1998 Hyundai Tiburon from North America - Comments

I have only owned it barely a year and the paint is flying off it at the speed of light. On the spoiler, roof, door handles (and not just around the key hole - at the front the wind is pulling it off!) and the side view mirrors on the front side, all of the paint has "blown" off and I am in the process of contacting Hyundai because there is no way a proper paint job would do this!

The "check engine light" is on every time I fuel up and I found out that it is due to a fuel tank leak I have.

I was looking on the net trying to find someone with the same paint problem as I have, and found out why my engine light was on and why I wasn't getting the gas mileage I used to instead.

I love my car, that is why I am so upset. It is comfortable and stylish. If Hyundai fixes all these problems for me then yes, I will buy another Hyundai. I like their new SUV that just came out.

When I bought my Tiburon, after approx 6 months the paint on the passenger's side rear view mirror started to fly off. I took it to the Hyundai here in Miami and they had the mirror repainted at no cost to me...

Good luck!

I purchased a 1999 Hyundai Sonata 2 years ago. The paint on the side mirrors and door molding on the passenger side is also "flying" off. Hyundai will not pay to repair the paint because I have 54,000 miles on the car and the warranty only covers the paint up to 36,000 miles. The dealership said they would not fix it because "we don't know what you've been doing to the car or where you've been driving it". I think a class action lawsuit is in order for all us Hyundai owners with paint problems.

I own a 97' Hyundai Tiburon FX, the paint on the mirrors, spoiler, hood, the curve under the rear side windows, and the hatch is peeling off. Hyundai repainted the mirrors and spoiler at no cost, but they did a poor job. The Check Engine light stays on and the turn signals keep blowing fuses. They have replaced both power window regulators, the clutch, windshield wiper motor, fuel cap, rear rotors due to cracking, and I can't keep fog light bulbs from blowing. All of this in less than 90k miles! Good luck with yours...

I've had the same "paint" issue, only it's just happened to me on the rear spoiler. I don't think it's actually the paint, per se, but actually the clear coat.

And don't even get me started on the "check engine soon" light.. I'm not sure what my dash would look like without having it on.

Shawn, Toronto, Canada.

I have had my 2001 Hyundai Tiburon for just under a year. Pain problems….oh yes. Paint has been pealing off my car in many different locations. If it isn’t peeling, it is spider veining and bubbling. After bringing it to the dealership, they determined that it was bird droppings, and won‘t cover the damage. I have been extremely meticulous about maintaining the car’s condition…and this happens. I wax it very often and wash it at least once every week. After the warranty department turned it down, I had it looked at by a bodywork professional and he was amazed on the poor quality of the paint. He stated to me that the damage was in fact from bird droppings, but also due to not enough clear coat and very thin pain. It was obvious that to make a low priced car, they have to thin the layer of paint. He was concerned about taking care of some small scratches cause if he hit it with a buffer….it would go right through the surrounding paint to the primer. Not good! I am extremely disappointed in the quality of my Hyundai. The 5 year warranty sounds great on TV.. but they don’t honor it in reality. I WILL NEVER BUY ANOTHER HYUNDAI.

I've also had some paint problems with my 2000 Hyundai Tiburon. My paint started spider veining and I took it in to find out it was bird droppings. It hasn't got any worse though. Seems like the paint job is poor on these cars. But I love everything else about it.

I had this problem with the fuel leak, I couldn't get it to pass deq after buying it used from the dealer (mine is actually a 97, but I'm thinking this is the same problem, error code says evap something). The fuel system was recalled, I took it back to the dealer and they replaced everything, fuel tank and fuel lines and I haven't had a CEL since (well there was a problem with my spark plug wires, but that was easy to fix).

I also have had problems with flaking paint on my 1998 Tiburon. From the sounds of it, my situation isn't quite as bad as some of the others here (just random spotches all over with rust around sunroof), but I have already decided on getting a new paint job *hopefully* this summer. With a black car, spotches all over are VERY noticeable. I do love my car :) It's my baby and has been very good to me. I have had various problems with oil pan/transmission pan leaks, bad spark plugs, and quickly wearing struts, but overall, I cannot complain.

Heidi, Nova Scotia, Canada.

About a month ago, I bought a silver 1998 Tiburon FX with about 90,000 miles on it. I washed it the other day and all the paint came off the door handles and around the base of both mirrors. It looks like paint is chipping away from the rear spoiler also. When starting the vehicle and while driving down the road it has a lot of vibration. I have not had too many problems with this car other than on the 4th day I had the car my security system decided to shut itself down so that the car would not start. The dealership towed it in and disabled the security so that the car would be drivable. So now the small red light on the steering column stays lit. Hopefully I won't have any other problems with my car. It is very pretty and I've had a lot of compliments about the design and slight purr which I believe is from the exhaust system. I am hoping that is a good thing.

I have a 2003 Tiburon gt and the paint peeling is only 1 of my many problems I have ripples in the body above the back wheels when its cold outside they increase in size and are very noticeable the ripples have now moved to the side doors when it heats up outside they get smaller. paint peeling and spider veining in many spots. front end pulls to the right, I've taken it to 4 different places they all say the same thing that it can't be aligned. sunroof has been replaced 3 times and still doesn't work. window won't roll down and many other electrical problems. you can only imagine what Hyundai says about all this.

Recently I bought a 1998 Tiburon an I have problems with steering,I think the steering box is damaged, of course the paint job is very pour, the paint is peeling of.

I have owned my late 98 model red Tiburon SX (Coupe here in Australia) since 2003. I purchased the vehicle with 60,000k's and now have well over 190,000K's.

I have never experienced any of the paint flaking issues many of you speak of, nor the engine check light. Sorry, I did once! But that was when I removed the stock airbox and replaced with a K&N pod style filter. To remedy the engine check light problem I mounted the sensor and cable tied it right near the filter so that air is passed over it. Problem solved!

Some of you might benefit from checking this sensor as it very well may be the problem you are experiencing. When the sensor fails it doesn't recognise the air movement and the engine light comes on telling you there's a problem.

I can however agree that the paint is easily scarred by bird and bat droppings. Prior to my purchase the middle aged man who owned the car hadn't cleaned some bat droppings and it etched into the paintwork. There is a minor rough blemish with a purple tint in the rear quarter...