acuraddict

I have it on very good authority that both of these issues are soon to be resolved. I don't feel comfortable betraying any confidences by saying anything more, but lets just say I had a meeting with someone pretty high up from Acura Corporate in Carson today, and these issues have both been identified (you already know about the service bulletin for the memory seats).

Those of you who are fed up and thinking about buying tires, just hang on and I think you will be pleasantly surprized very soon.

neuronbob

Thank you for the information. I haven't had the vibrations yet, but have had the occasional memory seat info loss. This will fix things for if the wife forces me to allow her to drive my car.

JonDeutsch

I know it sounds petty, but how do we get Acura to recognize that the "pause" command does not work with HandsFreeLink?

This is a big problem for all of us who want to check our voicemail from the car... I don't want to have to say my PIN every single time I call.. esp if others are in the car with me!

Jon

svtmike

Jon,

You can tie your PIN to a word in the phone book, and use that instead of actually saying the numbers.

The rough flow goes something like this: when your voice mail system prompts for the password, hit the talk button and say, for instance, "PASSWORD", and the system should ask if you want to send "PASSWORD". Tell it "YES" and there you should be.

Mike

DivinDude

sounds to me like yet more cases of poor quality control on Acura's standpoint .. a continuation of their poor quality control of the 2nd gen

TorontoTL

I'm not sure I would say that this is an example of poor quality control necessarily. I don't expect any car to be 100% perfect. I understand programming problems and I believe the memory seat problem to be such a thing. The tires causing vibration I also don't think is a quality issue that they caused. It seems to be a tire specific issue.

paddiwakk

After I get prompted, by my VM to press # and put in my password (or try to say the word 'pound', the amount of time it takes for the HFL to go thru the procedure of asking me to confirm what I want to do and then press send, seems to be too long for the voicemail system to wait and it ends up not working.

The other thing I cant figure out - the prompt says 'call, dial or continue to add numbers (or something like that). I have not been able to figure out what the "The continue to add numbers" part does? It seems to me nothing happens , it seems to stop working at that point? Am I missing something here

svtmike

If you get cut off somehow, and the HFL only gets a subset of the digits you intended to add, you can just hit the talk button and continue to speak numbers or phone book entries. The system will append them to the numbers it's already queued.

Mike

LGG

I'm wondering if the resolution for these issues will a) be very quiet and only made available on vociferous demand, b) be folded into new production vehicles when? We don't even have a build date for ours yet--likely early January. A fix doesn't help most people with the issue if you have to know the double-secret password and the triple-secret handshake to know how to get your dealer to find out about them and get them done.

emendez

I just picked up my car Tuesday night and noticed a slight vibration at around 50-55mph like everyone said. I'm wondering if I have to bring it in and complain about it or will Acura just address all owners?

DaveB99

Acuraaddict:

What does "very soon" translate to:

A. Next week
B. Next 3 weeks
C. Jan 2004
D. Feb 2004

When can we get our tires? We want our tires. Chant Chant!!

paddiwakk

Thanks - I'll try that

need4spd

Take a deep breath and relax

Thanks Acuradict!

rybocf

Well, the 50-55mph vibration seems to be tied to the transmission's shift points and RPMs, it isn't necessarily the tires. Then there is the flatspotting issue with the tires causing vibration until they warm up. The last, and most annoying, is the constant vibration at most speeds above "slow", and very noticable on the highway.

These are 3 distinct problems, with 2 and 3 most definitely tire related, with #1 transmission related.

Which of these problems is Acura addressing? If they come out and fix my transmission that doesn't fix my tire issue.

Acuraaddict, can you at least tell us if they're planning to offer alternate tires? The EL42s suck in the snow, and I'm about to buy another set of all season tires, but if Acura has plans to offer us different tires, I'd like to know. Timing is also an issue because snow season is about to begin.

Without betraying any confidence, can you offer any more information what they will offer and when?

Thanks,

Ryan

emendez

That's the one I'm having. Once I drive a few miles the car is as smooth as can be. Will Acura address this flat-spotting issue as well?

acuraddict

I'm quoting myself, but I think it answers the last guy's question.

acuraddict

Like I said, hold off on replacing the tires and I think you'll be pleasantly surprized. We don't have snow here, so I'm not sure, but don't you need to buy snow tires regardless of what happens with the EL42s?

acuraddict

Yeah, what he said!

jgrahamiii

I haven't really noticed a vibration at 50mph. I guess I'm not really going that speed for any length of time!

waymay1305

Please enlight us on the service advisory?

rybocf

I don't need snows, never needed them, even being originally from Vermont. If you know how to drive in the snow, decent all season tires are sufficient on a Front-Drive vehicle. I always have the wife's SUV or my pick-up truck (4x4) if absolutely need it.

So, the short answer is no, I don't need snows if I have the EL42s, but I want a better set of all season rubber. If Acura is planning on replacing these tires with something else (in a relatively short period of time), then I'll hold off. If not, I'll buy new ones. So I guess my question is: Should I hold off, or not

Ryan

Lore

How about the concern that the vibration is more than just the tires but could be linked to the transmission?

Are these separate, unrelated issues that are only linked by exhibiting the same symptoms?

rybocf

I think you may be right, but they are separate yet related issues.

The tranny's low RPM problem may be highlighted by the crappy tires, but I definitely have NON-transmission related vibration that is coming from the EL42s. I also get some transmission vibration at 50-55, but not too bad, not much worse than the 75mph vibration from the terrible Turanzas. Different tires may mask the transmission vibration, and they may not.

I think we're seeing two separate problems that sometimes "meet".

Ryan

Donte99TL

can't wait to see what Acura does with this.

Lore

Sounds like from acuraddict's post that Acura is only planning on resolving the tire-related problems, huh?

No word on the potential tranny vibes from what I can tell. acuraddict, can you chime in?

Jinen

i have no idea of the 50-55mph vibration that you guys are talking about...my vin is in the 8000's and i've gone up to 80 and it rides amazingly smooth...just yesterday i went to the dealership and told them to check the tire pressure...what i found out was that WHEN I FIRST PICKED UP THE CAR, it was a bit bumpy on certain areas, now i think they REDUCED the tire pressure a little and the car feels a LOT SMOOTHER...but i am definitely interested in finding out what ACURA can do for us...if they can help us, then that's great....if they give new better tires, then that's even MORE GREAT

jgrahamiii

I'll believe it when I see it if Acura were to replace all our tires. How else can the "resolve" the tire related problems. Not likely. I think the fix will more likely address the software that sets the shift points, so that the car shifts a little later and avoids the 50mph vibration that way. Of course, this may affect our milage a bit.

acuraddict

My meeting yesterday with Acura did not included any mention of a tranny problem. Frankly, I was not aware that there were concerns about the tranny (in the context of the vibration) because it seemed evident that the members of this site who have replaced the tires have reported the vibration had stopped.

Do you think its possible that we're a little "raw" about the tranny given all the problems with the 2nd gen trannys? I myself had to have mine replaced at 30,000 miles in my Type S.

acuraddict

If in fact the Potenzas are the problem (and I'm not going to say anything else about that), Bridgestone will be directly involved in the resolution, regardless of what the decided solution is, so its not just a matter of Acura replacing our tires.

Software and shift points are not going to eradicate an inherent tire issue. My car vibrates at 80 mph and at 50 mph whether I'm in neutral, 4th gear or 5th gear. See what I'm saying?

Sherlock

with all the problems I DO have on my vin 259 P.O.S. I do not have any vibration probs at speed.. at 80 or 135. Once the tires warm up and the parking-flat spot goes away, the car is viciously fun.

The only thing I could mention, if I had to nit pick.. is an odd droning sound/vibration evident in the pedal. More of a buzz than a lopsided feeling vibration.

Cept now one of my front tires is rubbing in the well, so that's just another problem to stock up on mine.

jgrahamiii

Acruaaddict, the tires on the 5AT are the Turanzas, not Potenzas. I assume this was just a typo. At first I thought you might have a 6MT which has different tires (I don't know if it is Potenzas, but as the Potenza's I had on my old car were All-Season, I'm guessing not).

If Bridgestone is willing to swap out my tires for the Potenza RE950's or the Turanza LS, even for the price difference between the two, I'd be very happy.

I did read one post on Tire Racks survey results about the EL42's on an Infiniti, that Bridgestone did swap out for him on complaintl But it did not appear to be a model-wide switch (in fact the curretn G35's still come with the EL42 far as I can tell.

rybocf

jgrahamiii,

I agree completely. First, the Turanza's seem to be the ones with the problem.

Second, I'll gladly put the RE950s on my car if they swap them out for nothing, the price difference isn't an issue because the EL42s are a more expensive tire. Hell, I'll even pay for the remounting/balancing if they swap rubber for nothing.

3rd, the tranny issue is more tricky. I'm starting to wonder if my minor vibration at 50 goes away with new tires. OTOH, some people complain that their whole dash vibrates at 50-55 in 5th, which again, is probably a different problem. My 50 mph vibration feels like basically the same vibration I've been getting at LOTS of other speeds, so it may be nothing more than my tires.

4th, If Acura does not resolve this, I'm going to fight it out with Bridgestone, because the EL42s suck, I am very unhappy with them.

Ryan

acuraddict

Ooops, yes I did mean to say Turanzas. I hate these made up names! Maxima, Cressida, Festiva, Altima, Integra, ......

rybocf

AcuraAddict,

Any idea on a timeframe for some action?

Ryan

jgrahamiii

When I first went to tire rack to look at the tire, I thought it was the Turanza LS, which is VERY highly rated and 207 a tire. The EL42 is much disliked, though with similar cold weather issues on other cars. Note, right now, the EL42 and the W rated Potenza RE950 are the same price, at $165, but the EL42 is listed as a "Special".

I never realized how important the tire was until I replaced the stock Toyo's on my 2000 Maxima with one of the Potenzas (I forget which one), but I went from a hydroplaning nightmare to wonderful performance. So far the Turanzas have behaved much better than I would have though given the reviews on tirerack. I chaulked it up to the wider tire than on the other models which use it OEM. For my driving at least, it was very grippy, even in wet, and no hydroplaning at all. I'm less comfortable in the snow and ice with it, though, which, I think is unfortunately also a function of wider tires (as are the flat spots, etc.).

I have noticed some vibration at 50, but only when cold, but then, the only road I'm ever around 50 on is near my house. I'm usually either slower or faster. I'm going to pay a lot more attention to this once the snow goes away. Maybe we need some sort of Acura-TL action with Bridgestone!

acuraddict

No idea on timing yet, but you can be sure I will post information as soon as I hear from my guy at Acura. I'm pretty happy with the handling of these tires, and I think they are likely to have a long life, but I'd much rather have Potenzas or something more sticky.

mengle

acuraddict,

So are you saying that those of us who are considering getting new tires should wait for a bit?

acuraddict

Yup.

elroy

Any reason we should wait to buy if we were going to buy in the very near future? Just for, say, convenience?

acuraddict

I don't think there's enough reason to wait. This car is amazing, and Acura will take care of things one way or another. If you're ready, buy one now and start enjoying! I don't regret my decision one bit..the vibration is a minor nuisance that will get resolved.