[anandpadhye]

Originally Posted by AVR

Geolandars are good tyres. I have them on my Safari for the last 40K and not a puncture. No issues whatsoever and they'll give immense confidence on the highway even if it rains.

That's good to hear.
How about noise?

Originally Posted by AVR

I currently have 235/70R16 on the Tucson and those are a pain. Need to shift to a smaller size soon.

Wow! That's like throwing all the tyre upsizing rules into the trash-can. The comfort must have gone quite up I would assume, but how about handling?

Yes, if we decide to use the rules, then 235/60R16 and 255/55R16 are good upsizing options.

235/60R16 was not avaliable in Yokohama and Pirellies were way too expensive, more than 10K each.

255/55R16 are available only in the broshures.

One shop was offering me 215/70R16 - the default OEM size of Mitsu outlander. They had the Yokohama's (some H-T pattern) for @Rs.7900 each. They said it would be very quiet tyres (being H-T) and increase the cushion. I decided against it as the OD increase would have been more than 3% I think.

Also, somewhere in the back of my mind, I had this logic that I should order the default OEM size for the Tucson so that the world would know that there are still customers out there who need this size. He he he...

BTW, 235/70R16 is the national SUV size right (Scorpio/Safari)? So how much did they cost? I belive this size will be economical because of volumes?

[AVR]

Originally Posted by anandpadhye

That's good to hear.
How about noise?

Not an issue at all. Tyre noise is an overrated issue. In the cities you rarely get to hear them with all the honking and on a highway you'll never be cruising in neutral with your windows rolled down to be able to hear tyre noise that is loud. Yes, you'll hear a bit of noise on the Elanzos vis-a-vis the Geolandars but nothing earth-shattering.

Originally Posted by anandpadhye

Wow! That's like throwing all the tyre upsizing rules into the trash-can. The comfort must have gone quite up I would assume, but how about handling?

Its not a smart thing to do frankly and I know that. Just that the car is always on the move and we are holding back on any major expenses on that car for a few months. I think I would move back to stock anyday on the Tucson. These big tyres foul with pretty much anything that's around them in the wheel-well and they are useless JK Elanzos which keep getting punctured every month! Just a remnant from the previous owner's cost-cutting exercise.

Originally Posted by anandpadhye

BTW, 235/70R16 is the national SUV size right (Scorpio/Safari)? So how much did they cost? I belive this size will be economical because of volumes?

Yes, it's the national SUV size and probably the reason why they are cheap and were on the Tucson when I bought it. These could be anywhere in the 5.5-7.5K range of pricing.

[anandpadhye]

N. Mehta Tyres did this when they changed the 4 tyres of my Tucson.
They have hydraulic jacks and these are apparantly not big enough to lift the Tucson at the factory recommended jacking points (there are 4 jacking points on the side panels). So they put the jacks below the suspension lower arms and lifted the vehicle.

I was shocked and protested, and forced them to jack up at the recommened points. The reluctantly did that for the front tyres. For the rear, they showed me their helplessness - their jacks simply could not raise the Tuc to the required height if jacked up at the recommened rear points so they had to place them below the lower arms!

Is this recommended? Can a vehicle be jacked up at the suspension lower arms??? Won't it damage the lower arm????

Why can't these shops have good enough jacks?

I will never go to N. Mehta again for any SUV!
They are good only for procurring the tyres.

[Digital Vampire]

Originally Posted by anandpadhye

They have hydraulic jacks and these are apparantly not big enough to lift the Tucson at the factory recommended jacking points (there are 4 jacking points on the side panels). So they put the jacks below the suspension lower arms and lifted the vehicle.

This is a problem in many small outfits in Bangalore as well. Almost always I stay with the vehicle during such jobs and ensure that the vehicle lift points are the ones they use.

Originally Posted by anandpadhye

Is this recommended? Can a vehicle be jacked up at the suspension lower arms??? Won't it damage the lower arm????

Even I'd like to hear some expert view on this.
I've asked Hyundai SA about this and the purely logical answer was the vehicle was designed to be hoisted on the specified points ONLY.

[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by anandpadhye

...they put the jacks below the suspension lower arms and lifted the vehicle.
...they had to place them below the lower arms!

Is this recommended? Can a vehicle be jacked up at the suspension lower arms??? Won't it damage the lower arm????

Jacking up cars with the lift point below the suspension components is not harmful or detrimental to any of the components, unless the vehicle slips off the jack. Some lower arms are not shaped flat to allow a stable lift, but some are - it'll depend on whether the point they jacked up the car from is flat or round (round surface increases chances of slippage of the car off the jack), and whether the other wheels were chocked properly.

In fact, long-travel suspensions like in an SUV may warrant lifting up by the suspension component and not the body, because the suspension opens up a lot when lifting through a body jack point, and it takes an eternity to get that wheel off the ground.

Take a look at this pic, where the jack is placed below the differential housing.

(From How to jack up a car safely).

[anandpadhye]

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

Jacking up cars with the lift point below the suspension components is not harmful or detrimental to any of the components, unless the vehicle slips off the jack. Some lower arms are not shaped flat to allow a stable lift, but some are - it'll depend on whether the point they jacked up the car from is flat or round (round surface increases chances of slippage of the car off the jack), and whether the other wheels were chocked properly.

In fact, long-travel suspensions like in an SUV may warrant lifting up by the suspension component and not the body, because the suspension opens up a lot when lifting through a body jack point, and it takes an eternity to get that wheel off the ground.

Take a look at this pic, where the jack is placed below the differential housing.


(From How to jack up a car safely).

Thanks. Good to hear.

Actually, after coming back from N. Mehta, I was searching the web and found this URL as well, but at N. Mehta they actually jacked up the lower arm, e.g. the linkage you see to the right of the differencial going to the wheel. As you can see, it is not 100% horizontal, it is sloping and hence, the edge of top flat resting point of the jack seemed to be actually making the first contact and taking the load, not good, I thought.

I have found other shops that have bigger jacks that can lift the Tucson at the recommened points (they seem to be able to lift more than the suspension can travel), but they do not have good tyres, definately not the 215/65R16 specs.

BTW, why is it safe to lift at the rear diff? Would it not put stress on the transmission/drive shaft, etc?

[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by anandpadhye

BTW, why is it safe to lift at the rear diff? Would it not put stress on the transmission/drive shaft, etc?

The diff can be either mounted to the body/chassis firmly, and run wheels on an independent suspension through driveshafts, or it could be part of the unsprung weight and have differential tubes to drive the wheels through axles.

Either case, it is a solid piece of steel, and is tough enought not to be damaged by the car's weight (perhaps 1 tonne at each end max.) resting on it. There's no sudden impact happening when lifting the car (unless, as I said before, the car slips off the jack), just gradual transfer of weight.

[anandpadhye]

I have been experiencing this issue off late (not sure if it cropped up lately or has been there for long).

If the Tucson is unused for more than 3 days or so, when I start it, I experience severe retardation when I lift my foot off the Accelrator. It does not stall, but the retrdation is severe - I can feel the jerk the moment I take my right foot off the A-pedal. This is prominant in first and second gear and happens only for first 10km or so. The problem is not seen overnight (i.e. every morning starts) if Tucson is used every day or even once in two days!

What is it?
Any clue?

[shankar.balan]

Fuel lead?
Diesel pump?
perhaps you might need to also check the battery out?

this type of retardation you describe happened a few times to me in my Bolero some years back but that used to also stall sometimes unlike yours - almost like all the power systems were zilched on power.
On checking it out after this having happened 3-4 times, I found that it was because the battery had weakened terribly due to age. I had 2 cars then and sometimes used to NOT use my Bolero for several days on end. I changed the battery and everything was back to normal.

I dont know if this could be the cause in your case but it may be worth checking out.

Originally Posted by anandpadhye

I have been experiencing this issue off late (not sure if it cropped up lately or has been there for long).

If the Tucson is unused for more than 3 days or so, when I start it, I experience severe retardation when I lift my foot off the Accelrator. It does not stall, but the retrdation is severe - I can feel the jerk the moment I take my right foot off the A-pedal. This is prominant in first and second gear and happens only for first 10km or so. The problem is not seen overnight (i.e. every morning starts) if Tucson is used every day or even once in two days!

What is it?
Any clue?

[anandpadhye]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

Fuel lead?
Diesel pump?
perhaps you might need to also check the battery out?

OK, sure, will check. Thanks for the inputs.

Actually, battery is new - changed just last yes, but who knows may be it's draining...? But I remember when my old battery was on it's last legs and even died once while waiting on a red signal, we jump started the Tuc and still there was no retardation even through battery was fully discharged!

My gut feeling is there is something else going on, and I need to find asap...

[shankar.balan]

sludge in the fuel tank causing blockages?
cant really think of anything else which could cause this kind of retardation.

Originally Posted by anandpadhye

OK, sure, will check. Thanks for the inputs.

Actually, battery is new - changed just last yes, but who knows may be it's draining...? But I remember when my old battery was on it's last legs and even died once while waiting on a red signal, we jump started the Tuc and still there was no retardation even through battery was fully discharged!

My gut feeling is there is something else going on, and I need to find asap...

[Guna]

Originally Posted by anandpadhye

OK, sure, will check. Thanks for the inputs.

Actually, battery is new - changed just last yes, but who knows may be it's draining...? But I remember when my old battery was on it's last legs and even died once while waiting on a red signal, we jump started the Tuc and still there was no retardation even through battery was fully discharged!

My gut feeling is there is something else going on, and I need to find asap...

Once the engine is cranked, it is on is own and will not be relaying on the battery (in fact the battery will be getting charged). So, the retardation is unlikely due to weak battery.

[Aroy]

Originally Posted by Guna

Once the engine is cranked, it is on is own and will not be relaying on the battery (in fact the battery will be getting charged). So, the retardation is unlikely due to weak battery.

But the ECU can malfunction due to low voltage. In case the injectors are electrically operated, low voltage can cause erratic fuel feed, exhibiting all the symptoms of fuel starvation.

[shankar.balan]

yes this ispossible.
if the ECU does malfunction then the fuel feed can drop and the car can behave almost as if it is under very heavy braking, grinding and scraping to a a halt and with its wheels almost locking because it is being starved for fuel.

Originally Posted by Aroy

But the ECU can malfunction due to low voltage. In case the injectors are electrically operated, low voltage can cause erratic fuel feed, exhibiting all the symptoms of fuel starvation.

[Guna]

Originally Posted by Aroy

But the ECU can malfunction due to low voltage. In case the injectors are electrically operated, low voltage can cause erratic fuel feed, exhibiting all the symptoms of fuel starvation.

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

yes this ispossible.
if the ECU does malfunction then the fuel feed can drop and the car can behave almost as if it is under very heavy braking, grinding and scraping to a a halt and with its wheels almost locking because it is being starved for fuel.

But once the engine is started the electric power is continuously generated by the alternator. That is why even a car with dead battery, once stated (by push or jump starting) never stalls.