golfingguru

Has anyone had any problems with the wheels spinning on slick surfaces, even with the traction control? I'm wondering if the amount of power going into the front wheels will affect traction on slippery surfaces. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks

Ken1997TL

I suppose if you stab the throttle on a sharp corner, you'll cause some trouble. But this goes for any car with more than 3 cylinders

The TL does an excellent job in poor weather with appropriate tires.

JoganJani

I haven't had any probelms with my 6MT. I'm wearing an HPT on it though. Dunno about EL42s.

WDP-Acura TL

Well I live in FL and experience a lot of rainy days. The car handles good. I do feel hydroing at times ,scary feeling. It handles better than my previous cars though because this one is the heaviest. The VSA only comes on if you floor it through the rain and it the wheel looses grip, if you hydroplane without applying any gas the vsa light wont light up, and no one should apply any gas if they are cruising over puddles of water anyway.I travel 50-45 mph in a 65 mph zone when its pouring like cats and dogs, while every other idiot is doing mach 1. i play it safely with the car because it can only handle good if the driver doesnt drive carelessly.

mikekit

I just did some interstate and city driving before and after Hurricane Charlie in Florida. While rounding a turn at 70 on the interstate during one downpour I was surprised when my lane went underwater. The TL hydroplaned for a second but tracked well and I never felt out of control. The TL handles much like a heaver car in the rain in that it seems to stick well on slick surfaces. Front wheel drive makes wheel spin problems even on dry surfaces.

xlilbluux

i was on my way home from the track with some friends a month ago in my accord with almost bald tires, and was trying to get to an exit and i was hydroplaning for a long time. I couldnt get control at all and it was so scary cause i couldnt get control to keep from hitting this guy beside me(lucky i didnt hit him). i think you have nothing to worry about if you have good tires and drive safe.

¿GotJazz?

Uhhhmmm ... what's rain?

giovanni1

Snow, rain, etc.. It all comes down to the tires

Billy4130

Almost any vehicle will spin tires or hydroplane even a tractor and trailer. I have hydroplaned a few times with my el42 and will replace them for some more aggressive shoes.

DMZ

I hydroplaned frequently on wet roads when I was riding on the original Bullshitstones.
Since replacing them with Falken Ziex 512's (Consumer Reports top rated High-performance all season tire), I haven't even hydroplaned once!

Like a tire salesman once told me, "You're Riding On Your Life".

Sherlock

I've never hydroplaned once in this car. Then again I think I have the reasoning not to be doing 75 in the rain. I've done the speed limit every time in the pouring rain. Occasionally I can detect a slipping feel, but the car doesn't move in any direction when it does it. I also have the skill enough to be looking ahead and not hit big puddles, or slow down by the time I hit them. I have hit some nice standing water on I75/85 downtown and the car makes the normal slowdown as it plows thru it, but i've never lost direction.

I think some people just don't drive within reason in the rain, then try to blame the car or the tires, instead of their own lack of sensibility with relation to the rubber on the car.

DMZ

I don't drive 75 nor above any speedlimits in the rain. Any slipping feel on a wet roadway is unacceptable, even at slow speeds when there's tires available that can limit or prevent it altogether.

kelnshe

I have the new reformulated EL42s (1700 miles), and they hydroplane just as bad as the other ones . These are easily some of the worst tires I have ever experienced. The only thing worse was some Goodyear Eagle GT+4s that I had on my Mitsubishi Eclipse, and they had almost 40000 miles. I've even heard the techs at my Acura dealer say that they have more complants about these tires than anything on the TL. As soon as fall sets in, I'm getting a set of Falken Ziex 512s.

NightRider

I have the EL42's still as well and yes they do hydroplane and lose traction frequently. Thw wheels do spin on dry or slick surfaces, I would just recommend getting new tires asap. One night when the ground was BARELY moist, no real water puddles or anything, I turned VSA off coming out of a gas station and spun the tires all the way to redline in 1st! (5AT) I have also had my car hydroplane several times on the highway while going 10-15 under the speed limit during wet roads. EL's have got to go.

neuronbob

golfingguru, just buy new tires. End of story. I had the original EL42s (I believe I was one of the first to bitch about them, thank you). and they were hydroplaning by 10k miles. I gave them a fair shot and they suck. With my new tires, I have NO problems with handling in the rain.

The EL42s are crap on this car.

Will leave here today, then move to "Tires" later as this thread is mostly about that...

golfingguru

I haven't picked up my 04 TL yet, but I've gotta be honest...It really sucks to have to buy new tires right away after shelling out 33K for a new car! Given the fact that so many people have complained about the EL's and that they are prone to hydroplaning, has anyone successfully gotten the dealer to replace the tires for free?

PoochaKannInc

I know a lot of people have probs with the EL42. I am one of those that don't. Yeah, they are not the best tires, and they do squeal when taking turns aggressively, but my tires have not been the "death on wheels" people have been proclaiming.

I have driven them through the rain, and they performed decently. I agree with Sherlock, that I do drive reasonably through the rain, and try to avoid the left lane on the highways (most roads around here are crowned, so there are a lot of standing water in the left lane). I do expect an improvement with upgraded tires, but if I was not a performance-oriented driver, I would not change out my tires.

neuronbob

I and everyone else on this board who hates the EL42s agree with you 100% that it's lame to have to consider new tires out the door. However, new tires transform this car. To answer your question, several of our members have gotten their dealers to replace the tires for free with other makes. It's difficult, but possible. Howver, most people just line up new tires beforehand, drive straight from the dealer to the tire shop (you know, NTB, etc.), and trade in the brand new EL42s. That, frankly, is your best bet.

golfingguru

Two questions:
1. How much have people gotten in term of trade-in value for new ELs when purchasing replacement tires?
2. What All-season tires work best for the TL in terms of rain, etc...?

Thanks everyone for your excellent feedback. This forum is one of the most informative that I've seen.

DMZ

Why wait???

As soon as you feel the overall difference first moment you're behind the wheel afterwards, you'll wonder why you didn't do it sooner.
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vtechbrain

If you want to feel something really scary come up to Wisconsin! Ever been driving on a road that appears dry at 70mph and press the accelerator and just feel wheel spin??? Then you touch the brakes and all you feel is the pulsation of the ABS but no reduction in speed, oh and forget steering, the car will only go straight ahead!!! Now add to that assholes in semis trying to pass you at 70mph!!! NOw take that feeling and sustain it for 40 miles of seeing cars, trucks and SUV's left and right in the ditch or their tires in the air!!!! And that's with with Blizzaks installed. I'll take hydroplaning all day compared to that feeling!

rets

Try your best to work the deal with your dealer. Your dealership is the only guy who could give you the best trade-in value. They may provide you more than $100 per EL42.

I got $35 each for 3 weeks old EL42.

Michelin Pilot Sport A/S or Falken 512 will be the tires I'm looking for. Michelin is almost the top line of choices. Falken is money wise choice.

mio

I steped on the accelerator pedal in full from stop in a heavy rain, The TL tracked very well ~ nothing to worry about it~

Snive

Hi Golfingguru.... hope I spelled that right.

I drove from Fall River to Lowell last Saturday during those reasonably heavy rains. In case you didn't know, there were sections of the highway with really, really heavy rain and sections with regular rain.

I was driving on 24North and 95/128 North. Bottom line = the EL42s work reasonably well.

At first I was driving normal, which means during heavy downpours, i'd slow down. When the left lane had standing water; I'd move to the middle lane, that kind of stuff. Then I decided to test the tires, because I had read all the posts on here about the evil whose name is EL42.
I never hydroplaned, I never lost traction, the VSA never lit up. Cars were hitting standing water at 65 - 70mph in front of me and moving all over the place while doing so. I took the oppurtunity to test the tires by maintaining speed with them and seeing if my results were any better. Halfway through the puddle I punched the accelerator, waited a fraction of a second and jerked the steering wheel to the right as the power was delivered to the wheels. The car swerved just like it should have, it was as if I was on dry pavement; no VSA, no hydroplaning. I am not going to say that EL42's are the greatest tires ever, but I certainly can not offer proof that supports posters on this forum who say the tires are useless in the rain.

I can only assume that some combination of MA roads with the EL42s makes them reasonable all-weather tires. I noticed that the major complaints about the tires comes from Ohio and Georgia.

Also, I went to both Sunnyside Acura in Nashua, NH and Acura of Peabody and demanded that they switch the tires before I leased the car. Sunnyside said "they never switch the tires from OEM". Peabody said they hadn't heard of problems with the EL42s, so I said, I'd leave the showroom if they wouldn't consider changing the tires. I then walked away from the deal and they never called me back. So I didn't lease from them. . . Eventually I got a sort-of-a price break from Sunnyside, so I gave them my money, with the intention of switching tires before winter sets in. At this point, I'm going to hold off on switching the tires, now that I've seen how well they perform with my style of driving on the highways around here, in the weather that we get here.

Also, note, I'm not going to say these are god's gift to tires. They easily break traction during take-offs, they don't corner as well as I had hoped for and at 70+ they create a medium amount of road noise. Also plese note that I keep all 4 tires at 1 to 2 psi higher than then the suggested pressure and that I check that pressure weekly.

golfingguru

Hey Snive,

Thanks for your reply, it's good to know that the TL with stock tires did well in the monsoon we had last weekend. I'll probably try them out and see how they run for the first week, if I'm not happy then I'll spring for Michelins and trade in the ELs.

What color is your TL?

Liquid _Courage

I hear it's water that falls from the sky... It even falls down in a solid form they call snow

pettydw

The EL42's are excellent in the wet compared to the Michelin MXV4's on my old '99 Civic SI. They hydroplane a bit earlier, but the traction is there. With VSA on, wheel spin is not an issue in the wet. The throttle is chopped if the wheels spin too much, but you can get some slip.

boltjames

I am also in the "EL42's don't suck as much as you are led to believe" camp.

In wet weather I've driven them fairly hard and have not experienced any hydro or slippage issues. When I first got the car in late March, had a good experience in 12 inches of powder on the driveway too.

If you're a 40 year old dad with speeds of 80 on the freeway on sunny days and 60 on rainy days as your only driving vice, these are acceptable tires. If you're a 20-something 'performance' driver seeking adventure, danger, and cutting-edge handling in pasta turns, you're going to dislike the EL42's.

The EL42's best characteristic is 'balance'. Decent handling, smooth ride, quiet operation. Falkens, Michelins, and other brands step up the handling markedly, but its at the sacrifice of added noise and a more harsh and hard ride.

Bottom line: Drive the TL like a sports car? Get rid of the Bridgestone's. Drive the TL like a luxury car? Keep 'em.

At least that's what I've deciphered on this touchy subject in this forum these past five months.

BJ

MasterShake

iTrader: (1)

Falkens and Michelins aren't smoother than the EL42's?

Good God, what tires are smooth then?

DMZ

Have ta give ya that one BJ.

Well said.....

njsesq

Check out my old posts on what to do with your POS EL-42s and how to replace them with LS-Zs for a small price.

T-Mobile

I live in Santa BArbara and we get more than our fair share of RAIN. I bought the 04 TL on December 28th and I couldn't belive how poor it handled in the rain. My 1993 Infiniti G20 handeled better than the TL. I told the dealer and they said they have never heard anything about it.

PaulKCK

Do any of the replacement tires provide any better rim protection? I just cringe when I see how my rims are scratched from the lack of side wall protection of the stock tires.