[DeathRattle]

Had an issue with the steering since day 1.
Very vague, impossible to hold a straight line.
Had to fight the steering constantly not to side swipe others.
Had a real alignment done by a place I trust 110%, not really any better.
At the 1,000 k service mentioned this and several other problems to indooroopilly hyundai.
Basically they couldn't care less if I shoved a fire cracker up their you know what.

Took it to moorooka hyundai today, found the steering rack to have to much free play.
This was reset to the correct tension, Drives like an absolute champion now.

Interesting tidbit.
There are three levels of power assistance, Australia is set to 'medium'.
Europe is set to 'high'.
This is controlled by the ecu firmware as intended for whichever country, so even though they can change it, it would probably contravene ADR regs to do so.
Thus they 'won't' change it.
But they can.
Interesting yes..........

Nuaghty I'pilly  

[EymaTeapot]

Hi DeathRattle,

Which dealer did you purchase the i30 from.
I bet i know which one you would buy from next time.
This is why customer service is so important. I know some dealers are only interested in the sale, but if you can find one that looks after their customers, than it good to show loyalty to them.

[Dazzler]

Good story Deathrattle... We like happy endings  

[eye30]

I had something similar when I first bought mine.

It tended to steer to the centre of the road. Initially put it down to the camber on the road but happened on various road surfaces.

Called into dealers and hey presto after 5 minutes mechanic returned and said tracking had been altered via ECU, no ramps, no mirrors, no wrenches, just by altering the setting electronoically.

So is this the end of conventional tracking adjustments?

[Shambles]

Hey eye30 & DeathRattle. I don't know whether to be worried or not by these trends.

[donc]

Called into dealers and hey presto after 5 minutes mechanic returned and said tracking had been altered via ECU, no ramps, no mirrors, no wrenches, just by altering the setting electronoically.
So is this the end of conventional tracking adjustments?

That's interesting - anyone have any more info on this? (or know where I could do some research?)

You know, my i30 tends to pull a little to the left and has done ever since I got it. I haven't really thought to much about ti as every other car I have driven seems to have done the same. Maybe on the next service I'll mention it anyway just to see what they say.

[DeathRattle]

Bought it from I'pilly.
I like the looks of the sonata deisel, if I had the money I'd get it from m'ooka.
Actually, I can afford it.
I did like my first sonata (94).
Hmmmm, more debt.

Maybe there's two (or more) adjustments for the steering.
When I had the wheel alignment done, it was out a bit, this was corrected (front and rear is adjustable).

Would love to see what's doable now that almost everything is computer controlled.

Hey eye30 & DeathRattle. I don't know whether to be worried or not by these trends.

I wouldn't be.

You know, my i30 tends to pull a little to the left and has done ever since I got it. I haven't really thought to much about ti as every other car I have driven seems to have done the same. Maybe on the next service I'll mention it anyway just to see what they say.

Pulling to the left isn't a biggy, could be the camber on the road.
Have had someone try to tell me that it's the cars design so if you let go of the wheel (fall asleep/stroke out) you don't have a head on.
Yeah right.
Whenever I've had a car setup properly some people don't like driving it.
To honest and accurate for them. Me, I want it to go where I point it.

An outside* aligner is going to do it right.
Manufacturer will only normally make sure it's "within spec" and leave it at that.
These specs can be so bloody loose I'd class them as dangerous.

* I do NOT class bridgestone/bob jane etc as good. Far from it, bleaych.
Try and find a small independent.
If around brisbane go to 'Cook's tyres' at sumner park.
Costs about $100, but he takes a full hour and will adjust things that aren't even spossed to be adjustable.

[OiOiOi30]

Had an issue with the steering since day 1.
Very vague, impossible to hold a straight line.


There are three levels of power assistance, Australia is set to 'medium'.
Europe is set to 'high'.
This is controlled by the ecu firmware as intended for whichever country, so even though they can change it, it would probably contravene ADR regs to do so.
Thus they 'won't' change it.
But they can.

Same issue here; "since day 1, Very vague, impossible to hold a straight line", spoke to Service and they investigated and changed the settings (see attachment). Interested in your tidbit, will talk to them next week and verify which setting mine was changed from-to i.e. was it set from light to medium or medium to heavy. Will post if I've anything more concrete.

Cheers[/color]

[eye30]

I had my steering altered after having the car 2 weeks as I had "light wander"

see posting 3 above.
Good result with minimum fuss

Adjusted tracking electronically!!!

[MRH130]

I have seen one or two racks in newish i30s and Elantras with a bit too much play in them, certainly if your car handles poorly and a wheel alignment doesn't fix it I would take it to the dealer and get it checked out.

The issue of weighting and steering feel is something Hyundai became aware of when the HD/FD Elantra/i30 came out. The root of the issue is the fact that these cars have electric power steering rather than the traditional hydraulic power steering, where the pump runs directly off the car's engine.

The electric power steering is, like so many things these days, computer controlled, so software and settings play a big part in how it feels. The engineers try to make the car feel good in every situation, but sometimes they fail and the car feels unusual, especially if you are used to hydraulic power steering. It can result in a feeling of vagueness, excessive lightness, excessive heaviness if you move the wheel very suddenly, or uneven steering feel in different circumstances.

When the HD Elantra came out in Australia, the software was pretty ordinary, I drove one of the first ones and it was ridiculously light, and felt vague until cornering hard when it became heavy and felt like the car was "torque steering" even with no throttle applied. They quickly brought out new software for the EPS system, which massively improved it. The new software can be applied to the old cars, and I would suspect that this is what has happened for many of the people who have posted to this thread. New software is always coming out for various systems in the cars, and that is just another one. They have it pretty right now IMHO so you probably won't notice a huge difference if you get the newest software uploaded, unless your car is 3 or 4 years old and has never had a reflash.

Updating the car's software is supposed to be part of a dealer service, although many don't do it. It's worth making sure they do, then you have the benefit of the latest software that the brand newies on the lot have in them!

These vehicles still need a mechanical wheel alignment on a proper aligning machine. As noted the settings on the EPS make a huge difference to how the car feels, but they do not change the actual alignment of the steering and suspension. Hope that helps!

[OiOiOi30]

These vehicles still need a mechanical wheel alignment on a proper aligning machine. As noted the settings on the EPS make a huge difference to how the car feels, but they do not change the actual alignment of the steering and suspension. Hope that helps!

Agreed, I got an appreciation for how the electric-power steering works from this article: http://autospeed.com/cms/A_110661/article.html?popularArticle and 'adjusting" settings from:  http://autospeed.com/A_110778/cms/article.html.

Looks like it is worth doing a wheel alignment as soon as the car is delivered. I have posted the official reccomended and apparently "ex-factory" settings (according to Sinclair Hyundai) in Technical Data (https://www.i30ownersclub.com/forum/index.php/topic,2355.0.html) as well as the result of a quick check of toe-in after 1000kms in an attachment here (https://www.i30ownersclub.com/forum/index.php/topic,2373.0.html).

If you look at the bottom of the attachment, just below the "Alignment" heading you can see that my Static Front Toe is 0 mm (neutral toe) which matches the Hyundai reccommended (F)0°±0.2°mm (0±0.079in.) and the Static Rear is +3 mm (toe-out) which is well outside the (R)0.1±0.2°mm (0.039±0.079in (toe-out) Hyundai figures and potentially adding to the "twitchiness" or vagueness in centreline steering.

I have spoken to Sinclair about this but their response was that I could be out by having hit a "pothole" (hmmm, I thought it was nice buck-pass guys!). Anyway, I will be getting a wheel alignment soon as I am replacing my standard wheels with alloys and better tyres and have varied my tyre pressures to compensate for the toe-out in the meantime.

All of this assumes I've read the setting figures correctly, I'll post more on all this after I get the Alignment if I can add something worthwhile. Anyone else with this experience?

Cheers

[Lakes]

thanks OIOIOI, were will you have the alinement done? i think it can be hard to find a good wheel alinement . and in the end the equipment and the opperator are very important.

[OiOiOi30]

My pleasure Lakes. I will be trying Abel Auto Repair in Abel st. Penrith http://abelauto.adric.telligence.net.au/go/home as they seemed to be thorough in their approach; static  wheel alignment, followed by a check with single driver onboard followed by a test drive, but I didn't get into costs then. They are Repco and NRMA approved.

Found them when I was looking for local Platetronic tester, when I explained I was after base data on the car and that I was unhappy with the steering they did the first quick test for free. They were also happy to discuss the findings and various options for the future (You've seen some of all this this in my Technical Data posts), but were too busy for more as they were preparing 2 cars for today's Bathurst 12hr enduro.

I'll add more on the Wheel Alignment in a couple of weeks, looks like I'm starting on a "project" with all this and will publish as I go along. Your thoughts?

Cheers

[Dazzler]

I'll add more on the Wheel Alignment in a couple of weeks, looks like I'm starting on a "project" with all this and will publish as I go along.

Cheers

Great work OiOiOi30,

I'm not into the technical stuff but a lot of our members are... I'm sure they will appreciate your efforts and sharing..

[Pikapolonica]

Does anyone else find that the steering kinda of locks when turning the wheel straight?  Sounds strange, but I notice this when stuck in traffic going slow. 

Does anyone else find that the steering kinda of locks when turning the wheel straight?  Sounds strange, but I notice this when stuck in traffic going slow. 

Yes.  The electric input is kinda weird.  If you wobble the wheel very slightly left and right when stopped you will feel it come on and off almost like a switch such that the wheel alternates between light and heavy but without any consistency.  It is hard to describe.

I amuse myself with it when bored at the lights.

[Pikapolonica]

Yeah that's when I do it and then see how straight I can go...though I tend to veer to one side...left I think.  I was doing that yesterday when I was parked on the Western Ring Road.

[2i30s]

i picked my cr up on a thursday  an 200kms later on saturday had rims and tyres fitted and alighnment was out by 8mm on front and 5mm on rear,they obviously arnt to fussy in factory.  steve.