Well I will be pissed if I shelled out $600 to get rid of the ****ty Turunzas and they end up replacing them with a really nice tire. I love my Pirelli Pzero Nero M+S, they make the car so much nicer to drive then the stock tires.

 

Has anyone experienced the vibrations riding on the optional Yokohama tires?

 

Yeah, you probably moved too quickly. Oh well.

 

Had Bridgestones on a '76 Buick Century I owned back in the 80's. WHAT CRAP!!! Swore to myself I'd never buy them again. As far as brand names in general go, I'd take a Michelin product over a Bridgestone any day. And remember, Bridgestone is now the same company as Firestone, the folks that made those wonderful SUV tires supplied with Ford Explorers that fell apart and caused all kinds of accidents.

To paraphrase the jingle of the old Firestone commercials from the 60's, 70's, and early 80's (for those of you old enough to remember):

...THE NAME THAT'S BLOWN IS FIRESTONE....WHERE THE RUBBER LEAVES THE ROAD...

 

Concur,
On my 1999 Honda Civic Si I replaced my stock Michelin's (MXV4's?) at 45K with a set of S03 Pole Position Bridgestones. Outstanding wet and dry performance. Although, the second day I had them on the car I ended up pulling over after just leaving work due to feeling like I had a flat... Bridgestones are known for flat-spotting. They would thump for a good 2 miles but then be quite smooth. Definitely took some getting use to.
Now, I don't drive a TL yet - mine arrives Jan 15th, My Nissan dealer recently bought back my 04 Max due to it being a lemon. It came with Goodyear's that all had excessive road variance.. Dealer replaced them with a set of Michelin Pilot Sport A/S's. Superb difference in performance and drive feel. Absolutely no flat-spotting what so ever. I wish I could comment on how smooth the A/S's were but the rest of the drivetrain vibrated so bad in the 04 Max I couldn't tell one way or another. I will say that the MXV4's on the Civic were by far the smoothest tire I ever experienced.

Funny.... I originally bought the Maxima because I didn't want to wait for the TL.. The Max ended up being a 4 wheel vibrating/shimmying machine. Nice car but couldn't handle to drive over 65mph.
Ironic that now looking again at the TL I find vibration complaints here also. I drove one last week and felt nothing?? Made my decision to place an order (Navi) after that. It really sounds like the complaints are from flat-spotting vs possible transmission/shift point issue vibrations. My 99 Honda Civic Si sold with 60K miles and had never seen a shop/dealer, never! It was completely stock. One of the best cars I ever owned. I'm sure the TL being the first year for this style will have some growing pains but I have faith in Honda.
Back to the tire issue.... If the EL42's really stink that bad I will definitely go for another set of Michelin Pilot Sport A/S's. Highly recommend them.



Smitty

 

As I said above, Firestone got some bad PR. However, don't believe the hype. Take it from someone who knows a little something about products liability litigation and the Ford/Firestone suits, Ford had better lawyers and a better strategy.

In reality, Ford's design of the Explorer and their instructions to purposefully underinflate the tires to compensate for the Explorer's design flaws were the primary cause of the Explorer rollovers.

 

That doesn't surprise me. I'd never buy a FRAUD Motor Company product anyway. A friend of mine used to have an Exxon station that main lined in tires. He would never put Firestones or Bridgestones on his own cars either.

 

Pilot Sport A/S....

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....omCompare1=yes

Unbelievable...

 

I have the Yokos ES 100. Vibration is an issue, and I feel it may be a combinaton of the tranny and the fact that the dealer has tried to balance them four times now.

I took it on a trip last weekend and upon return I noticed a lot I mean a lot of rubber dust inside the rear wheels, under and all over the rear of the car.

It is currently at the dealer again, with a promise that it will be fixed right this time. I sure hope so since I purchased it OCT 25 and the dealer has more seat time in it than I do.

Recomendation if you have the 18's with the recomended Yoko ES 100's you will end up spending your entire new car expierence worrying about damaging the wheels since the Yoko's rim protector strip doesnt even come close to to protecting the wheel.
I do not know what they "Acura" where thinking or smoking with this setup but here is a news flash for them THE ENTIRE TL BUYING POPULATION LIVES IN PLACES THAT HAVE CURBS!

I can imagine with the rate these Yoko's disinigrate, I mean wear, that I will be purchasing a new set of skins before this car is a year old. I will try a larger tire as to afford some protection to the wheels.

Sorry for the long rant.

V/R,
Nick

 

I have about 27k on a set of AVS ES 100s, including one two-day driving school. That 27k was aggressive mileage on a BMW 325i making about 210 hp.

The Yokos look like new.

The 'wear-protector' bar on the Yokos actually sticks out fairly far compared to many tires, and if the rims are in danger of getting scratched I believe that is an issue of rim design, not tire design. Fear of curb rash is simply a byproduct of cool looking rims.

If you think you have worries, think about my worries everytime I drive the NSX with its 3 piece Racing Hart Tracers, now out of production rims that retailed for perhaps as much as $4k when new, and with far less protection from the Toyo Proxes T1-S than the Yokos offer, not to mention a big fat lip.

Note that I still plan on buying your exact setup come spring. To me the Yokos are a positive on that equation.

 

Here are the new shoes

 

more shots in my gallery
http://www.acura-tl.com/gallery/show...62&ppuser=7054

 

Nice pictures. I don't recall seeing anything from you saying whether the Pilot A/S fixed the problem.

Mike

 

I too would like to know if the A/S's made a significant difference in the ride/vibration issues???

Also, did you go with the stock size? From your Gallery I would say yes. I was thinking maybe going to a "wider" size (255/45 vs stock 235/45)- would not only protect the rim but also keep the tire from looking "under sized" like the current Bridgestone. Tire diameter could either increase or decrease 1/2 inch depending on given width selections...

 

my 1998 Toyota Avalon had bridgestone tires and they wore well and performed OK. At about 35K, I changed to Michelin Pilots and the change was dramatic. It fealt like a different car. The ride was significant harder...however, I fealt like I was glued to the road and the performance of the car was outstanding. I also fealt like no tire that I have ever owned (ever) has the rain gripping performance of the pilots.

Larry

 

They are the stock size. I had no part to play in the tire selection. As far as vibration goes, none so far, I never had high speed vibration. I didn't check for the 50mph vibration, I was too busy breaking the speed limit with these new tires. The only bad thing I can say so far is they tend to track to the right or my allignment is off. I will go out again and this time try to stay around 50 to see if I get vibration. Remember I was one of the people that think its a tramsmission issue.

 

They seem to work pretty well in TL. Nice shots. They're Ultra high performance tires, right? That's what TL should have. My dealer said it's impossible to have that kind of expensive tires for the replacement. I'm gonna show him the copies in my next visit.

Cannot wait for your vibration reports at 50 mph.

BTW, do you have vibration issue before switching to the new tires? Thanx.

 

I don't think you want to do that. The diameter increase of a 255/45 is significant, and the 8 1/2" rims aren't really large enough, not to mention the fact that the 255 would not necessarily stick out any farther given that the tire is still mounted to be flush with the outer edge of the rim and any extra width would be on the inner edge of the rim, AFAIK.

 

ok I took a quick 20 min drive, there was too much traffic at times to really re-create the 50mph vibration. At the times I did get to keep 50 I didn't get any vibration at all.

 

So, based on your experiences, your original vibraion issue is gone since the replacement of new tires. Do you think the tires are the main factor for the whole thing?

Sorry to keep pushing you answering Qs.... Just so curious for the answers... if this is the solution on you, please call ACS to make a note... Thanks...

 

Thanks for the info, although too late for me. I picked up my Anthracite 6sp with the Yokos and 18' rims today. I must say the rims go very well with Anthracite. The car was attracting a lot of attention at the dealer when they pulled it up. I can see what you're saying, though -- the rims are definitely not curb friendly. Good thing the rear view mirrors dip down when the car is in reverse. No vibration whatsoever, though.

 

So far I would say yes. I'm not 100% sure. Hopefully it will stop snowing so I can do some real testing. Then I will definately call ACS and let them know what happened and the results.

 

Why does Bridgestone/Firestone inflict Turanza EL42s on the general public? Or any tires, after the Ford Explorer fiasco? Even though I don't have the vibrations or flat spotting, I'm switching to the Michies to avoid the issue altogether. I was planning on switching anyway, I'll just do it sooner. It would've been nice for Acura to pick up the bill for these POS tires they chose, I think they ultimately will but it'll take months, based on their slow non-response to the 2G TL tranny issue. Thanks for your initial report, acur8ly.

 

NeuronBob:

I tend to agree with you on the decision to replace is months away. The decision may never come.

But acuraddict started all this speculation that the EL42's were at the top of the list for problems in Carson (acura headquarters).

accuraddict said to hold off on buying new tires. That was a couple weeks ago. Since then nothing has come out of Carson and acuraaddict is silent.

Two questions we need resolved:

1. Was acuraddicts rumor true on replacement?
2. If they are going to replace what is the time frame - 1 month 3 months etc.

We should all just bite the bullet and buy new tires and end the waiting, speculation BS that seems to never end.

 

DaveB99 - regarding acuraddicts statement, see his update at the following link:

http://www.acura-tl.com/forum/showth...threadid=67024

 

Hey all, picked up my my 04 TL silver,ebony,5AT,Navi on monday the 15th. I upon LEAVING THE LOT noticed the vibration. I have the 18's on my car but not with Yokos. I have a good relationship with my dealer service guy. Christmas gifts the whole 9 yards, he put the other of from what I understand are "tested tires" for the car. Conti Extreme Contacts are on my car. Went this morning Mike took it and every tire was off, 1 badly. However, problem is MUCH better 40 to 55 even to 65. As as I hit 70 I got a great massage :-). Called mike just now. he stated what Ive been reading IT IS A PROBLEM doesn't matter what size tire. He is concerned it may be something else, only time will tell. This is my second Acura and like it or not I went back for the great service the dealer provides. Also the car kicks mother f****** a**. I love it and I am sure the problem will be worked out. I already lodged my complaint with the Acura G-ds, but if anything other than this comes out I will let you guys know right away

scelipt

 

My car (5A, stock tires/wheels) also starts shaking over apparently smooth road, starting around 70 and very noticeably at 80. I've had the car back for rebalance, didn't impact. Yesterday I took it to a shop with a Hunter GPS9700 and had a Load Force Balance done (on my dime), didn't really impact the problem, although it sure is well-balanced now. I'm starting to think that this particular problem is due to the suspension either not reacting quickly enough to small, minor road surface changes, or overreacting (like a harmonic) at these higher speeds, or maybe being inadequately damped for the really small stuff. Interestingly, it's a little better over grooved pavement, but basically it's there at those speeds all the time, and I'm fairly annoyed by it. (This is not the engine vibration some have complained of, and in fact what I'm describing is unchanged by gear changes or putting the car into neutral for a few seconds).

If my guess is right that it's the suspension being a little tight, I'm hoping that it might work itself out with some more miles (I'm still <1K mi) or that Acura might figure out some change or adjustment that will resolve it. BTW, for whatever it's worth, NO other car I've had has exhibited this kind of shaking, including all 4 BMWs I've bad (e36 M3, two 540 sports, and a 328Ci, all of which had otherwise fairly firm suspensions) over the identical roads I travel, nor have other cars (rental cars, etc.). In other words, It's not just that I'm not used to low-profile tires or firm suspensions or anything, it's something else, maybe too much stiction in the front suspension coupled with a steering wheel that transmits more than it probably should.

PS: any other Bay Area folks who commute 280 between Cupertino/San Jose and parts north? I'd love to compare notes with someone else travelling the same road with the same car.

 

I have about 300 miles on my new '04 TL 6spd now. Overall I've not noticed the flat spotting too much. Vibration at 50mph etc. has been minimal.

What I do have a problem with is these sob's in the RAIN. In one weeks time now i've almost whipped out TWICE. This is not acceptable. I've been reading how aweful these 'all-seaon' tires are. I live in Ohio and will see lots of snow soon. I was going to wait for the first few snowfalls to make a decision on the tires.

If this cheap SOB's can't ride in the rain how can they ride in the SNOW?!

Any suggestions on a good 'all-season' decent life tire?

Pete

 

I expect to hear something next week after the holidays. Acura Corporate has been all but closed for the holidays.

 

Thanks for the update