Problem: Pulling to the right

Narvo · 01-17-2008, 07:09 AM

Since there are a more and more forum members complaining about their Rondo pulling to the right I think its deserves it's own thread. Also, any Rondo owner that is having this problem and goes on the internet and google's it will likely find us and we will have new members.

To recap, I have been experiencing our Rondo pulling to the right since Day 1 of ownership. In hindsight, I wish I picked this up on the test drive but my mind was concentrating on other things. I wouldn't expect a new car to pull so I was not looking for it. The attempts to fix the pulling problem have been:

1st trip - check air pressure, rotate tires, check suspension components
2nd trip - check air pressure, balance tires, check suspension components

Before the 3rd time back to the dealer I purchased new winter tires and steel rims hoping that if it was a tire issue this would tell me. The softer winter tires exaggerated the pulling problem instead of helping it.

3rd trip - check air pressure, check suspension components, perform 2 wheel alignment, adjust toe specs. Not only is the Rondo still pulling but now my steering wheel is off center. Advised that camber and caster setting are fixed and not adjustable on the Rondo.

4th trip - tried another dealer, road test, check air pressure, check suspension components, performed 4 wheel alignment, found way off spec, adjusted to spec. Problem still not resolved.

5th trip - meeting with the regional parts and service manager on the first week of February.

6th trip - Met with regional rep. He agreed the Rondo was pulling. Took Rondo back to shop to put on alignment machine to get a reading. A head on the alignment machine was not reading and a reading could not be read. As of 3/24/2008 alignment machine still out of commission. It has been five months of ownership and 11,000 kms driven, no resolution yet.

7th trip - The Rondo was put on the alignment machine to get a reading of all 4 tires (4 wheel alignment). It was found out of spec (surprise!) and some adjustment was made. Rondo was road tested and pulled was still there. There is a service bulletin now out on this in Canada. The technician had to modify the hole where the strut assembly mets the steering knuckle to allow for a camber/caster adjustment. Pain staking task because they can only remove a very small amount at a time because too much and they would have to replace the parts. Once they remove some they have to reassemble the front end and take another alignment reading as so on. They did not have enough time on this trip to do it and it goes back to the dealer on April 1st and the Regional Rep is taking it himself. The Rondo also now has a rattle in the front right passenger side in the front end. They also want to put the factory OEM tires and rims on the vehicle before they attempt this and I am providing that to them.

8th trip - they modified the steering knuckle bolt hole where the strut is bolted to. This allowed for a slight adjustment to bring the right side to a slight negative setting. This counters the left side adjustment and it appears to have solved the problem. Still unsettled that I had to go through this much to get my car to drive as it should. At least it is solved now.

So far members who have complained about pulling to the right have been:

Narvo (me) - 2008 EX V6 7P (Manufacture date July 2007)
Chitti - 2007 LX V6 7P
Dmac93 - 2007 EX V6 5P
Winterpeg - 2008 EX V6 7P
Scotsman - 2007 EX V6 Luxury 7P (Manufacture date November 2007)
Cool Rondo - 2007 EX V6 7P
dmfoley - 2007 LX V6
str8ace - 2007 Rondo EX V6 5P
BernieD - 2007 EX V6
Isu - 2007 EX V6
datsunguy - 2007 EX V6 7P
riderprider - 2007 EX V6 (Manufacture date April 2007)
paholler - 2007 LX V6 (Manufacture date Jan 2007)
cjfin - 2007 EX V6
gojoshgo - 2007 I4 7P
rangav - 2007 I4 7P
OregonBruin - 2007 I4 5P

Notice that it is mostly V6 owners.

You can find discussion about this problem on these threads:

http://www.kia-forums.com/kia-carens...y-opinion.html

http://www.kia-forums.com/kia-carens...ull-right.html

http://www.kia-forums.com/kia-carens...ty-claims.html

I am posting this because I would have appreciated this information when I was looking at buying our Rondo. Not trying to be malicious, just providing relevant information to future purchasing decisions.

WARNING TO PROSPECTIVE RONDO OWNERS

If you are looking at buying a Rondo, especially the V6 models, test to see if it pulls to the right. If you purchase a Rondo and find out it does it is very difficult to get it resolved.

cmhj2000 · 01-17-2008, 07:46 AM

Good post.

I too appreciate info and feedback like this.

Once the 08 Rondos are more available here I'll be crawling all over them and test driving them to death.

I had a bad experience with an Optima, which was mostly due to an incompetent dealer. Regardless, one can't be too careful.

3kid2cat1dog · 01-17-2008, 08:36 AM

I think you guys should start documenting stuff like

manufacturing dates and have someone you trust take down the VINs. This way any KIA engineer larking around would be able to find out if it is a batch problem or if it is systemic... It would be handy if a recall is necessary as well...
Also note down all the repair that has been done to each car.
Get a bigger population of data, maybe cross post to other Rondo forums.

Remember people are happy to help if you have done your home work.

And maybe it is time to get a video on YouTube.

Good luck you guys KC

Narvo · 01-17-2008, 09:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 3kid2cat1dog

I think you guys should start documenting stuff like

manufacturing dates and have someone you trust take down the VINs. This way any KIA engineer larking around would be able to find out if it is a batch problem or if it is systemic... It would be handy if a recall is necessary as well...
Also note down all the repair that has been done to each car.
Get a bigger population of data, maybe cross post to other Rondo forums.

Remember people are happy to help if you have done your home work.

And maybe it is time to get a video on YouTube.

Good luck you guys KC

How do you get the manufacturing date?

Why "someone you trust" to take down VINs? I see no reason why we cannot post our VINs in this thread. Please elaborate.

I have done my homework as you suggested and I planned to use this thread for my cause.

Hopefully, the others will post what was done to date to attempt to correct this problem as I have. Dmac93 has not been here for some time.

I am not aware of other Rondo forums, can you post them here?

I don't have a video camera but maybe I can borrow one.

Thanks KC.

chitti1 · 01-17-2008, 09:09 AM

My case is very similar to Narvo,

I gave it dealer, who just checked the air pressure and said just 1-2 PSI air pressure less on right side wheel, so it may be because of that. But again they claim they did not see any pulling at all. Not sure if Rondo is clever enough identify Kia service guys behave well!!?

I talked to Service Adviser and he finally agreed to get alignment done, and they sent it to local Firestone dealer as dealer does not have alignment facility. But it did not seem to address the issue at all. It still pulls to right.

They took two days to get this thing done, and I hate driving around those rental cars. I did not call dealer again yet.

I feel it as if there is some constant angle (few degrees) wheels turn right from center and try to maintain that angle(not further increasing the angle anymore). but again your vehicle makes circles anyways even with constant angle.

Yes, let's track this thing and make KIA take responsibility for fixing this.

cmhj2000 · 01-17-2008, 09:47 AM

Here's a Rondo Forum. Kia Rondo - CarSpace Automotive Forums

OregonBruin · 01-17-2008, 09:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Narvo

How do you get the manufacturing date?

I don't know if this link works for any Kias outside of the USA but it does show the actual production date. Kia Parts VIN

3kid2cat1dog · 01-17-2008, 11:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Narvo

How do you get the manufacturing date?

Why "someone you trust" to take down VINs? I see no reason why we cannot post our VINs in this thread. Please elaborate.

I have done my homework as you suggested and I planned to use this thread for my cause.

Manufacturing dates: 2 places We are in Canada so we have a Vehicle Certification Label. It is on the driver side door where the tire pressure sticker is. Left hand side in the middle some were, it will have the month and year (my is 07/07). Did a quick look and I found another sticker on the driver side front bumper column thing... Find the battery. Then look straight down to the ground, left of the battery, you will find the rail that the bumper is bolted to. There is a white sticker with some bar codes on it. On my it has something call "BodyDate" I take it that is my Rondo's Birthday... (BTW it is July 27, 2007 if you want to send a card)

VIN: You can go to the dealer and get a car key cut by the VIN number. So In theory I could go up to your driveway and with a VIN cut key in hand, drive off. Now the KIA has an RFID chip in the key so you can't start it with a VIN cut key, but lets not test this one....

It is easy to ignore one person, but when you have a documented cluster, then it is a lot harder to ignore. And it does sounds like it might be isolated to V6... It is good for KIA too, if this is an isolated cluster, they fix your problem, they fix someone else as well.

<STRIKE>Will send pictures when I'm home.</STRIKE> Crappy camera can't take closeup worth beans Sorry guys... KC

conwelpic · 01-17-2008, 02:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 3kid2cat1dog

Manufacturing dates: 2 places We are in Canada so we have a Vehicle Certification Label. It is on the driver side door where the tire pressure sticker is. Left hand side in the middle some were, it will have the month and year (my is 07/07). Did a quick look and I found another sticker on the driver side front bumper column thing... Find the battery. Then look straight down to the ground, left of the battery, you will find the rail that the bumper is bolted to. There is a white sticker with some bar codes on it. On my it has something call "BodyDate" I take it that is my Rondo's Birthday... (BTW it is July 27, 2007 if you want to send a card)

Will send pictures when I'm home. KC

I found that sticker with the bar codes at the lower front frame when I checked over the car closely shortly after purchase - mine is August 24, 2007. It has a body number of six digits which are the last six digits of your VIN number, which is the vehicle production sequence.

Narvo - your digital camera will take video's, maybe send this new link you created to KIA Canada, to see what there reaction is.

Narvo · 01-17-2008, 02:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by conwelpic

Narvo - your digital camera will take video's, maybe send this new link you created to KIA Canada, to see what there reaction is.

It will but it's not very good quality. I am taking a copy of this thread to the regional rep on February 5th so I hope to get as much input from others before then.