93SHOcar

I have been following this and other on-line sources very closely for the last several months and continued to be more and more impressed with all that the new TL has to offer. Then, after several lengthy test drives, I had finally determined that the TL 6 speed was the right replacement for my aging 93 5sp SHO.

The only thing that still bothered me was Acura's choice of tires. Having hydroplaned my 83 GTI off of a highway 15 years ago, tire choice is something that continues to be very important to me. I approached my local tire dealer and they said they could sell me the Michelin Pilot A/S for $210/tire but could not offer me any trade in on the EL42's. They simply had no way to move the technically used tires.

I didn't want the hassle of trying to move the tires through Ebay or the classifieds, so I went back to the dealership and told them to make this deal work for me, I wanted them to swap out the tires for the Pilot A/S and allow me credit on the EL42. It took them a couple of days to work the numbers but they came back with $240/tire for the Pilots and a $100/tire credit for the EL42s. Net cost of the upgrade would be $560 + $80 for mount and balance. Not an outstanding deal but acceptable. Plus, the dealership would back the Michelins as a dealer so any balance problems, whether vehicle or tire induced, would be their responsibility. I was told that they already carried Pilots in other sizes for their BMW section of the dealership.

For me, this sealed the deal. I was going to have tires that I felt were a much better match to the TL from day one and everything could be handled and backed through the dealership. While this type of tire swap is not something the dealers are going to advertise, I encourage others to give this a try.

My TL 6 speed with Nav is due in February. As far as C&D's "dreaded torque steer", I have been extremely pleased with driving a moderately modified 5 speed SHO for 10 years and 150K miles. I think I can learn to live with what the TL dishes out !

fsttyms1

the PILOTS A/S is a AWSOME tire.

neuronbob

Congratulations on your order! I think you handled the tire situation in the best way I've heard of--make your purchase contingent on their providing the tire, and add the cost to your financing so you don't have to pay out the nose immediately. I wish now I had thought to do that.

Good job!

abwolf13

My Infiniti lease is up in April. I'm e-mailing local dealers now to see who will give me the best deal on a TL and I'm going to insist on a tire swap as part of the deal as well. I'll update this post when I hear back from any of the dealers.