds.
What would it look like with four healthy men and their golf clubs aboard? :whistling:

If only Bilstein would make front and rear shocks for the Azera.

:amen:

This post has been edited by snaglepus: Jul 25 2008, 07:55 PM

200 pounds of kitty litter? Do you keep lions or tigers? Or maybe ligers?

Yes. Bred for their skills in magic.

:)

We had three Scottish Folds, but the mother cat pasted on July 4th at 14 years
of age, so now there are only two, her daughter and our hugh tom, Sunny.

Costco will have 40 pound pails of Scoop Away at $2 off with their coupons on occasion,
so when we are low on litter, I will load up because it is a good savings.

"Watch the pennies and the dollars will take care of themselves." :amen:

With the lack of proper springing in the rear and less than ideal shocks on
all four corners, I'll take the Kona Focus the next time I need to load up.
The Focus does not seem to care whether or not it has that much extra weight in its small trunk.

Now if Ford can get it right in the lowly Focus, why couldn't Hyundai?

:whistling:

This post has been edited by snaglepus: Jul 26 2008, 09:51 AM

The Getter

The TSB does apply to my Azera but I think the car needs different shock. Not a Hyudndai brand shock. Don't know if I can put a different make of a shock on the car or do I need to stick with the Hyundai parts. Can the suspension be changed over to lets say a Toyota or Honda suspension system. I think not. I appears the way the entire suspension system is set up only Hyundai replacement parts can be used. This really sucks and doesn't take care of the problem.

When I had my 2002 Toyota Camry even if I had four people and four sets of clubs in the car the suspension would not cave in. The ride was soft but the car would not bottom out.

Taking the car back to the dealer is a waste of time. The service manager never hears anything...so he says. I need to take back the car for the headlights and that will be in the fall or when I find time. I see some of the Sonata's have the headlight problem as well.

I had 3 hefty people & a small amount of baggage in my Azera onm a trip from Toronto to Montreal and did not experience any sagging. Wonder why some cars are affected and others not!
As far as shocks there may be some that would fit the Azera, but which ones? the azera is such a low volume car that it isn't worth the tooling up to manufacture them. Was it so planned by big H to sell more of the orig equip? me wonder!

'Why some cars and not others'? That's the main question. I've carried 5 people with an infant seat in my Nov. '05 built '06 and never had a problem with bottoming. You're right about availability of after market shocks. No one, but no one, makes them. I've checked everywhere even on a trip to Asia last year. I'm not counting the coil over $1200 item offered by some Korean sites......an outrageous price. We had a 2000 Outback. Loved it, but hated the lack of window frames. I drive with the window open most of the time and must have a rain deflector. The sun roof was also an issue....had to be a factory installed unit.

:)

More and more, old snaglepus is leaning to the realization that the earlier cars, that is those
built prior to Dec. 05, 2005, indeed did have a different and better made shock!
TSB 07-50-007 addresses the junk shocks put on cars built Dec. 05, 2005 through Feb. 26, 2007.

So my conclusion is that the early cars had a better made and higher quality shock and
either the shock supplier, Mando, cut their quality or perhaps someone
else was suppling those earliest Azeras with shock absorbers.
If I am correct, known examples of early cars include you and Mike in Maryland (allmet) plus mahout.
I'm not sure of mahouts' build date, but I am sure that he, being a road racer type, would
not be at all satisfied with his front shocks if his car had the same ones that mine has.
One sure doesn't need nor would anyone tolerate or feel safe with the porpusing
and wallowing that mine and other Azera owners have, especially when
barreling down the straightaway at better than 145 mph! :whistling:

Comments and questions welcomed.

:amen:

This post has been edited by snaglepus: Jul 26 2008, 10:11 PM

So from what I gather there is no shock out there that will work on my 2006 Azera that will give the car a better ride? How about a different suspension. Can I put different suspension parts on the car of do I need to use the junk made by Hyundai?

I too love our outback, the 2 reasons why I didn't get another one was that for the money they should give you more amenities and above all the hesitation on kickdown of its drive by wire accelerator.

This post has been edited by Pelikan: Jul 27 2008, 08:09 AM

:)

Bingo. "By Jove, I think he's got it!"

You could go to a complete 'other' suspension from another margue, but you would be better
off trading cars because to do that would cost way to much if you could do it at all? :whistling:

We simply must wait until Bilstein or some other good aftermarket
manufacturer decides to come through for us.
Of course, you could have the latest front shocks from Hyundai, part number 54611-3L640 installed, but the jury is still out as to whether those latest shocks will pass the 5K miles test.
All the others save perhaps the original shocks made prior to Dec. 05, 2005 will not as we all know!

The alternative in one of those coil-over set ups which are also too much dinero and I would think that there are few suspension mechanics that would know how to set those coil-overs up properly.

:amen:

This post has been edited by snaglepus: Jul 27 2008, 10:27 AM