boltjames

Explained to my dealer that I'm sensing vibrations when I drive and that I'm unhappy with the road noise on my stock Bridgestone's.

He explains that Acura will allow them to substitute newer Bridgestone's for TL drivers and that after they confirm via a test drive there will be no charge.

Well, I don't want Bridgestone's. I want the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S.

Has anyone had any success in getting Michelin's instead of Bridgestone's? If not, will Acura put the $ from the Bridgestone's towards the Michelin's?

TIA

(Note: Posted in G3 forum because it is a specific G3 issue and no one visits the subforum designed for tire issues.)

BJ

neuronbob

You might want to PM Acuraddict, as he was successful in the endeavor you envision. Good luck!

GaleForce

I think he said it almost wasn't worth it, though. And from what I read it seemed like quite difficult.

EZZ

The Michelins have just as if not more road noise than the Bridgestones. High performance tires are always noisy.

boltjames

Really? I was told they were much quieter, and www.tirerack.com gives almost double the score for the Michelins than the Bridgestones.

Here's the link:

Link to Tirerack's Comparo

Are you sure they're as noisy?

BJ

rets

BJ, you're kidding, right? You should already know a few of ppl having the successful stories about tires swap, from EL42s to Pilot Sport A/S.

Could we know who's your dealer since we're in the same city? If you dealer claims no one reports this but you, there will be new guys going to complain soon.

Plus, it's a little noisy than EL42s... I tested drive my friends' car, however, it's almost perfect in all other aspects.

boltjames

Truthfully, I never really had an issue with the Bridgestone's until recently so I haven't paid any attention to those threads from back-when.

On the Michelin site, there's another tire called the Pilot MXM4 ...... any idea if this one is more quiet than the Bridgestones?

BJ

6mtV6

The MXM4 is the stock ones for the Accord coupe 6speed. I had them on my 6speed coupe. These tires are expensive and not worth the price. They are not any quieter than the Bridgestones on the TL.

BJ, which dealer did you go to? All the NY members should go to the same dealer and complain and request that they change the tire to Michelins.

rets

I guest that Performance Luxury tire could be a little quieter than Performance Sport tire. Unfortunately, our 04TL won't get too many choices out of Michelin. 235/45/17 tire is rare, is sparse out of all tire makers. Even lots of BJs (wholesale) and tire shops usually don't carry this particular size in stock. I think MXM4 isn't better than Energy MXV4 series...

If you really prefer to have quieter tire, maybe you should try search all Luxury (Grand) Touring categories. The quiet performance tire is hard to be found if you compare to EL42s, IMHO.



Which tire is quieter or not quieter is hard to be judged by different people and their preference.

Besides, my EL42s, PVC 3903 and TU2 0704, never gave me any problems, but hydroplaning issue. Flatspoting, once, in Virginia. I'm used to get/buy the new tires while the tread depth is less than 4/32 - 6/32. This makes me choose Falken for now. I personally think it's a little quieter than Pilot Sport A/S. (I compare my friend's 04TL with Michelin Pilot Sport A/S with mine... maybe his car itself is noisier...) But, the main reason is I can spend less to keep renewing my tires when I need. If Falken cannot stand well, I'll get Michelin's.

boltjames

If it's okay, I'll report the dealer name once they've acquieced on my soon-to-be demand for Michelin's. I've been using this same dealer for over 10 years, so it may just be that he's doing it for me and my good, steady business rather than any other reason. To be clear, he's agreed to a) test drive the car, b) replace the EL42's with newer EL42's. That's it. The Michelin's are my request, nothing more.

But then again....it appears that the Michelin's may actually be noisier, which is a no-no for me. Is there a tire that's superior to the EL42's for handling / snow tractin that is also quieter?

BJ

svtmike

Beej,

The Pilot Sport A/S may be noiser, maybe it's just a different pitch, either way I think the only way you'll notice the difference is when you drive them one after the other on grooved concrete.

I find that my car is still a much much much quieter car than just about any other car I drive (my Ody on Michelin MXM4's, or any of the various crap rental cars I end up with).

Mike

6mtV6

I understand if you don't want to post the dealer name.

I personally prefer Michelins over Bridgestones. But than again, Bridgestones makes good tires also.

04TLMan

I am in the process of negotations for a new 04. 2 dealers came back with an offer of between $800 to $900 to swap out the EL42 for Michelin Pilot Sport A/S. That does me no good. That is the same price to order them from TireRack and have them installed my self...Thanks for nothing.

boltjames

Whew. That makes me feel better.

So....to be clear......in moving from the EL42's to the Michelin's I will.....

1. Have similar quiet/noise characteristics.

2. Feel vastly increased handling characteristics.

3. Have a safer, non-hydroplaning experience.

4. Get better (according to Tirerack) snow/ice traction.

Is that all true?

BJ

93SHOcar

I had mine swapped out pre-delivery by the dealer for $560. Not great but worth it for me.

Regarding the Pilot A/S being noisy, maybe it is just relative to a back to back with the EL42s. I certainly have no complaints about the noise level after 4K miles.

boltjames

Do you feel a substantial difference in handling on dry or wet surfaces?

BJ

svtmike

I believe that is all true, I absolutely love mine after 3k miles and most of a Chicago winter and a rainy spring on them.

Mike

svtmike

This wasn't directed to me, but I think there is a substantial improvement in handling (stability during hard cornering), steering feel, wet traction and snow traction.

Mike

Andyw2100

BJ,

Here is a link to a thread I started in early May, explaining how I received free Pilot Sport A/Ss as replacements for the Turanzas.

http://www.acura-tl.com/forums/showthread.php?t=79220

The message is lengthy, as was the process I went through to obtain the tires. But I am very pleased with them, so at least to me, it was worth it.

Good luck!
Andy W.

93SHOcar

I have only test driven the TL with the EL42's since mine had the Pilot A/S from day 1. All I can say is that I am extremely pleased with both dry and wet performance of the Pilot A/S. I have been in some torrential rains and there has been absolutely no hint of hydroplaning. Having hydroplaned off the highway in the 80's with my GTI, I am still extremely sensitive to any type of wet weather performance issues.

FWIW, after reading all of the complaints on the EL42's, noting the Tirerack ratings and talking with my local tire dealer, I decided that I was just not going to put up with a tire that I significant doubts about. I don't regret the $'s spent for the Pilots one bit.

acuraddict

Sorry, I haven't read all the responses, but as my list below indicates, I did receive Michelin Pilot Sports from the district manager back in December.

They are far superior to the EL42s.
They are not noisy. The first few days I noticed a little more road noise, but it was marginal, and the fun factor easily outweighed the noise.
They do not hydroplane like the ELs did.
The corner like the car is on rails.
They look great.
They don't vibrate at all.
They wouldn't flat spot if I actually lived in a cold climate.

I'm too tired to go into a lot of detail about how I got the dealer and the rep to agree to give me these tires, but I will say that the EL42 reviews on tirerack.com, and the overall grading system on tirerack.com proved to be compelling arguments for the fact that Acura really screwed up when choosing this tire for such an amazing performance sedan. The tires rate around a 2.8 on a scale of 1-10, while virtually every other comparable name brand tire scored around 8-8.5 in cumulative consumer ratings. Meanwhile, Acura is still putting Michelins on the lower priced TSX! It just sucks in every way that the EL42s were chosen for the 04 TL.

Don't give up, be persistant, be very nice, be appreciative, demonstrate your loyalty to Acura and ask them to show the same loyalty to you by giving you tires that are worthy of being mounted on this fabulous automobile.

lindros2

The issue with getting Michelin Pilot Sport A/S tires is that the dealer has to eat the cost.

The standard story from district managers (and Acura Client Services) is to replace Bridgestone with Bridgestone.

So if the dealer agrees to eat the cost (in those rare occasions), you will get them. The only success I've heard are those who paid full cost or nearly full cost (ie: on lease).

-josh

Big Ped

Except for the Falken Azenis. I had them on my 02TLS and could not belive how well they performed in all categories. I'm going to break my piggie bank soon to get me a new pair. To me, honestly there is no other choice for Cali. Now if you live in places where it snows, then maybe not for you. I would go with the All weather Falkens in that scenareo. My

Big Ped

BJ,

I'm almost certain, but not 100% that the MXM4 were the stock tires for my 02TLS. I have to say that they were much uglier than the stock 04TL tires. They look like straight up regular tires like for a chevy or ford. They were noisier than the ones we have now but had better tread wear. I would never consider going back to those from my stock 04TL tires. Don't do it. Plus they are like $169 a pop.

I beleive the cost is a result of supply and demand since they are stockk in several cars. But the actual value is probably less than half that if you ask me. I poped three of them the first year cause the side wall was like butta..... Or something like that. I should get commission for this, but my "strong" recomendation for anybody are the Falkens. You can't go wrong man. Plus they look agressive, sporty and very easy on the eyes. Even thought they stick to the ground like glue, they don't make any noise and have great tread wear. I think you can go about 3 years on a set and you can get them for $100 buck or less each. I remember that it was even hard for me to make them squeal (turning, or hitting the gas hard) at the parking garage inside my office building, and the floor is totally smooth. On the stock 02TLS, they sliped like crazy and made that familiar squeal when I turned a corner at like 10 mph inside the garage.

Big Ped

For the folks that are for the Michelins, please dont hate me. Just wanted to give BJ another viable option. Thank you in advance for your support.

Have a look.

http://www.acura-tl.com/forums/showt...hlight=falkens

chas083

I got the Mich Pilot Sport A/Ss last fall no charge. Obviously I had an early build [2xxx] and at the time there was no other soln. as the revised E42s. After repeatedly trying to rebalance and trying the Conti Extreme Contacts which also flatspotted, the service mgr. asked me what tire I would like to try. I even offered to pay the difference but they wouldn't take it. With Acura Corp. soln., the revised EL 42s, I doubt if they could do this now. Perhaps this is one of the few advantages of being an early adapter. Great service!

RhodeRunner

I too was able to swap out the Bridgestones for the Pilot Sport A/S. My only charge was to mount and balance the new tires (total $100). Well worth it in my opinion. If you can finagle the swap definitely do it. The Mich's are a 9 on my scale while the B/S were a 5. Let it be known that you will not give the dealer all excellent marks on the survey should he not swap you out (since this is a service visit you will receive a survey). Worth a shot!

boltjames

First off, thanks to all with your assistance and opinions. Great job.

Acura is only offering tire swaps for cars with VIN's under 30xxx and won't budge for my car which is a 36xxx.

So, I've decided to put the Michelin's on the car out of my own pocket and save the EL42's in the garage until it's time to return the car off lease. I would have had to pay for a set of tires during the 42 months anyway, so this way I get a superior ride and throw the EL42's with only 5k miles on them for the future owner of the car.

BJ

acuraddict

WRONG

In my case, the district manager is the one that authorized the replacement, not the dealer. The dealer did not pay for the Michelins.

s54

BJ, as someone pointed out, be persistent - at both the dealer level and with ACS. After my second set of replacement EL42s proved bad, my dealer called and asked if they could try Pilot Sport A/S' on the car.

It solved my 60MPH vibration- and flat-spotting issues. Still have the numerous rattles/pops, though. Can't help you there.

S

p.s. it also did not hurt my cause when I began milling around the sales/service floor discussing the issue with other clients

rets

IMHO, both of you are right.

Situations are just varied. I do hear some dealership are willing to pay the costs (or discuss the cost issue with Acura later) and provide the satisfying tires to their customers. But some dealers only offer the tires swaps after Acura agrees to pay for that.

6spdzoomzoom

I was one of the few who was able to get the Pilot Sports A/S out of Acura. I had toi escalate to the CEO of the dealership before they would replace them. It took me 3 months.

roadman

You got the tires out of the CEO of the dealership ? How is that from ACURA the company ?

boltjames

Agreed I could fight this, but the truth is that the dealer would take my EL42's from me today. At the end of the lease, I'd have to buy new tires for the car anyway.

The way I'm doing it now, I put the EL42's in the garage for three years, buy Michelin's out of pocket, drive, and put the EL42's back on the car at the end of the lease.

In the end, it's the same thing money wise.....it also protects my relationship with my 10+ year dealership.....I'm not going to drive to Georgia over this

BJ

s54

Sound logic - had I leased I would have done the same thing. Good luck.

S

6spdzoomzoom

He pushed it to the Acura regional service rep and together they made the decsion to replace them. I received a call from Acura Corp explaining this was a one time courtesy.


BTW I havent had an issue since they replaced them. That was about 3 months ago.

lindros2

In my case (and many others in Atlanta), EVERY TIME the dealer had to eat the cost (either Ed Voyles or Nalley Acura).

Could just be our luck that the Atlanta district manager is a complete asshole.

-josh

TLGator

Oh, believe me, if you lived in South Carolina, you'd drive to Georgia, my friend. You'd drive there.

lflorack

The Pilot Sport A/S's are excellent tires and MUCH better than the original Bridgestones. However, I agree completely with you that the Pilots are noisier than the Bridgestones. They have quite a bit of noise at 70-75. I wouldn't change them back for anything but if someone thinks the A/S's will be quieter, they are mistaken.

roadman

I have driven a TL that has Pilot A/S and I would not put them on my car, but only becuase of the road noise and firmness of the tire. They may very well handle better than the EL-42's but I need a tire to be comfortable and quite much more than I need a tire to be the super handler. I am not driving a car at a race track, I am driving on highways.

The Pilot A/S is YR rated which means it has to by design be firmer than a WR rated tire.

The tires that I had on my '02 TL-S (Grand Touring) were perfectly matched for that car. Putting Ultra High Perf tires on the '04 TL was a marketing tactic, who really needs WR tires on a TL , what is Acura competing against a Mustang GT ?