So I got the EL-42's with date code 08-04. They're still pretty terrible; I'm not sure if the suspension is off or whatever, but they're not much better.

My recommendation to all of those with the older tires - if you're *really* concerned and pissed off, get them replaced and then go to a tire place and buy new tires.

I'm personally on the fence - I want better tires with better traction, less vibration, and greater peace of mind. I *don't* want to shell out $800 on a leased car (that was the point of leasing).

I just dunno if Acura is going to do anything...

 

As I've recommended many times here, your best and most economical bet is to go with the #1 rated tire by Consumer Reports, the Falken Ziex 512's. Everyone here who has them is extremely happy and they're about ½ the price of the Michelin Pilot Sports A/S's.

 

UPDATE: Acura called me to get some feedback. Very nice of them and they're being more honest.

I've heard that the ZE-512's experience flat-spotting as well.

Even though I live in Atlanta and really don't need A/S tires (which is the root of this problem), I may just go with Pirelli P-Zero Neros. They appear to be a better tire than the Michelin Pilot Primacy (a tire geared towards wet driving).

 

I've been looking around on the net for a good price for the Falken's
$600+ is about the best price I have seen. Is there a better price than that
out there? Now I'm looking at 18" not "17.
Craig

 

Mine are due to be replaced next week. Most people here said the ride was better and even possibly quieter. Did you feel flatspotting already? About the traction issue, I am older and as such do not go beating up my TL too often so the EL 42's were never a traction problem for me. What kind of traction issues did you have?

Thanks,
Howie

 

I assume the new EL42's have the same treadwear rating as the previous ones. Which is 260 according to the tire. The Bridgestone website states the EL42 for the Acura TL is only rated 140 the same as the BMW 7-series, the Infiniti G35 is rated 260... Not only can they not make decent tires but they don't seem to know the specs of each tire they produce! With a 140 rating the tires will be gone before some of us actually get replacements!

 

I rotated my tires last week at 7k and they look like they are half worn out. 15k to 20k looks like its about all we will get out of the stock tires........sucks.

 

"Lindros2", I'm on the list...net/net, Acura calls you, you indicated they were "honest", o.k., what were they so honest about? '...The replacements will only slightly improve your problem.' I'm wondering if I should even bother getting my replaced. Did they give you and new options?

 

discount tiresdirect 1800 707 8473
$396 delivered to my door in 24 hours.
4 Falken ZIEX ZE 512 b Consumer reports top rated tire
fuel efficient, quiet and cheap.

 

Good Morning. Have a new '04 TL and have had a "vibration" issue (45-60mph) since driving it off the lot a few weeks ago. Car now has 775 miles. It is in the dealer right now (9:00am EST 3/31/04) for this problem. Has it been determined that this problem is solely tire related? If so, my expectation is that my dealer, acting as a representative of Acura dealing with a warranty-type issue, should fix the problem by replacing the tires. Am I naive?

 

If the 45-60 mph vibration continues after a few miles, when the tires have warmed up, then it is not related to tires but to one of the following-engine revs, driveline vibration or tuning, and I think there is another one which I can't remember now.

Acura has stated that the vibration between 45-60 is "normal" and will not take any action to correct it.

Try putting the SS into 4th gear; the vibration will go away when the rpm's increase. It is the 1500 rpm area where the vibration occurs.

When the search function is enabled you can do a search on "vibration" which should yield more information.

 

i had mine replaced yesterday and now the vibrations are even worse but now the speed that the vibrations are felt are between 70-80. also they scratched all my rims trying to get rim off the car.

 

[QUOTE=lindros2]
I've heard that the ZE-512's experience flat-spotting as well.
QUOTE]

Lindros,
I have the Falken ZE 512's on my car and have had them for about 3000 miles now. Absolutely no issues with the tires.

 

New tires almost pay for themselves whenever I leased a car. I usually get better tires but go up from say 45's to 50's. Spedo will read slower than you are really going, but only by about 5%. The real savinsg is that the Odometer also records about 5% less mileage. Drive 40k and you just saved 2k miles x .15 = $300

 

I had that same vibration problem between 70-80. I've kind of gotten used to it because it seems to be partially due to the road. Does your vibration shake the entire car or if is it very soft and mild? Does your steering wheel shake visibly?

 

Huh? You didn't really get better gas mileage, it just looks that way. The real advantage is for the warranty, so if you drive a lot, the 50,000 won't come up as soon.

 

How are the Turanza LS series, are they better tires? What would be a good option if i wanted a good all around tire that was quiet as well as having decent snow and wet handeling?? :think:

Im looking to get new tiers to replace the OEM's. I was shying away from High/Ultra High performance tiers for fear that they would have very poor snow handeling and living in new england means that they need to at least be ok in that respect.

Looking for some opinions....

Dave

 

lore,
i wasn't able to maintain my speed at 70-80 since there was alot of traffic in the morning. i don't think mine shakes the entire car but will be looking at more in depth when i go home from work. i am waiting for dealership to call me back on what they want to do about the tires and also about my rims.

 

Lindros: who in Atl did you get to swap the tires out ?? So far I've had it with Baranco near me, and Athens where I bought the car. I had an appt with Ed Voyles to get the door module replaced but Athens called first and said they had it. I wasn't going to go back up there but they scratched my rims so I had to go up to argue it and they did the memory seat module that day.

Right now I could care less about the tires, it's 10 minutes of hell in the mornings, after that it's smooth as a baby's @$$ up thru 140mph so i'm not concerned.

But now I have to go get the windshield wiper spray nozzle adjustment UNDONE that Athens did. now the spray hits the wiper arm if the wipers don't activate and it just drips all over that. Such SH!**Y service that they can't even test the spray pattern after they adjust it.

Asi es la vida.

BTW: which TL in atl are ya, I haven't seen many. What roads do you travel around.

 

Sorry, I did not mean that I got better gas mileage, actually this would result in less miles per tank so less MPG would be the result, but it really would not be accurate.

Essentially the car would have less miles on the odometer than if I left the stock size on.

 

Synoil - DiscountTiresDirect has the Falkens in some 18" sizes, for less than $150 each. Check 'em out.

RonA - I think what he meant was that when he returned the leased car the dealership charged him less money for mileage used.

 

For browndognj -- Acura is at least honest that the new tires have issues as well.
---
My issue is that I just don't want to fork over $700 for new tires after acquiring a $35,000 car.

I'm tired of being a guinea pig. I would recommend people begin to push for money towards new tires of their choosing.

-josh

 

Thanks for the correction. I completely missed the point of the thread, which was less miles on the lease.

 

I don't like the new 42's either, so I just ordered my self some new rims with the toyo proxes4, hope these are good tires.

 

I'm trying to work a deal with my local tire store to "trade" my EL42's for Yoko AVS ES100's in 255/40/17 size. I'm waiting to hear back how much this will cost me. I have 1.7K on the EL's. I looked up prices on Tirerack & the EL's list for $165 ea, while the Yoko's cost $116 each. Hopefully it won't cost me much...

 

I just got the new OEM EL42s. They are much better than the old ones. Flat spotting is gone and the ride is a little softer. Much much better from my point of view.

 

I talked to my tire guy locally & he will charge me $95 to swap out the EL's for the Yokphama AVS ES100 in the 255/40/17 size. I'll have some feedback next week after I get them installed.

 

Is that $95 per tire or all 4 tires.......?

 

Before you go spend money try escalating through Bridgestone. I opened a complaint with their consumer hotline, they sent me a Firestone store then they put me in touch with a district manager who is replacing my EL42s with LS-Zs. I get the impression for free, although I did offer to pay any difference.

 

No, it's $95 total OTD mounted, balanced, etc.

 

I got my LS-Z replacements today and the simple response is WOW! What a world of difference. Much nicer ride, no evidence of flat spotting or vibrations, seems to handle as good or better than the EL42 and rides much quieter and smoother.

 

Care to give me the name of the store if I ever need to swap!!

 

nice move. Please provide the consumer line. How did your conversation actually unfold. How much detail did you give them? Are they aware of the problem?

 

Is it possible that the E42s are actually good performance tires with performance compound that compromises the flat spotting for good grip and that the problem goes away when they warm up? Is it a classic case of "tough titty but good milk"?

Should we wiggle through morning traffic like Formula One drivers when they warm up their tires?

If the tires are so bad, why are they so expensive to buy a la carte? They cost MORE than the Potenza HPT's off the rack.

 

Consumer Affairs - U.S. Retail Operations

Consumer Affairs Dept.
P. O. Box 7988
Chicago, IL 60680-9534
800-367-3872

They will answer as Firestone, but handle both. It appears Brisdgestone Corporate has NOT informed the consumer side yet, no one I talked to was aware of the problem. I was polite and explained that it is a known problme that Acura confirmed it and that I was unhappy with the tires and did not want to wait for redesigend tires that may or may not fix it. They said I had to go to a Corporate owned Firestone store which they gladly looked up while I was on the phone. I asked them to open a case file so there would be a record, which they did. I went to the store and they had no idea what to do. Some store managers may have been involved with OEM tires, mine wa not. This actually worked to my advantage (although I had to take soem extra steps). I had to call back consumer line (good thing I opened a case #). and told them the store did not know what to do so they forwarded my case to a district manager. Took a few days of phone tag, but when I got the district manager I explained the entire situation about this is a big problme and Acura is working with Bridgestone, but in the mean time I hated the tires. I told him I begged Acura to swap them for something else and was willing to pay the difference. I made sure I told them I liked Bridgestone tires and had them on previous cars (which I did, 93 Mazda, and my 02 Infiniti both of which I was happy with the tires). We talked and he said that soemtimes a particular tire and car combination just is not a got fit, he even volunteered some of their examples. He relaized I had done my homework since I mentioned LS-Z in our conversation. He was very accomidating and wanted me to be a happy customer (unlike Acura, who just wanted me to go away). He offered up LS-Z tires and had them over nighted in (I told him he did not have to over night them). I got a call from the store 2 business days later, tires were in. I went Friday to get them swapped, NO CHARGE. I did eelct to take the Road Hazard coverage, figured it was the least I could do as they were so helpful and I was ready to drop $600+ on repalcement tires if this failed so what is $135 on a set of 4 LS-Z tires! Well these tires are totally awesome. I am riding them at 36lbs (I actually had the EL42's at 36lbs to help the flatspotting, whcih it did not). These tires are very quiet, very smooth and handle very well. They are high performance All Season tire so they will not match a Perfroamcne only tire like the RE950, but they do give a great ride and good handling. Car is smooth all they way through 85 (haven't pushed past that yet). Of cousre the dumb ass I am the next morning I hit a curb so now I need to get one wheel refinished and the tire remounted and balanced, but the car is still silky smooth and the only vibrations I feel are any the road transmits. I see no evidence of flat spotting, contrary to what others have said about the LS-Z, but then my El42's flat spotted mostly on colder (less than 40-45) mornings, btu they never felt smooth after miles of driving. I am very pleased with Bridgestone and the way they handled this. I am very pleased witht he tires, and while Acura has lost a repeat customer, Bridgestone has gained one!

 

I'm going to have Pirelli PZero Nero M&S put on. Great story but I don’t have the time to go thru all of this. I will try and sell the old tires after these are installed. The cost should be somewhere around 130 a tire installed. I don’t blame the individual dealer as much as Acura’s main headquarters’. The dealers seem to be in a tuff spot. It’s funny that the Honda 2000 stock tires are really nice tires and TL comes with these. Make no sense.

 

The EL42's do not offer above average grip, IMO, for their size and profile. There are vastly better gripping tires out there in the same price range.

Mike

 

Here's one more BIG vote for Falken Ziex 512's. I had mine swapped off at the dealer and have the Turanza's in my basement. The 512's are everything I heard they'd be. They cost me $408 delivered from edgeracing.com.

 

The car that's Consumer Reports #1 rated upscale sedan deserves to have Consumer Reports #1 rated all-season high performance tires on it.

 

(Psst! Whadya gonna do with those Turanzas? Make me an offer.)