"Clanking" noise on left only turns

I own a 2005 Hyundai Tiburon with 15k. I am hearing a "clanking" sound on
slow speed left only turns. This noise occurs when the wheel is 1/3 - 1/4 the
way cocked left and happens in both drive and reverse. The noise is sporadic
and doesn't seem to pattern temperature, moisture, etc... It is under
warranty and the dealership has given up. Their best explanation it that
thereis an "over-turn stopper" that is rubbing due to me over-turning. This
can be the case since I'm exhibiting this noise at non-full left turn and
nothing on right turns. Any ideas what to do next?

-Craig

 

I don't have much idea what the noise is, but I'd like to know whether the
dealer ever duplicated the noise.

 

I believe no.... I explained that the tech should take my car for a ride and
make a u-turn to hear what I hear. I believe only a visual inspection of
front suspension parts was done both times I had the car in the shop. It
feels like a loose linkage to me: pin-joint, contol arm, tie-rod, etc....

It really sucks that I bought a new car 10 months ago with the longest
warranty offered and the dealership all ready uses the loop-hole with appling

 

correction:

It really sucks that I bought a new car 10 months ago with the longest
warranty offered and the dealership all ready uses the "loop-hole" repling:
That clanking noise you are hearing on left turns is "normal" operation and
therefore we can't warrenty something that isn't broken.

 

If they've never duplicated the noise, I'm puzzled by the statement that
it's "normal." If they haven't yet duplicated the noise then your first
step should be to have a technician ride with you while you duplicate the
noise for them. This, of course, requires you to be able to make the
noise occur.

Additionally, if the noise is indeed normal, it should occur on an
identical vehicle. Presumably, the dealer will have a new one there that
can be driven. Also, if they can't tell you what is causing the noise and
cannot present a new vehicle making the same noise, then the question is
how they determined the noise was normal without that information.

 

I have to agree about the value of the warranty. I'm beginning to get
really discouraged by some of the things I'm reading about people's
experiences with warranty work. It seems there are a lot of legitimate
sounding claims getting shoved off to "Hyundai is aware of it, no fix
announced", or "yeah, that's the way they are". I hope this is just a bump
in the road and Hyundai gets up to speed with some of these things. They've
worked hard to develop a good name and it takes so little to destroy that.

 

That's assuming that the dealer is being honest when they make such
statements. One thing that's very obvious from the stories I've seen
about service is that many dealers will do almost anything to avoid
warranty work. Hyundai corporate is very consumer oriented, but they're
getting a bad wrap due to the behavior of unscrupulous dealers. If a
dealer blows you off or refuses to do work under warranty, the first
thing you should do is contact Hyundai directly.

 

You have a pretty good point here Brian. There have been a few posts here
which were warranty issues that Hyundai backed but the dealers seemed to
balked at initially - or so it seems. This is usenet, of course. It does
make on wonder why dealers would not want to do the warranty work - hell
they get paid by Hyundai to do the work... right?

 

It depends on how they get paid. I know that some domestic brands used
to, and maybe still do, pay their dealers a flat rate for various
warranty repairs. The trouble is that flat rates are typically
determined using skilled mechanics, all tools right handy and a clean
and rust-free vehicle. Performing the same repair on a car that has
seen 50,000 miles of road salt in NY or PA, often takes a lot more time
than the flat rate allows. Thus the dealer may actually lose money on
warranty repairs. Losing money is a strong incentive to shy away from
warranty work!


Matt

 

Well... from the for what it's worth department...

I don't really know how dealer compensation works these days, but my
neighbor works at the local Chevy dealership as a lead mechanic. That
dealership loves warranty work based on the compensation they get from GM.
Now... I have no idea what's behind all of that. I don't know if it's
because rates are now better than they might have been in the past, or if
the book pays such that the mechanic can do way better than the book (as is
usually the case for book rates on Big 3 cars), or what. Maybe, as you
allude, the Hyundai rate isn't as attractive. Even so, you'd expect that
warranty work would be warranty work. Hyundai has been here long enough
that if warranty work was not being done properly they'd have gotten major
publicity by now.

 

the question is for me, why do they refuse??
they get paid to do the repairs...

 

I've heard that Hyundai's dealer reimbursement is pretty good, but I
would imagine that it's still not as profitable as getting paid their
hourly rate plus the profit on parts. I also suspect that there's a
significant mindset against doing warranty work base on perceived
differences in profit that may not be real. Perhaps it's a legacy from
days when dealers were not well treated by manufacturers. Also, many
dealerships are multi-line, so if one manufacturers skimps on warranty
work compensation, the dealership's policy/attitude is likely to be the
same for all of that dealer's lines.