[Lakes]

hi all, well my car is two years old now, and soon after i got it, rubber sponge like strip started to hang down from under the front of the car. i just left it as seems to be from between radiator and body. so prob to insulate noise.
a friend pointed it out yesturday. other people use it to knock Hyundai quality. me i don't care but wish it would just fall out go away. anyone else had this problem?

[Mutley]

Why don't you just remove it instead of waiting for it to break off?

[Lorian]

Several owners have reported this small issue. There are a number of threads on this foam strip from some time ago.

Some people have removed it and not reported any side effects. At least one dealer thought it was just packing, but I think it's there by design. I'd push it back and glue it with some temperature resistant glue.

[bumpkin]

The half of mine which fell down is now in the spare wheel well, just in case I ever decide to use Lorians suggestion, meantime the car is fine..............

Go on Lakes, get down on yer hands and knees and rip the thing off, you'll feel better for it mate

[agentr31]

its just there to help more air go through the radiator and intercooler... it seriously doesnt do much just rip it off

[Lakes]

well i put the car up on ramps so could look under it easier . and after two years 60,000k of hanging there, that spong?? strip of foam had just about given up, came away without a fight. it was never glued there in first place. so don't think its a good idea to glue it in place. so its been removed never to be replaced!
but the car still runs sweet, seems to like the ELF synthetic oil it has in motor now. & likes Caltex Vortex Diesel too was $1.34.9 per liter has gone up i n price about 5 or 6 cents per Litre in the past month.
how's the price of Diesel were you are?

[Lorian]

Mine came from the factory with some kind of glue. 6 months on and its not moved so far.

[MRH130]

Certainly when I was in the trade they weren't coming glued in. I think it's supposed to help keep the radiator stationary and, as Agentr31 said, to help guide air flow. I've seen a lot of i30s running around without it with no ill effects. I noticed Crystal's was sagging at one stage and just glued it in in a couple of spots. I wouldn't worry too much about it though.

Given that they were falling out fairly frequently they might have just made a running change at the factory and started gluing them. Whether or not it's an actual, useful component it doesn't look so great having pieces falling off!  

[beefturnmail]

Hi there,

The same thing has happened to my i30 after 10k.  I have asked the main dealer to refit it (once as part of a service and once after).  Fell down again both times.  Second time, part of the strip actually fell completely away from the car as I pulled into my drive on the way back from the garage.  The strip is now torn in two with half still left att atached to the car not sure if it was the garage who tore it off or  or not 

Took it back in today and the garage said they would try to order a spare.  They've just phoned me back and are saying that Hyundai don't issue spares, and are now suggesting I bring it back in so they can remove the bumper to have a proper look at it.  They said it'd be covered under warranty, but this all seems a bit overkill and I'm getting slightly fed up of going back and forth to the garage - has anyone else tried to get their dealer to replace it?

[Shambles]

... They've just phoned me back and are saying that Hyundai don't issue spares...

I'm not surprised at that. Why would Hyundai carry/issue spares for a transportation item, which is what I still think it is. Mine fell off quite some time ago. It cannot possible be part of the engine technology. Check other threads on the subject, then come back and agree with me

..bring it back in so they can remove the bumper ...

the bumper?

[beefturnmail]

Hi Shambles,

Thanks for the reply.  I did check the other threads and saw that some people were saying that it was just packing foam, but also one who seemed to have an e-mail from Hyundai to say that it was not, but designed to distribute air flow.

I don't disagree with you as such - I'm not an expert on cars and don't really know what it is.  It does seem to have been attached by double-sided sticky tape, so I'm not really sure why it would have been there if it wasn't serving some purpose however.

The garage seemed to be saying to me it would be covered under manufacturer's warranty, so I was just wondering if anyone else had had it done under this. 

And yes they said they would need to remove the bumper to have a look - This seems a bit overkill to me, but as I said I'm not an expert on cars....

[Shambles]

No problems mate..

Did you see the thread with an apparently "official" verdict here?

[beefturnmail]

Yes I saw that, which also had the e-mail from Hyundai.   Might it also be there to protect stones etc flying into the radiator or something?  I guess I'm worred that I'll have some issue with the radiator further down the line and will get the 'oh sorry your warranty is invalid as you should have got the bit of foam replaced'. 

[Shambles]

... 'oh sorry your warranty is invalid as you should have got the bit of foam replaced'. 

.. which would be impossible if it is a warranty item but cannot be replaced by Hyundai

Like I said... we're right, they're wrong

[eye30]

Before the garage do anything and for peace of mind and before they remove the bumper!!!!! have you thought about enquiring at another dealer just to see what they say.

[bumpkin]

Don't let them touch the bumper, there is absolutely NO reason to be anywhere near it!!!

PS Mine started to fall off at about 6 months, I pulled the half that was dangling off and the other half is still there, hasn't had any effect.

[Shambles]

I wonder if the garage think the foam is from inside the bumper? I seem to remember there is a hardened foam filling at the front.

[bumpkin]

If that is the case then search for another garage, the least they could have done so far is get down on their hands and knees and check where the foam is actually coming from

[Shambles]

Time to change the topic title I think, to reflect this issue ...

[Shambles]

I wonder if the garage think the foam is from inside the bumper? I seem to remember there is a hardened foam filling at the front.

After rereading the reported problem, it's been said that they replaced it twice, so they know it wasn't from the bumper, but gawd knows why they'd go anywhere near the bumper "to have a better look at it".

[Lorian]

Indeed, you dont need to even jack the car up to look at the foam, you can just stick your head under the radiator and see it. I assume mine is still there I haven't checked for a couple of months. I wouldn't loose any sleep over it though.

[beefturnmail]

Thanks all for comments.  I got my Dad to have a look at it as he has a fair bit of experience with cars.  He thinks maybe the foam strip is there to stop air flowing under the car interfering with air coming through the grill and radiator, which might have some benefit in very hot climates when travelling at speed on a long journeys, but probably not critical for typical UK conditions. On the advice of this and the comments on this forums, I think my decision is to get rid of it (the other half of it that is!) and not trust the garage to remove the bumper (they'll probably break something else in the process).

[eye30]

Put the foam in the boot so if something drastic happens and when the dealer is looking at under warranty and says the problem is because the foam is missing, you can produce it like a rabbit out of the hat!!! 

[bumpkin]

That's where mine is!!