Freeway vibration on new LX

[azcamper]

Recently purchased a Sedona LX and am having one problem. At freeway speeds (60 - 75 mph) it has some vibration which feels to me like it is coming from the drivers side rear of the vehicle. If I adjust the speed I can make it better or worse. I have had the vehicle into the dealer twice for this problem and both times they balanced all the tires. The service rep now assures me that all the tires are in "perfect" balance. He also said they test drove it and it is OK. The balancing improved the vibration some, but is still not to my satisfaction. I drove my daughter's '06 Sedona EX on the same stretch of freeway and it is very smooth compared to mine. I know it has different wheels and tires, but shouldn't make that big of difference? Has anybody else had this experience ?

[geolehman]

Just because a machine says the wheels are balanced does not mean they are not deformed. I have a bad rim on a new Kia ..... have not got around to making dealer exchange. If I did not have access to shop equipment I might be in same boat you are. Here is a post from Spectra board. My Sedona and other Spectra do not have issues with balance.

"Just purchased a 2006 Spectra new, did not get over 60 on the test drive. On way home had a slight shimmy at 65-70. Put all the tires on a new dynamic balance machine that uses lasers to 3-D image rims and tires (at my father-in-laws auto shop). One rim was ok, two were somewhat out of spec. One was bad enough that although could balance, the machine said was the equivalent of 2.5 Oz out at 65-70 mph (owing to harmonics) no matter what. Machine can be seen at:

John Bean - Automotive Wheel Service Equipment

Operator of machine can print out spec sheet which documents problems with rims / wheels. Plan to hand to Kia service tech and get wheel put on new rim.

Moved bad one to rear until I get Kia to exchange it. My Kia Spec5 16" alloys were near perfect. Plan on using those come spring.

George in Wisconsin."

[azcamper]

I plan to contact my KIA service rep tomorrow and schedule another appointment concerning this problem. Hopefully they will do something to correct it this time.

[azcamper]

After leaving several messages on my service advisor's voice mail with no replies concerning this problem, I contacted KIA customer relations who put me in contact with the dealership service manager. He scheduled another appointment and took the vehicle to a local tire shop that has better equipment for balancing tires. They did a "road force" test and determined that two of the wheel/tires were out of spec. The worst one was the left rear, which is the one I suspected to be causing the vibration. They did a "phase match" on all the wheels/tires which brought the readings all within the specification. I test drove it yesterday and it was much improved. I plan a long road trip next week, which should determine if the problem is resolved to my satisfaction.

[geolehman]

Happy you seem to have your problem fixed. Kia needs to look at its wheel suppliers. Were your bad wheels steel or alloys? Was the problem (wheel or tire) and (balance or runout)?

The machine I used suggests a prefered orientation of tire on wheel, this must be what your mechanic called "phase matching". A shame that a relatively cheap and simple part of the vehicle casts a cloud over an otherwise fine vehicle. Good Luck, George in Wisconsin.