boltjames

I've got a 42 month / 37,000 mile lease on the TL that I'm picking up tomorrow.

It's my first lease, so I'm not 100% sure of how the tire situation plays out at the end. Assuming that if I show up with Bridgestone's with 37k miles on them, will Acura charge me for a set of new tires?

If so, wouldn't I be better off buying the Michellin's everyone raves about in here first thing tomorrow morning, put the potentially defective Bridgestone's in my garage, and then show up in 42 months with well-worn Michellin's on the car and four brand new Bridgestone's in the trunk?

Will this plan work? Would you advise I do it? Will the Michellin's tread-out before 37k and ruin my plan? Should I just fight with my Acura dealer before signing the paperwork? Do I just wait and see if my Bridgestone's suffer the unfortunate flat-spotting issue?

Help.....

daviddww

I have never done a lease, so I don't know, but 37,000 miles in 42 months! Damn I wish I could keep mine under 37,000 in 12 months

boltjames

Just a daily commuter car for me with the occassional long trip. With a wife and three kids in carseats, the Odyssey's the one that does the heavy lifting.

smoore

Most leases allow for normal wear and tear but wear items must be replaced if they are worn out. In Canada the leases actually specify that the tires must have 3 mm of tread left or they must be replaced. I just went through this on a 4 year lease with a Toyota Avalon XLS and had to replace all 4 tires just before the end of the lease. I would check with a tire dealer about a year before the lease is up and if they think you won't make it, then buy the new tires then. At least you will get a year out of the tires you are obliged to pay for. If you are driving in winter conditions you will want the bit of new tires for the last year of your lease.

I plan to run the Bridestones until the fall and replace them for the winter with the Michelins. I have a 48 month lease and I know that I will be obliged to buy tires as I expect to put about 80,000 km on the car in the 4 years. That might make sense for you as well.

Hybrid

Excellent plan! That would be great justice to Acura to return the car with the as-new "defective" Bridgestones. (Not too good for the next owner, of course). Your new TL will likely have the re-formultated Bridgestones, though, so you will probably not experience a flat-spotting problem, and the new tires probably aren't defective. (Nobody knows for sure yet).

If the tires you are returning with the car are truly worn out, you'd be charged for replacements. They'd actually want the replacements actually on the car, not in the trunk, so you MIGHT be charged for mounting and balancing. Or maybe not, as they'd be happy to just get the NEW tires, which would help sell the car.

It's actually likely that the Bridgestone's won't last 37K miles. Their treadwear rating is 140, which is pretty low, relative to other tires. The Michelin Sport A/S tires have a treadwear rating of 400. Those numbers depend on too many factors to translate directly into a mileage, but the Michelins should outlast the Bridgestones by almost three times, all else being equal. I'd say the Michelins would last 37K miles, unless your driving is hard on tires.

TLGator

boltjames - Your leasing company should provide you with specific information about what they consider normal wear and tear, including tires, and what they consider more than that.

If you lease through American Honda Finance (as I did for my CL and now my TL) you will receive a package containing very specific and clear info about how many dings and how large, etc., and how much tread must remain on each tire to qualify for normal wear and tear. (The lease inspector will actually measure the remaining tread with a ruler.)

Once you have that info, I recommend doing NOTHING about the tires for the first twelve months, unless you decide you absolutely hate the Turanza's and can't live with them under any circumstances.

Twelve months will tell you several things:

* how they do in each season
* how many miles you put on in a year
* how likely you are to have to replace the tires before lease end

If at twelve months you decide you can live with the tires and probably won't need to replace them based on your miles/driving habits, just ride 'em out. If you either can't live with them or it seems they won't last, replace them at the twelve month mark and keep them in storage. Enjoy some other tire for the remaining 30 months of your lease (or however long they last) and then put the Turanzas back on, preferably right before your end-of-lease inspection.

FYI, that's my own plan as well. But since I only accumulated 17,000 miles on my CL in 36 months, and likely won't do much more in my TL, I'll probably just ride out the Turanzas (they'll surely last 17-18k without needing replacement).

apwalsh

I'd replace them soon after you get the car. I had to get brand new tires on my old car and only got to use 1K miles of the tread on them. A waste of money. Better off just getting what you want now. (It isn't hard to choose a much, much better tire than the Turanzas) And then you can put the old ones back on at the end of the lease.

It's up to you!

TLGator

apwalsh - I would generally agree with you but his lease is 42 months / 37000 miles and depending on what alternate tires he gets they may not last the whole way. So a waiting period may make more sense for him unless he's already sure he can't live with the Turanzas. On a lease, you don't want to end up buying TWO extra sets of tires.

boltjames

Thanks again guys! Great info. BJ

apwalsh

The OEM tires generally do not last as long as identical aftermarket tires. The tires that come on the TL, (besides the vibration which boltjames will most likely not suffer from), already suck, for lack of a better term. If he uses aftermarket tires for the meat of the lease, he can put the Turanza's back on for a few thousand miles. If he wears those tires out and has to get another set again, then chances are he probably would have had the same problem even if he kept them on in the first place.

I'm not sure if I explained it correctly for you to understand. What I'm really trying to advise is: If you are going to buy new (and most likely better) tires anyway, you might as well use the entire life of the tires that you paid for.

You can get much better tires than the Turanzas for less money than the Turanzas cost to replace with the same thing. And you will notice the difference in the quality as well.

abwolf13

I'm leasing and I replaced my tires with the Michelins the 2nd day. I didn't keep the bridgestones because discount tire gave me a trade in credit. It's worth the extra money, it's a totally different car without the bridgestones on.

boltjames

apwalsh / abwolf:

I like where you're coming from. I'm picking up my 5AT today....can you advise which exact aftermarket tires I should choose if a) lack of road noise and b) snow traction are my two biggest needs? Would that be the Michellin's? If so, can you post the model number and size for me?

Thanks!

comdoctor

Hi Hybrid,

Do you have Turanza with 140 Treadwear rating? I have 260 on mine. Is that a different version of Turanza? Mine was made on 46/03.

Thanks,

apwalsh

Michelin Pilot Sport A/S
Falken Ziex 512

The Falken's are cheap, the Michelins are more expensive.

I have driven a TL with the Falkens on it and they are so much better than the Turanzas. I have heard the Michelins are very good also, although I have no experience in that dept.

Just get the same size tires as the stock. (235-45/17)

boltjames

apwalsh: Thanks....one more question just for clarity:

Assuming for a moment that my Bridgestone's won't be defective, are the Falken/Michellin quieter *and* offer more traction too? Or would I just be trading a more quiet cabin for a less safe and sticky ride?

Again, assuming the Bridgestone's aren't defective, I'd rather have better traction and a little more cabin noise for the sake of safety.....I'm not going to be doing 95 on the freeway and 75 on the curves.......80 highway, 45 curves.......so what's the *safest* and stickiest of the three?

Thanks!

abwolf13

I got the Micheline Pilot Sport A/S. Better ride, better handling, better cornering, no flat spotting in the morning, no vibration, and just as quiet.
I think all of the bridgestones are bad, but not every TL owner notices. You will notice the difference in ride quality immediately with better tires, though. My wife noticed the difference right a way, and she never notices those kind of things.

apwalsh

Both of the alternate tires mentioned have a better rating for rain, snow and dry weather traction/safety. I believe that they are both also quieter than the Bridgestones, but it might only be one of them that is quieter than the Bridgestones.

Somewhere in this forum there is actually a post with a scanned CR review of these tires. You should do a search and you'll have to dig, but you'll see the actual ratings which is better than taking our word for it.

DMZ

The Consumer Reports tire ratings are in my gallery. Anyone can see them there if and when the gallery ever returns.

Top rated:
Falken ZIEX 512's - High performance All Season
Goodyear F1's - Summer

Best of all, the Falkens are about ½ the price of the Michelin Pilots.

Ron A

Based on the price of the Falken tire in Consumer Reports, I would assume they tested the H rated tire, which doesn't come in our size, and neither does the V rated ZIEX. The only one is the W rated ZIEX.

I think it is good to know that Consumer Reports rated the Falken as the top brand, but I would have to question if the data supplied for the tire they tested would be the same as for the W rated tire.

TLGator

OK, I see where you guys are coming from. No point in driving around with tires you hate.

I'm gonna have to wait, if for no other reason than right now I have no place to store the Turanzas.

Hybrid

Yes, you might be right there on the treadwear rating. My EL42s are in bags in my garage, and I don't feel like checking.

But the Bridgestone website lists them as 140 for the TL (just checked again to verify). That's what I based the number on. Some other applications are listed as 260. The only other 140 rating for EL42 is the BMW 7 series runflat version. It might be a mistake on the website, and maybe should be 260. That would actually make more sense for this tire.

abwolf13

Don't store them, trade them in.