I have a 2007 Santa Fe Limited with 2WD. Only 10,500 miles on it. I am experiencing a smallvibration problem at highway speeds. There is a fast slight vibration coming thru the seat. Other Passengers can feel it too.My wife says it is not that bad, but my boy and I canfeel it. A new car should ride like a dream. I had the wheels rotated and balanced and the tech told me the tires balanced up fine.

What is causing this???? It is so anoying that I want to trade the vehicle in if I can't fix it. Can anyone please give me some ideas as what it might be. Thestreering wheel is NOT shaking.


I love this Santa Febut I am getting so anoyed when taking it on long trips on the highway. It almost feels like something is holding it back andcausingthe slight vibration. I threw the car in Neutralatthe hwy speed and I still felt the problem. Wouldthis eliminate the trany as a problem?


Not sure where to go from here,I did not have a dealer look at it yet.In town it drives smooth assilk. Itis almostas the wind is doing this???

Today we had the vehicle loaded up with 5 people. I notice it more with people in the vehicle.Sometimes by myself, Ido not notice this problem.

HELP , I love our Santa Fe !!

Thank you
Randy

 

I don't believe the problem is associated so much with the vehicle as the tyres.
I would suggest the following.
1. If the tyre has a tread pattern made of small squares these can wear flat on top and cause a rumbling vibration and as the wear gets worse a roaring noise if this is the case it may be your tyre pressures are wrong and the wear in the tyre will only get worse check the tyre by running your hand around it both directions ifok itwillfeel smooth if your hand feels waves or sharp edges in one direction the tyre is the problem.
2. one of the tyres may have an incorrectly laid belt during manufacture would suggest you change tyres about with the spare to see if there is an improvement.

Flat spots called scolping are caused by incorrect tyre pressures, tyres not suitable for the car, cheap and nasty tyres, turning the steering wheel while stationary.

Try that

White santafe 711

 

*Update*

Still fighting with the dealership. Got Hyundai involved now. They've redone the RF Balance and "the tires are within specs". Still have the vibration at highway speeds. Hyundai wants the regional service manager to drive the vehicle, because the idiots at the dealership claim there is no vibration. Kinda hard to feel the vibration in the vehicle if your driving it on a bumpy road (I-270 where the dealership is located is horrible).

Starting to get really pissed off.....

 

"Within specs" usually means 60 mph or less. I have never known a dealer to talk to me about vibrations above 65 mph. They just tell me to drive slower so I end up going to a tire shop and paying them to do a high-speed balance. Good luck and let us know how that turns out.

FWIW, if you look at the plate inside the door it tells you what pressure to set the tires at when cold. That's it. Period. I run them at that number and never deviate for comfort, mileage, etc. That's the number the engineers came up with and they should know what they are doing. I've never had a car delivered with the proper tire pressure so I always end up adjusting it first thing when I get home.

 

From my dealers service receipt:

Cust states between 50-60 there is a vibration in the seat, floor and steering wheel. First course of action - road force balance all four wheels. Roadtest found vibration still there. Inspected and found imprperly balnced drive shaft. Replaced drive shaft and rotation fixed.

 

I purchased a 2008 Santa Fe in January, it had the same vibration problems, after 4 times to the dealer, they have changed an axil, changed all 4 tires, road forced balanced all 4 tires and I still have a slight vibration problem at highway speeds. I asked the service manager what happens when the tires wear and the vibration comes back, he told me, twice, once on the phone, and again in front of my wife, 'you will have to buy new tires, have them matched up to the wheels and have them road forced balanced'! Even my wife said "what the hell does that mean"? Five other people at the dealership in PA have the same problem, we spoke to a woman tonight that was offered a new Santa Fe, she said everyone she drove had the same problem! Buyers beware, there's something rotten in Denmark!

 

This problem keeps coming up. I think it's all about the garbage OEM tires you bought with it. Buy some nice tires from tirerack.com. Search this website, you'll see what I mean.

 

Upon reflection, it occurs to me that a lot of these problems were probably caused by vehicles sitting on the lot for too long in one position. You say this was a 2008 bought in January? Well that means it sat on the lot for a long time and probably "flat spotted" the tires.

 

Thanks for your response, first let me say I’m not on here to Hyundai bash, my daughter owned an Accent and my wife drives a Sonata (one of the best cars we ever owned).

Your statement is the same as the Dealerships’ party line. The cars sat at the port too long, developed flat spots. My response “What port, these cars are made in Alabama”? Now I’m told, because the Reps had my car for 2 weeks and put on over 200 miles they now realize (because of me) a lot of Santa fe’s shipped to East Coast dealers had a bad bunch of tires, but the point is moot, all tires have been replaced, Road forced balanced twice and the highway vibration is still there.

I’m 55 years old, owned lots of cars, and this isn’t an unbalanced tire, I’m familiar with critical speeds, vibrates at 50, pass thru vibration at 60-65. This is a constant low frequency vibration, starting about 55 and never goes away at any speed, no steering wheel shimmy, you just feel in your body, even thru the gas pedal, the smoother the road the more evident. My passengers feel it too. The wheels may have exacerbated the problem, but I don’t believe they were the cause, and thanks again for your reponse.

 

I have to respectfully disagree. First of all, remember that you car is a 2008 model, that would mean it was manufactured sometime before August 2008, as the 2009s come out in September, right? So look for the sticker on your vehicle and figure out when your car was made. That means it was sitting around on those tires all that time. And tires lose air just sitting there, so that means increased likelihood of a flat spot as time goes on.

Then there is the problem of who paid to replace those tires the first time they changed them. I think your vehicle sat on the dealer lot, not at some port someplace. I assume you are saying they replaced them under warranty. But if the dealer thinks they were bad from flat spots, that's not HMC's problem, that's the dealers fault. HMC won't refund the dealer for that. That's the dealer's problem to pay for that. So the question is: If the dealer paid for the new tires, where did they get them from? Another Santa Fe? Possibly. With the same problem. They were OEM tires, right? I'll bet the dealers are looking for any way out of this other than buying new tires right now in this bad economy. Hmmm...

Ok, so let's assume the tires are good anyhow. The other possibilities are wheels out of balance (not tires, rims), or in the off chance, there might be some problem with the axle balance (possible but highly unlikely).

BTW, the "flat spot" condition is referred to as RFV (radial force variation), or "tire assembly variation". There is a technical service bulletin for it, #08-SS-003. There is no TSB for axles out of balance, or wheels out of balance, but it's not impossible.

I think the only way you are going to know for sure is if you go out and buy some new tires yourself. Maybe you can get the dealer to give you some more "new" tires? Anyway, good luck with it, I hope you don't get stuck with the bill. Let us know how it works out.