bluenoser

Has anyone checked tread wear?
The reason I ask is my EL 42s show extreme tread wear, in fact I've worn out two sets of rear tires (to the wear bars) in 4,500 miles.
I'm sure this is unusual, but are others experiencing higher than usual wear - especially rear tires?

smoore

I only have 2300 km on my TL. I washed and waxed the car this weekend and I didn't notice any wear on my tires.

vclune

The original tires only have a treadware rating of 260, which is not very high. They are designed to give good handling at the expense of treadware.

It is very unusual for you to have extreme treadware on the rear tires of a front drive car, unless you are very aggressive, but I would think the fronts would still wear faster.

I have 5500 miles on mine with no sign of wear front or rear.

I would start investigating what could cause that with a trip to the dealer and then a tire store for another opinion.

I can already hear the dealer trying to pass it off as your driving style, and that they have had no complaints about these crappy tires.

Good Luck

Euliscool

My friend just bought a 350Z a couple weeks ago and i showed him my car. He looked at my tires and said. WOW you have 260 tread wear, and i said is that good? he said mine's 90 hahahaha

Lore

That is extremely unusual, especially since the TL is a FWD car. Have you checked the alignment or balance on your wheels/tires? Did it wear out evenly?

Aegir

That shouldn't happen. Those tires should last 10 times longer than that. Something is not right...

bluenoser

It was on a trip (vacation) from Nova Scotia to Florida - 3,400 Km (2,200 miles. When I got to Florida the rears were totally worn out. Concerned I couldn't go any further without tires, I called American Acura and they suggested I take it to a dealer in Tampa to have the car checked. I called the dealer and told them my problem and booked an appointment. I arrived only to find they couldn't load the 04 alignment settings into their alignment machine, but visually inspected the rear tires and said it wasn't an alignment problem, just bad tires. Before going there, I visited a BS dealer who said just the opposite! This dealer did say that without the alignment results for my car no BS dealer would take responsibility for the tire wear.
This dealer then called another dealer in Clearwater who could do the alignment and would take me as soon as I arrived.
I got there and this dealer just wanted me to go to a BS dealer (there was some relationship) and called the dealer who, on the phone, said it was the tires and not alignment. Incredible he could determine that over the phone. The only problem was he couldn't look at them until the next day, so I asked the Acura dealer to perform the alignment, and I would see the BS dealer later. To my amazement, the Acura dealer refused to perform the alignment, and that it may not be covered under warranty. I said I'd gladly pay to have the alignment performed and asked at least three more times to perform the alignment, so I wouldn't have to go through the finger pointing spin cycle another day, but the dealer wouldn't do it.
At this point I left and called my home dealer, Atlantic Acura in Nova Scotia, and explained my situation and they stepped up and said they would reinburse me for two replacement tires.
I bought the tires and had the fronts put on the rear for the return trip. True to form, the rears were totally worn out when I got back.
Today I took it to Atlantic Acura, who said 4 new tires were ordered and they will do the alignment and install them under warranty.

Aegir

Sounds like they are taking care of you. The Florida dealer should have been able to resolve the issue when you first reported it. What a frustrating run around!

bluenoser

On the plus side, the 04 is much more comfortable than my 99 TL was for the same trip. The seats were a real surprise for all day comfort, and it got better gas mileage (30 vs 28 for the 99).

smoore

It sounds like your dealer is a real straight shooter. I would have anticipated huge problems getting the tires replaced under warranty. Please let us know what the dealer eventually blames for the premature wear.

Jcolbert

bluenoser: I live in Tampa. What dealer did you take it to? Ferman Acura? Also who did you talk to there?

erikmoeser

260 is a high number for tire wear index and tires should last a long time My 030s are 140 and I have 2000 miles on with no visible wear front or back. My Pilot Alpins have 5500 miles plus with no wear either. Something is very wrong!

EluSiOn

i have 4700 miles on my 04TL and I took a road trip to NYC and back (1700 mile total) and my tires are just fine. It is very strange for your tire goes out so quickly

need4spd

Maybe the tires were not cured properly when BS molded them or they never vulconized properly?

lakeman

I have 6500 miles on my HPT's and they have a lot of tread left. I thought they would be nearly gone by now. Mostly highway driving I guess. A couple trips to the mountains, seemed to round off the corners, but the overall tread looks good on all four.

catsailr

There is a good article about tires in the current issue of Motor Trend by a Michelin tire engineer. According to their tests, if you only buy 2 new tires, they need to go on the rear, with the old ones on the front, even with FWD. This is just the opposite of what I always thought. In their test, the FWD spun out with the old tires on the back, but did not with the new tires on the back.

KJSmitty

Like you said it goes against most of our "logical" thinking, but the reason for placing the new tires on the rear is due to a lack of weight. Like you mentioned, with the "less tread" tire on the rear and the new on the front, the front will hold and the back will slide out under a sudden defensive driving manuver.... This is a common issue with wet/snow covered roads. Most tire shops wont place new tires "only" on the front - even if you demand it....

bluenoser

Actually the EL 42s that were on the front had only worn 20% at the time I had them placed on the rear.
Without an alignment I was convinced the rears would wear out on my return trip (which they did) and felt a lot better about tearing up EL 42s than the new BS 750s.

I tend to agree with MT on the placement of "best tires". Since both tires were W rated and the EL 42s weren't that worn I thought it was workable, but this combination made the TL very unstable. It felt like the rear tires were steering the car.

bluenoser

I agree. The rear tires have noticeable toe in and I could reach inside the rim spokes and grab handfulls of rubber powder. It makes you wonder how the Acura technicians could miss that - it is visibly off, the tires are feathered, gobs of rubber powder in the wheels and the back of my SSM was black.

bluenoser

Yes it was and I saw Chris Patterson, who was a nice guy. What disappointed me was they took an appointment to check the rear alignment and didn't have the ability to do it.
I wasn't happy traveling to Tampa on my vacation for nothing - they really could have told me up front they could only eyeball things and weren't able to do anything.

catsailr

bluenoser, Let us know what you find out. Sounds to me like the rear is definitely out of alignment.

fsttyms1

the rears should NEVER wear out faster than the front on a FWD car PERIOD. there hast to be an alignment problem or a tire defect there for that to happen. 2ndly 260 treadwear isnt that good of a # especially for the tire not being a ultra hig performance or even close to that. the goodyear eagle f1 gsd3 is a 280, the pole position so3 is a 220 and the pilot sport is a 220 and they are among the 3 stickiest, and best tires out there, and the EL42 is in the middle of those and it cant even compare to them in performance and it only has a 260???

rets

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