belcom

iTrader: (1)

Ever since I got the car 1.5 years ago I had vibration at highway speeds. It came with used michelin tires, dealership blamed balancing right off the bat. But if the car comes with CPO warranty why is there an issue to begin with I asked. Did not get a clear answer. They tried to road force balance and it was better a bit but never gone completely.

After a couple of months I thought screw this, I will buy new tires. Got some Continentals. The vibes are still there but different in feel. I went back 3 times to the tire place and they were very nice about it and kept doing it. Every time the vibe would have a different feel to it (stronger or lighter). they did check the rims as well for damage or bending and all was fine.

Then we ended up exchanging these tires for Conti DWS as a warranty replacement. Again, vibe feels different and somewhat better however it seems whatever is done nothing helps. Can't imagine 3 different tire sets would be all vibrating due to manufacturing or balancing issues...

So the last time I was at my tire shop (came in for balance as it was horribly bad after rotating tires) they again did the best they could to balance and it was better but I still have vibes at highway speeds over 100kmh. And to add insult to injury it seems like the vibe comes and goes. So sometimes I would have a pretty smooth running car but next day it would vibrate. And it happens half way during a trip too. Would start out good and decently smooth then I would start getting a vibe in the middle of my trip on the highway.

My tire shop where I bought the new tires puts through 60-70 cars on a weekday and up to 120 on Saturdays. They do a lot of high end cars as well. Their equipment I am pretty sure is very well calibrated otherwise they'd be probably out of business by now.

And here's what they told me. They had 5-6 TLs since I came to them over a year ago. And the guys told me all those TLs had the same freaking issue. They warrantied the tires for them and even changed to different brands without resolution. They're thinking it might have to do with steering or suspension but obviously they can't know for sure or have any proof.

Also I just changed brakes as I had some warping on stock rotors. Brand new set of aftermarket rotors and stock acura pads. Braking is nice and smooth. No vibes from brakes anymore.

I like the TL but so far Acura dealerships are being ignorant at troubleshooting the issue and Acura Client Services was even more useless and I mean USELESS!! No solution or even a hint at a solution was provided. All I heard... "we are not mechanics", "there's nothing we can do".

Anybody else battle with this problem? Maybe there is a solution?

Let me know

ucf_bronco

iTrader: (1)

I don't know that this is the cause of your issue but I figured I'd throw it out there.

When I purchased aftermarket wheels and got them put on, I also experienced a vibration but I had never dealt with it before the switch. I ended up taking my car back to the wheel place three different times for road force balancing and it wasn't until the final trip when they "match mounted" my tires that the issue cleared up.

I have a hard time thinking this is your issue since this is such a high volume business...you'd think they would have thought of this...but I had to mention it.

Click here for more info.

Match mounting tires on wheels is a process where a tire's installed position on the wheel is specifically selected to help minimize the final combination's force variation and/or imbalance. One match mounting procedure aligns the tire's measured high point of radial force variation with the measured low point of the wheel's radial runout. The other simply aligns the tire's lightest spot with the wheel's heaviest spot.

belcom

iTrader: (1)

Thanks for the suggestion. I did forget to mention this but my tire shop did exactly that 2 weeks ago. It was quite a bit better but the problem persists starting at 70mph and up.

Mr Marco

Stock wheels? Have you considered putting another set of wheels/tires on the car? Might be a good way to see if there is a bent/defective wheel.

belcom

iTrader: (1)

Yep, stock 18s. I just don't have the cash to try other wheels and tires. 2 little kids, 2 cars and a house, plus hobbies so no way I can drop $2 - $2.5K right now to just say that I tried it and it did or did not help

hadokenuh

I think you can ask the Acura dealership to swap a set from one of their cars. After all, they need to fix the issue.

Mr Marco

What I meant was, you might talk to the dealer and see if they would pull a fresh set of wheels/tires off a car without vibrations and run them on your car. I had a warped brake rotor on my Integra. I had the tech run a set of new wheels off a Civic/Accord (I cant remember) for a couple of blocks to help determine that the issue was solely the brakes and not my aftermarket wheels.

belcom

iTrader: (1)

I am going to ask. For some reason I doubt they'll do that though

mynameisjacob

OP, I've been dealing with the same issues!!! It all started when I replaced my OEM michelins with A/S 3 tires from Costco (bleh). I get vibration starting at 60... peaking at 65 and improving after 70MPH. I've balanced (road force balance included) all my wheels at least 3 times. I did find that two of my wheels were bent and had those repaired. I've tried rotating wheels front to back. After all these attempts, I still have vibration and now I'm thinking it's something else.

I primarily feel the vibration on the steering wheel the most. I don't think it can be my brake rotors as I get no vibration under braking. Could it possibly be our SH-AWD propeller shaft U joint? Or maybe CV joint up at front? I am going to ask my dealership to inspect these things at my next oil change.

I know this is maddening... I'm in the same boat. Fortunately I live in NYC and I rarely reach 65+MPH unless I'm running from the cops but I'd like to see this fixed.

php007

Same for me on my 09 SH-AWD but mine starts at 75 and goes to 85. Need to get RoadForce Balance done and I am on PS2's from Costco.

mynameisjacob

As a note, Costco installed my front driver's side tire backwards (inside vs. outside) as my A/S 3 are asymmetrical tires. The manager there could not understand this concept when I explained the faulty installation. I watched them and they did not even tighten lugs in a star pattern. I am never buying tires from Costco ever again.

23109VC

could it be a warped rotor? or maybe a bent rim? if the defect is extremely small.. it may only show up at higher speeds?

On a former car - boxster - I had weird vibration that ONLY occurred between certain speeds on the freeway.. like between 60-80... if I went faster it seemed to go away... but at a certain sped it was the most noticeable. I had that car road force balanced and the problem was solved... but sounds like you tried that. are ou sure the facility had the proper equipment for road force balancing..it's not the same as regular balancing... they need a special machine for it that many shops don't have.

jim_c

Hi.
You may have an issue with an axle shaft or the propeller shaft or one of the cv (constant velocity) joints. A bent shaft or a bad cv joint will for sure cause vibrations that come and go at various speeds. I assume you have had the brakes totally cleaned and maintained also. You could have a seized caliper.
That means that the brake caliper is not able to move in and out as it should on the pins that support it. This is often overlooked when a quick brake job is done. Changing pads and rotors will not fix a seized caliper. BTW, which dealer(s) in the gta have you been to?

belcom

iTrader: (1)

Just to clear up again, brakes were changed and cleaned recently by an acura mechanic few weeks back. Braking is smooth and there is no vibration during braking on hwy or city streets. Wheels were checked multiple times too for bending or damage.

I went to Oakville and Maple. Bought the car at Oakville. You might know the shop foreman at Oakville. He quit acura after 20+ years. He still works on my cars privately. so he did my brakes very recently. No seized calipers. I sure did have one seized caliper on my MDX but not on the TL.

When I bought the car the prop shaft was changed under warranty so that is probably out of the question. But as far as I know the prop shaft TSB mentions noise, and not a vibration.

Now the axles or CV joins... I don't know. Possible. Wondering if the CPO warranty covers that? Anybody know?

SlyAccord

I have this on my 12 awd at 80mph, dealership said it was because of 18s and you can feel more stuff and it was a common complaint of owners which is why acura doesn't put 18s on the car anymore.

I did have the propellor shaft replaced because of that noise while at highway speeds, but I thought it was just a bearing that they replaced?

mynameisjacob

Please post resolution if you find the root cause!!! I promise to do the same.

SlyAccord

I've read that a good roadforce balance may help, my dealership claims that i'm wasting my money, but then again they also told me that there wasn't a transmission filter that could be clogged that was causing noise, but I proved them wrong

belcom

iTrader: (1)

Roadforced and matched multiple times. If it was really what the car needed I'd be a happy man by now.

But the techs at the dealer could not even find a nail in one of my tires when I asked them to inspect since one was leaking. So there goes the tech competency level at Maple Acura. Can't even do the simplest thing properly.

priddy4286

OP, I started a thread a couple of days ago on this same issue with my '09 TL (FWD). I did not see your thread until now. I have had my Michelin Primacy MXM4s road force balanced at least 8 or 9 times now within the past 3 months by NTB. My vibration is in the seat of the car over 65 mph. The shop on the 9th visit said that one of my rims had a slight "hop" to it, but this is the first time it has been reported to me. Like you, I do not want to throw money at a new rims if that's not the root cause. My vibration did not occur until April when I went in for them to do a rotation/balance after the winter. Hence why I have forced them to figure it out on their dime. Let me know if you come across any solutions.

I doubt my issue is related to the CV joint as I do not feel vibration only in acceleration. It is constant above 65mph. I doubt it's related to alignment. I doubt it's related to bearings based on what I've read.

mynameisjacob

I'm no master at road force balancing but I found that the machine (GSP9700) has two modes of operation. First is 'road force mode' which I'm assuming is more thorough. The second is a 'quickmatch' mode. Would you by any chance know which mode the balancing machine was used?

"As an additional alternative to Road Force® mode, the operator may also choose a QuickMatch® mode to quickly measure loaded runout alone."

http://www.gsp9700.com/how/index.htm

belcom

iTrader: (1)

no idea. but I am pretty sure its not rocket science to balance a wheel. so I usually don't ask these questions. but when I come back 3 times to re-do it I am also pretty sure they do everything possible to make sure I don't come back again. Like I said before this tire shop handles a lot of high end cars on daily basis and they don't muck around.