Hyundai Repair: 2007 Hyundai Accent GS (2 door hatchback), hyundai accent, wheels and tires

Question
For 18 months or more, my car has wobbled or shuddered badly.  It's profound at between 75 and 80 kmph and 95 to 100 kmph.  The mechanics at the dealership can't figure out what's wrong so they are now saying (after many, many other "reasons" for this problem) that it's my wheels and tires and I am on the hook to replace all of them. I already had to throw away my all-seasons after only 25,000k because they were trashed, now my winters are also wearing unevenly.  Any suggestions at all would be greatly appreciated!

Answer
Hi, Cindy.  Without feeling the vibration, it's difficult for me to assess whether it is of the appropriate freqency to be caused by a wheel/tire issue.  That being said, the largest quantity of vibration issues in the 90 to 100 km/hr range are due to wheel and/or tire issues.  

Tires are not constructed to a high enough standard that they're uniform in weight all the way around the tire.  So, wheel and tire assemblies are balanced prior to being put on the car.  If they're improperly balanced, you'll get the symptoms you have.  In addition, if you've hit a pothole (or anything else) hard enough to bend one of your wheels, this will also often lead to vibration issues.

Have your alignment checked to verify the vehicle is properly aligned.  This can cause the uneven wear you've mentioned.  In addition, if the tires aren't rotated frequently enough, they'll tend to wear unevenly as well.  The typical rotation interval is about 12,000km.  Winter tires tend to use softer compounds, and as a result wear more quickly, meaning you may wish to rotate these even more often.

Additionally, if you're going to use winter tires, depending on the length of your wintry climate, you may wish to purchase an additional set of wheels so that you're not using your winter tires in conditions that don't warrant them.  Because of their soft compounds, winter tires tend to last not nearly as long as all-weather or regular radial tires.  If you drive them through the summer, there's a reasonable chance that by the time you again arrive at winter, they'll be so worn that they'll be nearly worthless for the next winter.