I've had the same IDENTICAL problem on my Kia Sedona van since it was new in
2003.  I kept taking it back but they never could fix it.  Replaced tires
twice.  Did a tire load test.  Alignments galore.  The tires wear evenly and
I've had them replaced once after 30,000 miles.  Still wobbles at slow
speeds on the steering wheel.  This is from day one.  I just live with it
until I trade it in.  The Kia dealer is totally useless after taking it back
for oil changes and scheduled maintenance and complaining about the wobble
each time.

Tom

I've had several new tires on the car so an actualy tire problem is
becoming improbably. I've been told that it's a possible belt shift but on
6 tires on the same car.. how many times can you replace tires at a cost
and keep being told it's the belts.

We're talking about 4 brand new tires that have seen less than 5,000 km...
all recently re-balanced after the initial installation.

After the tie-rod ends were replaced a while back an alignment was done..
none of this work seemed to have any effect so i took it back and asked
they re-check the alignement... which they did and said was fine.

At that point the focus shifted to tires... the two rear tires were
getting old so at this point ok 4 new tires and a re-balancing it is...

Yes the problem did seem to go away but only for about 2-3 weeks at which
point the problem returns.

After visiting my dealer and another garage...no one can really give me an
answer and i get comments like "well there's not much else it can be"...
i've changed tires, tie rod ends, had multiple alignment and balancings
done.

I've been told that balancing would take care of any rim issue and that
changing rims would be pointless but i'm starting to get tired at throwing
money at a problem that isn't going away. So far it's getting close to
$1000 over the past 6 months or so.

That sounds like a bent wheel or a tires that's either worn unevenly or
improperly mounted.

That would be consistent with the low speed wobble.

That sounds like worn front ball joints or tie rod ends.

If the tie rod ends are worn, attempting to align the car is an exercise
in futility. No reputable shop would do it.

Are they wearing evenly? If the alignment is off, uneven wear will
result and cause the problem

If it's a wear problem, that wouldn't be surprising.

How do you drive the car? Aggressive cornering, wheelspinning
acceleration and hard stopping can all cause wear issues and/or internal
tire problems.

It sounds to me like the tires are the most likely culprit. If you had a
seriously bent wheel, you would feel the wobble no matter what. Jack up
the car and check to see if the tires hop or wobble when you spin them.
Look for uneven tread wear. If you see any of these, you've probably
found your culprit.

2002 Elantra with 180,000 km highway driving...

Here's the problem but my dealer and another garage have yet to solve the
problem. I'm getting tired of paying to try things without a solution in
sight...

- steering wheel wobbles at lower speeds
- at higher speeds it's a vibration
- sometimes pulls to the left sometimes slightly to the right.. sometimes
not at all.

Here's what's been tried so far:

- Tie rod ends needed changing (Possibly unrelated)
- Several allignments (thankfully i didn't have to pay for all of them)
- Several tire balancings
- 4 new tires.. problem went away for a few weeks but is back again
- Re-balance made no difference

I suggested the rims may be the problem but i've been told several times
that the balancing would sort that out... but balancing is really the fix
if it was only a high speed issue right?

Any ideas or suggestions?