I have a 2018 Camry SE with almost 500 miles. So far so good except for the tires that came with it…I feel a bit of wandering while driving on the interstate between 70 and 75 mph. I wonder if tires can cause wandering? Also it sucks (sensitive to hydroplaning with any speed) in rain…have anybody had negative experience with Hankook tires? The rim size is 18.
If you have not checked tire pressure do so now. There really should be nothing wrong with Hankook tires. Also the tires have a separate warranty so a trip to a Hankook dealer might be a good thing to do.
Go to your Toyota dealer and complain of wandering at highway speeds, suggest to them that they check and see of adjusting the alignment will cure it. The alignment should be free in the first year. My 2012 Camry did the same thing, but it was the first car I had with electric power steering and it definitely felt different, almost no on center feel and the specs call for little toe-in, probably to increase fuel mileage. I can’t really say if the alignment helped or I just got used to it. To ease your mind about the tires, see if the dealer will let you drive one with different tires.
My Camry came with Michelin tires with very low rolling resistance that were worn out at 30,000 miles. I replaced them with Coodyear Assurance fuelmax tires with a 90,000 mile warranty. They ride and handle better than the originals but I went from 35 to 33 on the highway.
I recently changed the tires on my Corolla from Michelin to Hankook, and immediately noticed a slight wandering side to side at freeway speeds. So I think what you are experiencing is probably just the tires. For me the problem is slight enough I can just ignore it. And the Hankooks do have some upsides over the Michelins, a slightly softer ride, less road noise, and less expensive. I didn’t purchase the Hankooks for any of those reasons though. Hankook is one of the few manufacturers who make a 13 inch tire that fits my Corolla. Usually new car tires don’t last very long, so one idea is to just live w/it and soon you’ll be replacing the tires anyway.
Below is what I said about this same topic in a thread a week or two ago …
I recently replaced the Michelins on my Corolla w/Hankooks and notice something sort of similar. Rather than “ripple-like” feeling though, I’d call it “squirrelly”. Compared to the Michelins, It feels like the Hankooks are wiggling, doing a little dance maybe is a better description, at freeway speeds. .
I’ve had a number of sets of Hankooks without problems. They were all excellent.
However, all tire designs are a compromise, and size, aspect ratio, tread design (winter, all season, summer), can all affect performance, as can how complementary the tire design is to the car design.
Volvo and Oldtimer have given you good advice. Check the pressures, and return to the dealer to have them check the alignment. Consumer Reports magazine checks all the details on every car they buy for testing and records the results. Some years back they reported on the items that were commonly found to need adjustment from the dealer. Alignment and tire pressure were the most common, alignment being #1. A substantial percentage of the cars they bought that past year needed some alignment adjustment. And every new car I’ve ever taken delivery on needed the tire pressure adjusted.
There are a couple of more possibilities.
The first is that there may be ruts in the road in question that are being followed. There is no fix for that because the problem is the road. To check for this, try a different road.
There is also a situation where the ribs in the tires line up with the grooves in the road and it causes the tires to try to follow those grooves. We call it Groove Wander. It is not peculiar to any one brand as the cause is the lack of standardization of the groove widths in the roads. Tire manufacturers try to accommodate all the groove spacing they are aware of, but occasionally one slips through.
In this case, check to make sure it is that particular grooved road and not where is it not grooved. If that’s the case, return the tire car dealer and explain the situation and have them call Hankook. I’m sure Hankook will allow a swap for another model of tire.
the factory 18" size is 235/45/18 which seems a bit wide. my '10 camry had 205-215 width? width has a slight impact on hydroplaning issues but new tires should not have issues with full tread depth