Lower top speed with all season tires???

[stinger1168]

I've been reading lately that if one orders the 3.3TT GT with the 18" wheels and all season tires FROM KIA, your car will have a lower top speed. Normal top speed is 167mph and with the 18" all seasons ordered at the dealer, KIA will reduce the speed limiter so the top speed is 149 mph. I'm guessing they're covering their @$$ because of the lower speed limit of the tires.

Does anyone have more info on this or know anything about this?

 

[mldavis2]

That sounds reasonable. The tire speed "codes" are in the owners manual (which is available online for those of us waiting .... waiting .... waiting....)

 

[stinger1168]

If this is true, it's important to realize that if you later change to the higher speed rated summer 19" wheels and tires, the car is still limited to 149. You'll have to get into the software and reprogram it to achieve the 167 limit and from what I understand, KIA won't do that. You'll have to go aftermarket.

 

[Bubbabiker]

Yep. Kia (or any other manufacturer) cannot sell a vehicle with the max speed higher than OEM tire's rating.

Heck, my Magnum R/T is governed to 126 mph due the H rated tires that came on it from the factory. In Europe that car can punch a 170 mph hole in the air.

 

[Nismo380RS]

The Stinger GT with factory equipped 18" all season tires is limited to 140 mph. The 149 mph rating is for the Bridgestone tires. Kia would not allow the vehicle's speed governor to match exactly that of the tire rating.

And no, if you purchase the 19" wheels and Michelin tires AFTER you buy the vehicle, Kia will not "reflash" the vehicle's ECU to change the top speed to 167 mph.

 

[Kazz]

My sticker says 19" wheels but I got 18s. I wonder what my top speed is - and where my 19s are...

 

[ralzod]

My sticker says 19" wheels but I got 18s. I wonder what my top speed is - and where my 19s are...

What does your tire pressure sticker on the inside of your driver's door frame say? If it lists the staggered 19's, I'd say you got the higher top speed, and the dealership swapped out the factory wheels from another car (which probably has the lower top speed).

 

[Kazz]

My sticker says that 18" Wheels tires were added at $0 cost and the door sticker shows 18s. So, I'm screwed. LOL

 

[BigDave802]

spoke with Kia today about the top speed limiter for vehicles with the 18" all-season tires. Their response was "The dealership knew about this and should have told the buyer so any action you take should be on them because we aren't liable since we sell the vehicle to them and they as the seller are responsible for relaying this info to the buyer."

Talk about complete bullshit. When I bought my Stinger the lower top speed was not mentioned ANYWHERE except in some pamphlet which most never read.

 

[phildeez]

I agree, I didn?t find out about it until I joined this forum.

 

[mldavis2]

This is a typical example of what happens at many car dealers. Salesmen are volume and profit driven. They are generally nervous, ADD type people (not all, fortunately) who would rather sit at the desk and flip pencils waiting for the next "up" rather than digging into their literature and learning all they possibly can about their cars. Many of them were selling vacuum cleaners last week and lawn mowers next week. Many are not "car people," just salesmen and they really don't give a damn about knowing any more than they have to. I was a new car dealer service manager for about 12 years back in the 80's and you can't believe some of the things salesmen asked or wanted the shop to do to help make and keep their sale. Many can't explain the difference between a gasoline and diesel engine except that you don't put the wrong fuel in the car. The service managers are your best source of information along with the literature, not the salesman who will do anything to make the sale and move on to the next one. Caveat emptor.

 

[MurlinatoR]

This is a typical example of what happens at many car dealers. Salesmen are volume and profit driven. They are generally nervous, ADD type people (not all, fortunately) who would rather sit at the desk and flip pencils waiting for the next "up" rather than digging into their literature and learning all they possibly can about their cars. Many of them were selling vacuum cleaners last week and lawn mowers next week. Many are not "car people," just salesmen and they really don't give a damn about knowing any more than they have to. I was a new car dealer service manager for about 12 years back in the 80's and you can't believe some of the things salesmen asked or wanted the shop to do to help make and keep their sale. Many can't explain the difference between a gasoline and diesel engine except that you don't put the wrong fuel in the car. The service managers are your best source of information along with the literature, not the salesman who will do anything to make the sale and move on to the next one. Caveat emptor.

So, I have to say that I knew nothing about the speed limit reduction. I'll argue that I know more about this car than 99.9% of all Kia sales people and I knew nothing.

Kia released a training app for sales people to use to learn about the Stinger before it hit the soil. We had 3rd party trainers come to dealerships. No one said anything about the reduction. Everything talked about the top speed being 167mph.

I don't disagree with you [MENTION=456]mldavis2[/MENTION] when it comes to a lot of sales people being fly by night but that's true of a lot of jobs. Heck, even the technicians that you managed on your floor turned over pretty regularly. It's business.

But this one.... we all got caught off guard on this.



The positive is that it sounds like Tork Motorsports has figured out the code in the ECU that governs that top speed so it won't be too long and we'll be able to change it.

 

[mldavis2]

I think this problem was from early buyers because it was obvious in everything I read in my research in January before buying my car in late January (delivered March 1.) I'm not defending Kia on this because it appears that it was known but not well-known on the very early literature and the Kia web site. Mine is a 19" but it will never see 130mph while I own it. Had my GTO to 140 once and that's too fast and too risky for tickets even out here in the boonies. Hope they get the code figured out.

 

[BigDave802]

So, I have to say that I knew nothing about the speed limit reduction. I'll argue that I know more about this car than 99.9% of all Kia sales people and I knew nothing.

Kia released a training app for sales people to use to learn about the Stinger before it hit the soil. We had 3rd party trainers come to dealerships. No one said anything about the reduction. Everything talked about the top speed being 167mph.

I don't disagree with you [MENTION=456]mldavis2[/MENTION] when it comes to a lot of sales people being fly by night but that's true of a lot of jobs. Heck, even the technicians that you managed on your floor turned over pretty regularly. It's business.

But this one.... we all got caught off guard on this.



The positive is that it sounds like Tork Motorsports has figured out the code in the ECU that governs that top speed so it won't be too long and we'll be able to change it.

The downside is if I remember correctly if you mess with the ECU your warranty is toast. So unless you drop 1600 for them to clone your ecu then you're SOL.

 

[MurlinatoR]

The downside is if I remember correctly if you mess with the ECU your warranty is toast. So unless you drop 1600 for them to clone your ecu then you're SOL.

Well, hoping that there will soon be an upgrade just for the speed without the tune. That should lower the cost considerably.

 

[BigDave802]

Well, hoping that there will soon be an upgrade just for the speed without the tune. That should lower the cost considerably.

That still involves a ECU reflash and the ECU logs any flashes done to it. The only option is to use a cloned ECU so you can swap them out when you go in for service. Otherwise they can see the modifications done and are within their rights to void your warranty.

 

[kezzer]

That still involves a ECU reflash and the ECU logs any flashes done to it. The only option is to use a cloned ECU so you can swap them out when you go in for service. Otherwise they can see the modifications done and are within their rights to void your warranty.

Tork is going that route and working on removing the governor with the ECU tune.

 

[MurlinatoR]

That still involves a ECU reflash and the ECU logs any flashes done to it. The only option is to use a cloned ECU so you can swap them out when you go in for service. Otherwise they can see the modifications done and are within their rights to void your warranty.

You are 100% right, Dave. None of the potential answers are going to undo the flub of not advertising the speed limit of the 18" wheels. On the up side, replacing the 18" tires will save you a couple of hundred that will make up for a new ECU. LOL Then you have the bonus of being able to rotate the tires completely rather then just left/right because of the stagger in size of the 19" wheels!

Seeeeee, look at all of these positives with have that silly old 130mph speed setting! ;-)

Ultimately, I don't believe that anyone is going to see an ECU flash unless they are digging very deeply and into the ECU directly.

 

[Pieceofchum]

In Mass they cannot void the warranty for modifications unless it can be proven that those mods caused the problem. However, that would be a long and expensive fight not worth going through for an owner. I think KIA is not serious about the US market to be honest. I really like my Stinger GT AWD and I have the 18 inch rims and I am not planning on going that fast but I feel bad for people that bought these cars and didn't get what was promised or expected. And the US market also got the least options, no surround view camera, no rear heated seats, not even Bluetooth enabled Android mobile, terrible paint, a crippled and nearly useless EVO app, poor integration of features in the head unit unless using Android Auto, mediocre handling compared to competition, etc. I mean my cousin's Accord has all of that and more for $10k less and that is with a Honda extended warranty, tire care and all the other after market stuff they always get. Then you have the salespeople who don't know anything about the Stinger, my salesperson was at least familiar with the electronics but not much of anything else. In fact when I returned to the dealer they had a list of questions that were being asked by other potential buyers and I was nice enough to answer most of them.

I think that a better option would honesty be just to get a used Audi or a demo model Audi and in the Northeast an Audi S4 demo loaded with a 5 year bumper to bumper and 2 year maintenance plan goes for $48-$51k. Then there is no compromise, a new S4 with the performance axle destroys the Stinger in performance and material quality. About the only real benefit of the Stinger is that it is a large car and I have three kids so they all fit in the back seat and the maintenance is much cheaper than a German car. For me if I keep this car long enough once I am close to the end of the warranty I am going to mod the hell out of it and see what it really can do with a better suspension, upgraded turbos, upgraded exhaust, perf chip, and summer tires but that is 9 more years down the road.

 

[SpaceGhost]

When I was researching I noticed a number of dealer sites said the top speed was limited on the models with all season tires. I thought it said 130. But now I see that the bridgestone tires are rated V 149 so I'm guessing that 140 is the correct limit. On the other hand I had a 2006 G35 coupe that was not speed limited. I saw some idiot who had his going 155. I say idiot because that was being recorded with a cell phone. Yeah going 155 with your phone out recording it. Anyway I never had mine over 100 so I ended up thinking even 130 who cares I like my license, my life, don't like killing other people or going to jail