I have a 05 RL and so far I have put 66,000 miles on it. So yes a bit more then your usual driver. Nevertheless, I am not seeing the Honda/Acura quality I expected.

The brakes for example are POS. The rotors are warping and after the dealer shaved them and etc. it has warped again. Now they want to charge me money to shave it down and fix it. Has anyone purchased Brembo or such rotors and done an aftermarket system? OEM seems to suck.

My trunk struts already went out, and now I have to manually hold the trunk up or use one of my golf clubs! Well now the car is in the shop getting that replaced.

The A/C went out on me and had to get that replaced.

The AFS headlight system is annoying the hell out of me. On a road trip of 2 hours or so, it will always go off! The dealer can't seem to fix the darn thing. One one road trip it went off 3 times!

The blue tooth hands free system is not working as well as it used to. People used to tell me the sound quality was great when I first got the car now they can barely hear me.

Well that is about it for now, I could go on but I think that's for another day.

So anyone else been having problems? I should of gotten a BMW 545i.

 

Don't ever get rotors cut down, they warp faster due to less mass to deal with the heat, just replace them, 66000 miles on any rotors is pretty good, depending how you drive.

 

I said the same thing about my 05' RL. I went and sold it, bought an IS350 and I am back looking for an RL. Aren't BMWs known for their problems?

Sounds like you need to go to a new dealer which has competent techs to look at the issues and resolve them once and for all.

 

@ getting a BMW to avoid problems...

Good luck with that, pal...

Seriously, it sounds like you just got unlucky. My family has had an 05 RL for several years now and not a single issue. Every manufacturer occasionally builds a bad car, even Toyota and Honda have their bad days. If you're not happy, then get rid of the car.

And as the brakes, problem is not the rotors. Problem is with the brake pads. Replace them with a good set of aftermarket pads and the "warping" will go away. Honda OEM pads are known for leaving deposits on the rotors because most people use their brakes too lightly.

 

Had brake issues with our 05 RL w/ 35k as well. Had them replaced once for $800 for new rotors and pads. They then began to vibrate again, but this time Acura picked up the tab.

If you want serious problems, then go for the BMW. I just dumped $1200 into my M3 this past weekend to resolve some simple cooling issues.

 

a) I'm amazed the OP already has 66k miles on their 05. Then again, there's someone else with 130k miles already

b) Sounds like you got a lemon. When you buy a first-year car, you do take chances. I got lucky with my first-year, really early build, 3G TL in that it gave me no major issues over the 56k miles I owned it.

 

Have had mine 7 months & 2 days & have 16,000 miles. Have not been outside of Ga or Fl. I am sure if I had really gone on a long trip I could really rack up some miles.

 

Don't feel bad, I am ashamed to admit that I once bought a new Ford 95 Windstar minivan. First year of production.... I need say no more

I would rather be in your shoes.

 

I never bother with resurfacing modern rotors (I assume that's what the OP means by "shaving"). New rotors & Raybestos pads are ~$200/axle.

 

Same here. When my pads go, I just buy new rotors and lifetime pads and never have problems. Turning rotors always seem to be trouble.

 

I agree the OP has had more problems than "usual" with his '05. But for me, 66,000 miles is 'way past time to trade anyway.

I know cars should go 100,000 miles with minimal problems, but I haven't had a car that wasn't in factory warranty for decades and I don't intend to start now. I say trade it and get something new, and let someone else worry about the troubles that wear and tear and excess miles create. Face it - 66,000 miles in +/- 2 years is pretty hard driving.

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What a difference, I have an '05 with only 26k miles compared to your 66k. Anyhow, my mileage is kinda low, but I have another car and motorcycle to use (especially with current gas prices). The problems I've had thus far include some rattles, AFS indicator going bonkers, locking dimple not working, and squeaky brakes. I've heard there's a TSB out for the brakes. My XM receiver was also replaced a while back.

In any case, I thought Acuras/Hondas were supposed to be pretty reliable, but I guess it's hit and miss with 1st year models. I had an '01 Lexus IS300 (1st year for U.S.) that didn't have any problems, but I wasn't so lucky with the RL.

 

Gents,

don't go too far on this one. I've got an '06 with 10k miles on it and the brakes are shot as well. I don't drive hard or anything like that since the car to me is still new, but this is ridiculous! I've been to the dealer 2x for the brakes (turned both front and rears, and it still vibrates), 2x for non-working door handle (driver side), reset of car for non-working #1 remote, replaced rear speaker shelf, replaced speaker enclosure on front pass door, and I still think the tranny's not right on this thing but they all tell me it's common shifting for the RL.

I just got rid of a 740iL BMW for this, and I am having second thoughts... At least it's all done under warranty but this sure doesn't leave me wanting to keep it for a LONG time like I did the Bimmer!! It (almost) always broke the same things over and over; as long as you knew what it was you'd be alright. The RL is a whole different story!

Don't get me wrong, I do like the car a lot (it's no V8!) but I was not expecting all this........

Sorry, just ranting a bit! Just got home from a 600-miles-in-2-days business trip (not in the RL!!!)...

Later,

 

The most frequent complaint I hear on the various car forums is warped rotors. And just I have to ask you guys - what the heck are you doing to your brakes out there?

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You mean when we're not dynoing our cars?

Seriously, I agree with your observation, Mike. I browse other forums and it seems that on every one the second most common complaint is about is warped rotors. (#1 is....rattles!)

 

I guess it really has to do with braking patterns - how often and how much force is applied. I did not have any issues with the brakes on the BMW and THAT car is heavy!!!!! The best rotors are usually OEM, and one thing BMW stood by was to never cut/shave them; it always diminishes stopping power and they WILL warp easier. Pads are a completely different story altogether though..., but Acura's have no problems at all with dust compared to BMWs

 

I've had my 2005 RL for 2 years as of last Saturday. I've got just under 23,000 miles as of tonight. I haven't had any brake problems or any of the other problems listed. Maybe this particular RL was a dud. Maybe it was one of the first ones they built. What are the last few digits of the VIN?

 

I use my RL brakes fairly hard, so far so good at 6k of miles. I did though recently upgrade the lines and fluid. It definitely improved things. I actually spoke to a advics (manufacturer of our caliper) engineer and our calipers on the RL are really amazing. The pads however could use improvement. I'm working with HAWK in getting us some performance pads in the near future.

 

I got my RL in Jul05 and I've got 29k miles on her. No substantial probs whatsoever. Took her in for brake job about 2 months ago & and dealer replaced my brakes and rotors free under TSB. That saved me more than $300k. Of course I had the XM radio replaced back in 05, but other than the known TSBs, I have not had any issues. Oh, I had the phantom AFL warning a couple of times but not recently (8-10 months) I have had blissful driving and handling for the most part

 

So I did some research and some thinking and I don't believe this warped rotor crap. I used to own a E36 bmw I used to race twice a month. That thing would get driven hard for 4 hours at a time and never did I experience a warped rotor. I hear on a two piece floating rotor it is impossible to warp it and only thing that might happen is crack it. Given that statement, take a look at this article I think this will open up a whole new can of worms. http://www.stoptech.com/tech_info/wp...rakedisk.shtml

Other then that, I never had a problem with my E36. The only thing I did to the car was routine service and drive the crap out of it. The new M5 is really tempting.

Togue: Did you upgrade to the SS lines and which fluid did you go with? If you did SS lines I would be very interested in where you got the SS lines.

 

20 posts before someone brought this up. I too have read many sites on 'warped rotor' and don't believe it happens much if at all. I would think if the rotors were truely warped you would feel it while driving without applying the breaks.

I too believe it has to do with uneven deposit of break pad material onto the rotors. Resurfing cleans it up but, it comes back.

I had this happen to me on a 95 Accord but, none of my other cars. Very annoying regardless of what the problem is.

 

liverperilous - https://acurazine.com/forums/showthr...?t=2663&page=6 . Pm if you need more info on step.

 

honda's are notorious for warped rotors.

 

I would describe my driving as being hard on brakes. I haven't had any problems at all with my 05 RL's brakes. That's not to imply that others aren't, just to offer another data point. My driving is predominantly city (Chicago) driving, lots of stop and go, and I drive fast and stop hard.

I guess we'd all like brakes like whatever BMW is putting on E36's as reported up-thread. I mean, I track my 99 corvette with some regularity and there's no way I'm getting 4 straight hours of track time without wanting to replace at least some brake component. Fortunately they aren't too expensive to replace, but still, 4 straight hours and still going strong - wow! That's some serious high-quality brake hardware.

 

I agree. My '05 RL has fantastic brakes and the majority of people here don't seem to have the warped rotor problems either...so I assume it must be your driving or your particular RL... not the problem of RL's in general.

 

I'm at 136,000 on my '05 RL and no problems with the brakes or warping rotors. I guess it must have something to do with the heat treating of the rotors or lack thereof. I drive my car pretty hard and have never felt any shake in the wheel when braking.

There was a thump as I ran over a cat once, but I was accelerating.

 

Great article. Makes sense

 

Absolutely correct.

Most of the time, its pad deposits on the rotors.

Switching to good aftermarket (high temp rated) pads generally fixes this.

I drive very aggressively, and live in the mountains, guess I'll be upgrading pads soon...

 

Warped (and weak) brakes is/was a common problem on the 2G CLS too. My first 03 CLS had warped rotors at 10k miles, dealer replaced everything, sold that car and got my current 03 CLS, have not have any brake problems.
I am careful not to get them wet at the car wash if/while they are hot, and I don't brake when going over big bumps or speed bumps. I'm at 42k miles now and was told the pads are at about half wear. It's good to know that some heavy use of the brakes on occasion is good for them.