svtmike

I have good news to report (for me) on the vibrating tire front.

I had my car in today to get the rattling glove box fixed. I took a moment to discuss the continuing vibration problems with the service manager, and he told me he couldn't do anything, it's a common problem, Acura is working on it, it might be six months, I have to wait because he has to wait, his hands are tied, he's not authorized to change my tires, etc.

I wasn't happy with his story, and I wasn't convinced that they'd done everything they could to fix my car.

So after confirming that my glove box was fixed, I went and spoke to the business manager about my tires and my frustration with getting them fixed. He had told me when I bought the car that if I ever had a problem that wasn't getting solved, to let him know. So I talked to him for a bit. He brought their general sales manager to me.

The general sales manager told me some of the same things, but also told me he personally drives an '04 TL and has no vibrations at 50-55, and that one of the other guys drives one and only has very subtle vibrations. I told him my vibration was not subtle in the least; I could feel it in the wheel, I could feel the floor of the car shaking, and I could hear it booming inside the car.

I also convinced him that although lots of fingers were being pointed at the EL42 in general, no one had eliminated the possibility that my EL42's were specifically defective or much worse than the rest. I told him that the fact that his car didn't have the vibration at all, and that my car had an obvious vibration, and that none of my tires had been replaced, that my four tires had not been eliminated as the problem.

He went and spoke to the service manager and came back with an offer to swap my wheels and tires with four brand new ones from a car on the lot. I agreed.

One hour later, I had my car back, with 4 new wheels and tires (still the stock rims and EL42s), but it doesn't have even a trace of the 50-55mph vibration. The tires did exhibit the flatspotting, but that went away after a few miles like it's supposed to.

Since this just happened a couple hours ago, I don't know that the problem won't resurface (I don't suspect it will), but for now I am convinced that there was something seriously wrong with the original set of tires that I had.

Mike
'04 Abyss Blue Pear/Quartz 5AT, no longer vibrating at 50-55.

jimthegreek

thats great to hear... but technically, the dealer is now supposed to let the person know that the wheels and tires on that new vehicle are used.. and sell it at a discount, but im sure they wont..

svtmike

I don't know what they're going to do with them, and that's really not anything I can concern myself with. What they should do is tell Acura that they have four defective rims and tires that they need replacements for and put another new set on that car.

Mike

need4spd

Thanks for the info, on anouther thread, the svc mgr said that they have redesigned the EL-42's, so maybe you got the new ones?

http://www.acura-tl.com/forum/showth...0&pagenumber=3

See the fifth post down.

Thanks again!

svtmike

I did see that, but can neither confirm nor deny that statement. All I know is that this set of EL42s seems to be fine.

I would conjecture that if a redesign had been done, and was in production, that the service managers would have been advised.

I'll also note that I looked at one of the tires to see if it had any markings that might indicate date of production; I found an obvious mold insert marking of "4803", which could mean week 48 of 2003.

Mike

RJC RSX

do you mean you don't know, or you do know but cannot tell us

svtmike

I mean I don't know.

Mike

RJC RSX

oh okay, i was about to PM you

TorontoTL

What did they do to fix your rattle in your glove box? I have an occasional clicking noise going over big bumps that seems to be coming from the glove box.

svtmike

Apparently the glove box rattle comes from the glove box assembly rubbing/banging against the structure of the dashboard. What they did was to take the glove box out and apply felt tape where the glove box is meeting the dash structure to eliminate the sound.

Mike

LED Master

At the 4th visit, they replaced the whole glove box:wow:

It took two weeks to get it in.

marquis

Re: globe box rattle: I was told that there is a problem with the clip mechanism that holds the glove box in place. The rattle tends to get introduced when the gove box is removed the first time for service. Typically replacing the clips (and not the entire glove box itself) resolves the problem.

LED Master

They replaced the clips on the second visit, that did not fix it.

michael3314

I fixed the rattle myself. You have to remove the glovebox. Easier said than done. Once you have it out, the adjustment of the catch is easy. Two screws, towards the rear tightens. Put it all back togeather and rattle is gone. Has nothing to do with the clips.

C5Racer

I am also having a tire replaced. My TL was pulling to the left and has a slight vibration. Service switched the tire to the other side now it pulls to the right. Unfortunatly they had to order a Tire from Tire Rack. They should have it by Monday. I'll report the results after the switch is made.

rets

Mike, very impressive your efforts and the kind dealer you have. Congratulations, tires replacement apparently are the solution for you.

I got some questions if you don't mind. First of all, that general sales manager personally drives 04TL and has no vibrations at 50-55.

Have you ever driven his car or he driven your car? I just want to make sure you guys get the same standard to measure the strength of vibration.


Second, those 4803 EL42s seem to be well-fit into your car and they do eliminate your vibration issue. With your old set, did you feel vibration if downshifting to 4th or neutral from 5th gear (1500RPM, 50-55 mph)? Now, I think you obviously feel no vibration no matter what your speed, RPM, and shift positions.


Third, I'm kind of fuzzy about your past experiences. Did you suffer the severe vibration when the speed was increasing? Or you only have this issue during 50-55 mph?

Thanks. I just like to figure it out clearly myself.

svtmike

My answers are in regular fonts below.

It was worst between 50-55 mph, decreased above that. I never took it to a speed where it became stronger again.

Mike

rets

Mmmm... ...

I have slight vibration. After the dealer rotates my tires today, I still feel the same thing... ok. My 04TL only experiences this issue at 5th gear, 1400-1800 RPM range. If I have neutral, 4th gear, or 3rd gear, the vibration is disappeared.

If I use 4th gear with 1400-1600 RPM, I may feel tiny vibration.

Thus, IMHO, I guess it's my engine or tranny issue.

I hope my dealer could provide me some EL42s swap plan if messages from Jimmyz and jimthegreek can pass through my dealer's network.

Thanks for replies. Mike.

(Will you still try 89 octane for TL? I'm gonna try it tomorrow, and need4spd has tried one tank now...no significant update yet...)

svtmike

The drivetrain does buzz at lower revs, but that's a characteristic I'm used to from my Odyssey (which has a similar but not identical engine/trans), and nothing that bothers me.

The "vibration" I felt was more like a shaking than a buzz; just a few cycles per second kind of oscillation.

I've no intention to try lower octane gas. I don't think that has anything to do with what I had.

Mike

rets

Mike,

My EL42s are 3903, VIN 46xx, but they don't have vibration as yours before. Do you remember what those numbers were on your old tires? Thanks.

svtmike

rets,

I never made note of the date code on the previous tires.

Mike

mrtech

Mine says 3903 as well. My experience of slight vib seem to be a "flat spot" issue since the vib is negligable once the tires have been driven several miles. I'm having the dealership check on it anyway.

USCGMoose

I guess I have the rare exception, my car vibrates excessively at idle... even in park or neutral, but I get no noticable vibration at highway speeds other than normal road imperfections I feel in every car I drive.

I guess I should consider myself lucky since cars are for driving and not for sitting in the driveway. I'm still curious if anyone thinks their car idles rough???

jyg tl 3

had vibratation at idle to 1500 rpm/ could feel through wheel & seats, did not notice
while driving,