George Dunham

Hit a deep pothole and had to replace two left-side tires and one wheel, and the other reconditioned, and a 4-wheel alignment at just over 42,000 miles on my '05 TL. New tires and wheels went on the front. Began noticing a higher level of road noise at 44,000 miles and discovered rear tires were seriously cupped. After another alignment and front-to-rear tire swaps, noise and cupping continues. Independent tire dealer suggested rears needed more camber adjustment, and referred me to an alignment shop that has done several "shim kits" or "rear adjusting arms" on other TLs with the same problem. Fix is expensive - $275 for parts, and another $175 for labor and another 4-wheel alignment, and probably another set of tires. Anyone else have this problem, and a better solution? Thanks!

01tl4tl

I believe there is a dealer service bulletin, a TSB, on the rear camber issue and a -acura pays for it - fix

Go have a talk with the SERVICE MANAGER and call acura at 1-800-382-2238 x5 and ask if others have this problem- open a complaint file - then a manager looks into it and calls you back. Need your VIN number handy for that call
The phone people are - for the most part- not car people, they take reports and a manager reads them
IF your car is lowered-- then yes camber kits are available- about 150 for the rear pair and 1/2 hour each side of the car to install.
If you look under the car there are 2 bars going out to the wheels- one of those gets replaced with a unit with threaded middle shaft- so it can tilt the top aspect of the wheel in/out- that is camber

01tl4tl

do you have the before and after reading on the alignments- thats a help diagnosing it for you

George Dunham

The car isn't lowered, and wheels are stock. Called Acura as you suggested and you're right, whoever answered the phone wasn't a car person. Had to explain camber and caster to her, whereupon she tried to find the relevant TSB and wound up giving me one for what she called premature tire wear - #05-050. Is this the TSB you mentioned?

George Dunham

I have the specs from the first realignment - changed very little.

01tl4tl

what were the numbers toe and camber--- all important!
caster out of spec means a bent something in the suspension!

that may be it on the TSB- dealer will know about it- did it match your symptoms?

I hate cars

Excessive toe will cause cupping. Happened to me. I had to get two different alignments. There seems to be a little varience because the second alignment 1,000 mles after the first showed the first one to be way off. My tires are slowly getting quieter now over the course of 2,000 miles.

George Dunham

TSB 05-050 didn't apply to my TL. Alignment specs were within factory standard before and after last alignment.