Tom Champagne

I told the dealer in Grand Rapids,MI(closest one to me) that if he swapped out the tires with ANYTHING but a Bridgestone tire,I'd take the deal. He has not called me back,nor do I expect him to. It's too bad that a great car like this has to have a grand put into it just so that the driver can feel safe and confident on the road,no matter what the conditions.Bt the way,I WAS going to get a WDP w/Parchment,auto.,no navi,with body side moldings.Maybe he'll be in a more generous mood when the 2005's come out and he has a few 04's left on his lot.I'm SO GLAD that this website exists so that any perspective buyers can get the low down on the quirks and problems of this vehicle.

srpatel721

Why not try another dealer in the area? I am sure Minneapolis has more than 1 Acura dealer. You can always get your car serviced at Grand Rapids as the Sales and Service departments are on a different cost center and because of that the service deparment will take care of you regardless of whether you bought your car at their dealer or not.

SPURS&ANTH.TL

Earlier post:
It turns out that even if the dealer and Acura Customer Service wanted to help a customer get different tires their hands are tied right now. Because Acura has only tested the car with the 235s they can not recommend nor will they participate in any type of tire swap...

As for the warranty with 255/40/18's Acura said there should be no problem because the tire circumference is the same and 255s are just a little wider plus most tire manufactures show the 255's to be fine for this car. Now if you want to go with a taller tire at all... that's a different story... for now it can void your warranty.

Explanation was that the computer is set to detect a certain amount of rotation at turns and such to provide safety with ABS/Stability control and putting on a tire with a different circumference can mess that up somehow... you know what I know... Good luck

Tripp11

Hopefully, you at least took your potential TL for an extended test drive and determined first if your tires have any problems. I know, I know...sometimes people don't get the dreaded tire vibration problem until after a few miles are on the car; however, I've had my TL since January and I don't have any issues with the tires and there are plenty more like me who don't have issues with the tires (new or old EL42's).

JoganJani

Why do not you get an optional HPTs? They do not have any problems. But in your cold country they will.

SRPATEL721, Michigan and Minneapolis are not that close.

Tom Champagne

I did take the TL out for a good road test,however,the 1st time was in Fla back in mid-March and the weather was 80+,and the 2nd time here in Mich., I had to wait for the "demo" to come back and the car was very "warmed up" from a tire perspective..so no flat spotting was observed or felt. I just can't see spending $1000 after spending 33-34G's on the car to begin with..

SilverJ

I have no issues with the tires...I have the newer batch...why dont you just use the tire thing as a negotiating point..tell him to knock another 500-1000 off the car and you will buy.

Tripp11

Well, it's cold here in Indy too and I've got the "old, non re-tooled" EL42's and I don't have any problems with the flatspotting. I think the EL42 is a decent tire with low road noise, adequate wet traction and adequate dry traction. Am I out driving my car 9/10ths or to the limit? No.

I guess my whole point was I wouldn't let the tire issue that some people have be the reason you don't get the car. After all, you might not have any issues with the tires on your exact TL. Why not just go up to your dealer and drive one cold?

I understand not wanting to spend an extra grand for tires for a new car though. Maybe they would go halves on it?

Jss1

I wouldn't get caught up in the tire issue either. I've had the original ones since October and they seem fine to me. No flatspotting all winter and no vibrations at any speed.

Tom Champagne

I did offer the deal where he takes off the amount of the new tires and I'll be right there. he declined,saying that he was $700 over invoice and had NO ROOM to negotiate...PLEASE!!!!!!! him admitting to me about the 700 bucks just made me that much more ticked at his attitude. just sell me the car at invoice price and gouge the next person to make up the difference.

rets

I guess Acura Corp. should kill this forum because of tons of complaint about EL42s. If there is no forum like this, ppl will not know what's going wrong with tires unless you buy TL...

Maybe, without this site, Acura could sell more TL each month...

Novice

Just get the freakin car if you have money to buy and replace the tires for crying out loud!

ndabunka

Could you please provide us the exactly $'s price your talking to them about. I'm not a dealer, but there are a few on here that may honor that figure with whatever tires you want...

criss

Buy the car....I have the new tires and have had no problem. After driving this car for 5 days I wouldn't care if I had to put new tires on, it would be worth it.

srpatel721

Sorry about that. Anyway, there's got to be other dealers which are hopefully not too far.

Tom Champagne

the price I'm talking about(700 over invoice) is $33,200 out the door(tax,license and all document fees)and body side moldings.I believe that $33,200 is the window sticker price(without the before mentioned items). My credit union said to me that he's a "little" high,but not bad.

SilverTL

the tire issue is the only reason for not purchasing the tl? i purchased mine in feb and have had ZERO tire issues. the tires aren't the best but stock tires usually aren't anything to write about anyway in most cars.

maecrispy

Hmmm.. it sounds like you're going to lose out as much as that dealer is. I mean, you'd throw out the whole deal over the tires? You'll be depriving yourself of a great car. Trust me, not many cars come with great tires stock.

Why not keep the tires for the summer and fall (if it even flatspots, it should be much less noticeable during the warmer months), beat on them, and then get a pair of winter or all seasons before winter hits?

Or immediately go to your local Discount Tire and get $70-$80/tire as trade-in towards some P Zero Nero's? $300 for a set of great all season like the P Zero's is almost a steal, really.

Just my $0.02. Good luck with your new car purchase, whatever it is.

TLGator

I'm going to sound like an ass. Won't be the first time. Won't be the last.

Get over it. Buy the fucking car. Live with the tires a day or two, see if in fact you hate them. If you hate them, get a different tire. You might be able to trade, you might get partial compensation. You might have to fork out some dough. But this is the car you really want, right?

Or, buy a different car with better tires and spend 3,4,5 years dissatisfied with the lesser car but loving its great tires!

I have no problem with the 42s. They are certainly not God's gift to rubberdom. They are adequate, though. In fact more than adequate. Completely suitable for a dimwit ordinary city driver like me.

jonro

Excuse me, but what's the problem with the Bridgestones? Why are they so despised?

TLGator

Because they make racist comments, refuse to eat their vegetables, and like to fart in public. In short, they are just plain rude shoes, the kind not befitting a princely car like the TL.

Now the non-sarcasm: check the forum threads. You probably don't even need to do a search, there are that many threads about the tires.

Tom Champagne

I'm sorry if I sound like a whiny-butt....I'm really not as shallow as some here might think..I think 33G's is a lot of money and to have to spend more right away(even tho many of you here say the tires aren't that bad)just doesn't seem right. As far as my other new vehicles I've bought over the years,mainly Ford's,I've never changed out the stock tires unless I was modifying the car.Another reason is the way the dealer has treated me...basically like a KMart shopper...maybe I should not give up on the car and try the AnnArbor dealer..altho it's a bit far for me to get service. Anybody buy from Ann Arbor? how was your experience? service? thanks for any info and I will stop WHINING about the TL tire issue.

Dirac

I can say from experience that it's definitely worth it to shop around. I ended up going with a dealership 40 miles away in Cincinnati because 1) they dealt more professionally and 2) they saved me an extra thousand bucks from the Dayton dealership. As far as service goes, any Acura dealer can do warranty work, but they may not offer a loaner unless you have it serviced where you purchased it. But if you're uncomfortable with the Grand Rapids dealership now, it's not going to get better when you need service!

greaTLakes

Sorry to hear about the poor experience. I purchased my TL from East Imports (the Grand Rapids dealer) and have had nothing but great service. The salesman even told me about the tire issue up front and said if I ever was noticed the shaking to bring it back for a free tire replacement - even after getting $750 off sticker and dealer cost on the rear wing and body kit.

Formula 350

WOW!! The first red 6MT I have seen. Except for Nav it is what I wanted.. but was unwilling to wait.