O.K., at least I think it's fascinating. With all the discontent regarding these tires, why is that I haven't seen one single review where they comment on how poor these tires are? I've seen nothing about vibration, flat spotting, hyroplaning etc. Are these reviewers oblivious, do they get a 'special' TL for testing with different tires, are they reluctant for some reason to come down on Bridgestone OR have they honestly not experienced any of these issues during their reviews? I know they have the car for a limited time during testing, but you'd think they'd still see some of these issues.

Interesting, no?

 

A good point, but there are perhaps a hundred or more members here who have '04 TL's and maybe 10 or so have problems with the EL-42's.

The Detroit Free Press review said his TL was Wobbly

 

they probably never teest drive it in rain or snow or cold weather

 

Roadman, I didn't realize the percentage was that low. Reading the comments I would have guessed over 75%, but I have no way of knowing.

Nicki, could be.

 

I wonder what tires are on the cars that are test driven?

I doubt the cars are tested in the kind of weather that would show the flatspotting if the EL42s are on the test cars.

I didn't have the vibration issue with my EL42s so it might not be a problem on test cars.

If they did test with the EL42s, then the ratings might have been even better with decent tires on the car.

 

I'm sure the truth is in the middle as my dealer says he has a few complaints and I bet ever dealer does, and I am sure there are others that don't even notice it or care about it. Ever been in some ones car and say,"how the hell does he drive this thing with those vibrations" becasue many people don't get their tires balanced and such periodically.

 

Some of the tested cars may even be 6MT with optional tires installed

 

On a recent trip between Atlanta and Birmingham on I-20, the pavement is uneven for the last 20 miles entering Birmingham - man, I thought the car had experienced (4) blowouts. The 04 TL with EL42's literally wanted to become airborn between the pavement sections. Admitedly, this section of highway is not the norm, but..., the road noise was terrible - max safe speed felt about 50 - 55 in a 60 MPH speed limit area....

The EL42's (I have the early version) are unsafe in certain road conditions. I have worked with my dealer and have the (new) version of the El42 on order.


TEAM ANTHRACITE

 

I have had my TL for 5 months. The first month and a half were with the EL42's, the rest on Michelin Pilot Sports. With the EL42's I had flat spotting, serious rain issues, and poor dry weather performance. The Michelin's corrected every problem I had with the Bridgestones.
After the tires were switched out I had to relearn how to drive the car. I had become so careful in not pushing the tires hard that I forgot I was doing it. The Michelin's made my TL fun to drive again.
Don't know if I would go with the "new" version of the EL42's. I would try for the Michelin's.

 

I think that they need more time to form an opinion. For example, I bought my TL the last day of February 04 and only this morning had a bout of flat spotting--the car sat all weekend in the garage (temps were in the 70's at day, 40's at night). normally I drive it several times per day on the weekend so I guess it never has time to flat spot. I have driven the car harder over the past few months and have only now started to really see why these tires get so many complaints. I can't wait to burn these things off.

 

Someone posted a brilliant theory that it was actually a problem with the wheels and not the tires. I am somewhat inclined to believe this. I can say from my perspective that I have had no issues. Then again, I only have 200 miles on the car and the VIN is 44,000+

 

I took delivery of my TL in the middle of March so I think I have the "fixed" EL42. After reading a winters worth of postings here I was ready to drive right to a tire store for something else but have found that these tires are no-where-near as bad as the postings in this forum paint. I only had a little cold weather experience with them at highway speed and I think there is some minor vibrations but they go away quickly, certainly nothing I'd make a fuss about. After break-in I did some panic stop tests on wet pavement and was perfectly satisfied at their stopping power although I think they may be a little weak on hydroplaning resistance. I won't know about traction in snow until next winter but so far I can't complain. I do a lot of highway driving so I've pumped them up an extra five pounds to get an extra few miles between fill ups.

 

There are tons of bad tires in the world, I won't see any particular magazine going to criticize each of them. Also, for those testing, they probably drive the speical tires (HPT) and cars have been tuned specially by Acura.


In tirerack site, although I don't feel their rating is fair, you at least could take a look what those customers said if you're interested in reviews besides TL forum members.

http://www.tirerack.com/survey/Surve...ommentStatus=P

 

Well I'll be getting the revised EL 42s when I pick up my car in a couple of weeks, so I'll see how it feels. For those of you that switched to the Pilots, is their ride not as smooth compared to the EL42s? Also, how would the Pilots compare to the highly rated LS-Zs? I'm looking more for a smooth quiet ride as opposed to extracting the last ounce of race car type handling.

 

Ken7,

The LS-Z is classified as a Grand Touring All-Season ZR where the Pilot Sports are Ultra Performance All-Season YR.

The YR tire is rated for a higher speed 186 MPH so the tire must be strong enough to go that fast safely. The sidewalls are what need to be stronger.

I called Tirerack and they sited this as the reason why the Pilots would corner better than the LS-Z, but the LS-Z would offer a quieter/smoother highway ride than the Pilots.

It sounds like you are looking for a Grand Touring All-Season vs an Ultra perf all-season

 

Yup, I think you're right roadman, thanks. If I decide I can't live with the ELs, I'll probably switch to the LS-Zs. I'm wondering if the LS-Zs are smoother than the EL42s? It should be interesting to see if I can get a swap even if I have to pay a little. I'm assuming switching to the LS-Zs should be easier as far as a swap out is concerned as opposed to the Pilots.

 

If that were the case, new tires of any brand wouldn't fix the problem. Pretty much everybody reports the problems gone after buying new tires. Also, if it were wheels, the flatspotting wound't disappear after warming up the tires for a few miles. Not that some people don't have wheels that are out of round. Vibrations can have numerous causes.

 

I went from new EL42 to LS-Z and the LS-Z is smooth and quiet, noticable improvement over the EL42. They handle nice, but I woudl expcet the Pilots to corner better and be a tad stiffer. Notethe LS-Z stil flat spots a bit, unusually cold here in ATL today 44 degrees and the flat spotting was very noticable, better than EL42, but still annoying.

 

Hi,

I did extensive research on tirerack.com and talked to three tire dealers in the Toronto area. Between them, they said the Turanza EL42s are 'evil', 'absolutely treacherous in the wet', 'overpriced' (list is $550 here in Toronto). It's saying something that I called one dealer and mentioned (w.o. saying what car I drive) that I wanted to trade in four EL42s. The first thing he said to be was to ask if I drove an Acura TL. I was surprised but he said he has had many TL drivers trading in their tires. He indicated this started in force when the first snow fell last year and the EL42s proved to be very poor in traction (go read the tirerack.com reviews... some of them are really scary).
On this basis, I was taking no chances and traded them in right away. I have noticed that the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S I got to seem to be stiffer and communicate more of the road. The ride also feels smoother.