Ok, I love the new TL. The technology is incredible. But when I drove a tester at the local Acura dealer it had several squeaks and rattles with only 4000 miles on the odometer. I also read about lots of people who are experiencing the same. My question is, how prevalent are these issues and do you think they'll be resolved for the 2005s? I really like the car, but couldn't deal with the squeaks. Thanks for the help!

 

If you search you will seea few of have numerous creaks, squeaks and rattles. One thing I found interesting is the number of people that have them and don;t care becasue they love Acura and/or Honda cars so much. Some will mention that Honda products, especially year one cars, are known for noisey interiors. Dealer has had car 3 times totalling pver 6 days and many of my noises still exisit. Sure they go away for a while and some are gone, but others pop up. Acura may build a mechanically good car, but Interior fit and quality is surely not one of their strengths. This is my fisrt and last Acura, their attitude has been, it is first eyar car. I have owned several first year cars, even one American 1st year (Chrysler) and all of them put together did not make the symphony of noises this car makes. I am just counting the months until i can afford to trade it and get back into Infiniti. Of course this is my opinion and expieriences, you will find many happy owners here. My gues is they will probably fix the headliner issues for 05, but dash and door creaks will probably remain. I would hope they redesign the back deck as that seems to be a very common buzzing issue with moderate bass.

 

I am in the same boat you are in. I want to get rid of my jeep due to squeaks and rattles and don't want to dish out 35-40k on a car just to have it squeak and rattle. I am also thinking about BMW330xi or G35 AWD. I have yet to drive the G35. If I did go with BMW I would be missing out on all the interior gizmos such as voice rec, bluetooth, nav system, etc. Paint is another concern I have as all Jap cars now days seem to have very thin paint that will scratch right down to the primer. I have been talking to a few BMW owners that love them and will not go to any other car. I was also thinking about waiting to 06 TLs hoping they will be AWD by then.

 

I currently own a 2004 TL that has some squeeks and rattles. They are mostly noticeable over very rough roads. Here in Chicago, potholes, frost heaves etc. are everywhere. I have owned several new cars in recent years. Before the TL, I owned a Infiniti FX35. This vehicle had its share of squeeks and rattles. The punishment our vehicles take on today's roads are bound to lossen up interior parts. I feel this is unavoidable. On the highway, the TL is one of the quietest and tightest vehicle I have owned. As mentioned before on this site, check out other forums. BMW, Infiniti even Lexus all have issues with squeeks and rattles. Good luck.

 

excellent points golddog


road conditions and varying temperatures also play a role in the squeaks and rattles....however, for the most part they are solid cars...i'd wait for the 05 model year just in case you are worried abt 1st year model problems as it seems mnay cars 1st year models have such issues

 

This is discouraging! I own an I35 now that I've had for three years and it is virtually rattle free. I drove a new ES330 - solid as a rock. And a three year old Q45 with about 30 thousand miles on it - not a sound. I like both of the cars, but they don't have near the number of great gadgets and gizmos the TL does. I guess I'll just have to know what I'm getting myself into if I decide on the TL.

 

I sold my 97 I30 prior to getting the TL and it literally was rattle-free at 80k miles. Tomorrow I am taking my 04 TL with 3k miles in for its third set of replacement tires (no kidding) and to try, once again, to fix the B pillar squeaks and the sun visor clicking noise.

I still like the car, but have found myself wandering back to new-car land wondering if I could getaway with a trade without losing my shirt.

S

 

I have to agree with most people here. My 97 Camry, which I am selling today after 7 years of excellent service, feels more solid. I live in the city and hit my share of potholes, speedbumps, and craters of sorts each day and have almost no rattles in my Toyota. In fact, the cheaper looking hard plastic interior parts actually feel thicker and are better fitted. Go figure!

So far, I've had one rattle or resonance buzzing from the CD holder just below the stereo which is legit. I can actually reproduce it by lightly tapping the passanger side of the lower dash...that's how the Acura tech got it to come back. It occurs on bumps and an acceleration due to resonance from the exhaust. They lubed the damped joint and now it's much better to the point where I don't notice it most of the time. They ordered me a new CD cubby but I am hesistant to have them pry out the old one fearing they will scratch up my interior. They agreed to replace anything that gets damaged. It's been 10 days and I've heard nothing from the dealer.

I also have various little "ticks" and "clicks" that don't bother me so much. I guess I am not as sensitive to those sounds since the stereo and road noise usually drown them out. I accept those as normal since I think it's impossible to totally isolate out the cabin unless you are willing to spend extra money to put felt or Dynamat throught the whole car.

dsc888

 

The TL has has acoustic glass which makes the interior quieter -- but the downfall of that is every little creak, squeak, buzz, and rattle makes its presence known with the quieter interior.

I have been to the dealer probably over 20 times in the past few months that I've owned the car to fix these rattles. Several of them are persistent - ie, they come back repeatedly, and some are new.

 

None here, none at all.

 

DSC888,

What do you mean by, "They lubed the damped joint and now it's much better..."?

I have dash buzz/drone and I would like to try and rectify this as soon as possible.

Thanks,

 

Do alot of you guys have the buzz from the back when you have the bass turned up?

Also the panel surrounding the sub are uneven in my car. Is everyone else's like this? I'll take pictures tonight and post.

 

Stu E.,

Sorry about the ambiguity. The CD cubby has a dampened spring mechanism that allows the door to open slowly with an expensive feel. It's either covered by carbon fiber or wood. I took the car in and they added some kind of a white greese to the door hinge and it immediately got quieter.

The buzz or resonance I have sounds like a bunch of CDs stacked on top of each other and bouncing around. It's like you tossing a bunch of the discs on your passanger seat and hitting bumps on the road. It's no longer there now after the lube. The buzz is still there every now and then. Hope this helps.

dsc888

 

The bottom line with squeeks and rattles could be just plain luck. If you visit any forum (domestic, import, high luxury, mid luxury etc.) and search squeeks and rattles, everyone has threads related to this problem. Also, these forums have many people who don't have any problems. Could it be that they live in areas with nice roads or happened to avoid a large hole that would have otherwise shaken the interior loose, who knows. It's just luck of the VIN# draw.

 

I think taking it to the dealers to work on our cars rattles will not help, or they might even make it worse. :argue:

 

I think the folks who don't have any problems don't post "hey! I have no problems!"

no squeks, no rattles, no nothing...my TL is perfect in every way.

 

No squeaks and no rattles here, either.

But for those of you comparing your rattle-free I35's and Camry's with the TL... was the suspension on those cars as tight at the TL's? Did they handle as well? I doubt it.

My Infiniti QX4 rattles like hell, but it handles alot better than my friend's rattle-free RX300. My GS300 was rattle-free with the soft suspension and 16" OEM wheels, but once I installed L-tuned shocks and 18" rims it wasn't so quiet. Golddog mentioned his FX35 has rattles. That SUV handles like it's on rails. Do you see a correlation here? To me, it's worth the trade-off. If I want something that's tomb quiet and drives like a boat I'll go back to a stock Lexus. You have to make that decision as well.

 

Honda products have always been weak at keeping squeaks and rattles out of the cabin. But this TL is possibly the most quiet car (at keeping exterior noises out) that Honda has built. That interior silence might be the reason why you hear more of the squeaks. I rode in my friend's 2003 BMW M3, and there was a pretty loud creaking coming from the rear deck. It was much harder to hear because the interior was so noisy though (and the engine so loud). If you pay a lot of attention in any car, you will probably hear a fair share of creaks. The TL's creaks are more magnified bacause of the low interior noise.

 

Lots of good points here. To sum it up, it seems:
* Firmer suspension will cause more squeaks & rattles.
* Soft riding cars transmit less road irregularities to the interior parts, so less rattles
* The TL's extremely quiet interior simply makes any interior sound more noticeable
* People who travel on pot holed rough roads will experience more rattles with any car

I'd be willing to bet that the 05 TL will not have significantly less issues with rattles. I say this because I've had several ES300s and yes, they have their own interior noise issues (evn though they are quiet and soft riding). However, I've had first year ES300s and 3rd year 300s...same noises, same weak points. I don't think most manufacturers make any significant change within a typical 5 year design period.

 

dseag2,

Yup. In fact the suspension on my Camry is STIFFER than the TL's. It has Eibach Springs (TRD) with Tokico HP Struts, TRD 20mm rear sway bar with poly bushings, 225/45 17s Yokohama ES100, and front TRD strut bar. My Camry is way more tossable than the TL...granted that I have the EL42s shoes. Trust me. It's still extremely quiet after 7 years of almost all city driving here in the northeast. I still love my TL to death of course but the difference in quality is there. Even the center console armrest feels flimpsy and creaky in comparison. However, I do undertand that Acura needed to cut corners in order to make the car as affordable as it is. I am sure the RL would have much fewer rattles.

dsc888

 

I agree, I had a 200 I30 and 2002 I35, both rock solid nd rattle free, a mnor buzz in back deck under "heavy bass" quickly rmedieed with some padding and 1 trip to dealer. My TL has been in 3 times and still has more creaks and squeaks than a haunted house! And I owned a early production 98 Concorde (don;t hold it against me) and it was also tight and no interior noises. As for the roads, Atlanta suburb roads are nothing liek metro roads in Chicage, NY, etc. And this car is is noisey on fairly smooth roads, I woudl hate to think how much noise it makes in those pot hole riddled cities!

 

I finally had them screw down my back deck. They took a test CD I made and put it in 4 other TLs, I run the sub at +4 and BASS at +4, but even at a vlume of 8-10 back deck was a symphony of buzzes! They put 3 screws on the lip of the back deck that is hidden by the back seat and then 2 more, one on etiehr side of the sub grill, they used screw covers and sprayed them the color of the back deck, so if someone looks at it, it looks liek it came fromt he factory that way. 99% of back deck noise is gone, still now on loud heavy bass I get an occasional buzz, but that is now acceptable and tolerable. It took them 3 attempts to quiet it before I told them to screw it down!

 

Creaks and rattles are unacceptable in a luxury line car. If they can make an extremely quiet cabin they can certainly make hard rubber or composite dash parts instead of hard plastic dash parts that expand and contract into each other over every little road imperfection.

 

This thread is OOOOOOOLLLLLLLDDDDDDDDDD!!!!!!!

 

"Honda products have always been weak at keeping squeaks and rattles out of the cabin."

I have owned 4 Acuras, 2 Legend Coupes and 2 CLS coupes. The Legends had no noise issues even at high miles, they were built like rocks, the 95 Legend cost about $40k. My first CLS (03) had no noise issues (sold it at 15k miles). My 2nd 03 CLS had a sunroof rattle that the dealer but tape on and fixed it.

I think maybe the added complexity of the newer cars and the tighter handling may be part of noise issues some are having on the TL. I know there were lots of noise complaints on the CL. Every car forum I've read has many post abouit rattles.