03TypeS6Speed

Hi All,

I have a 2005 Acura TL with the ASPEC package, bought new last year. I now have 13K miles on it and getting a humming noise from the tires. I took it to a tire shop and they said the humming is because the tires are (feathering or cupling). This is caused by the lowering from Acura with the ASPEC kit. I dont think that is fair that Acura doesnt adjust the negative camber that is caused when the car was lowered...what you guys think??? This is pre-maturally wearing out the tires on the inside.

Has anyone gotten any good responses back from Acura about this? I call the service manager and he said that there is nothing they can do about it, saying that this is a performance car and it will happen to everyone. He suggested that I get a camber kit and re-allign the car. That should fix the problem.

Dont you guys think that this should be Acura's problem and not the consumers problem?? Only 13k miles on the car and it has a humming noise. Also even if I replace the tires...it will happen again down the road if I dont get a camber kit.

BTW...can anyone recommend a good camber kit...I dont know if Acura will do anything anyways...Just wanted to see if any members here feels the same.

Please recommend a good camber kit and also a place to install. I live in SF bay area...CA....please someone help!!!

gqchicago

First of all...the a-spec tires are high performance tires, and as such, are not designed to last all that long. Sorry, that's the trade-off of running this type of tire.


That being said however, I think they mis-aligned your car causing the rear tires to wear pre-maturely.

There is a new "beta" spec that Acura supposedly released to several dealerships of new alignment settings for a-spec cars, and it fixes premature rear tire wear many were complaining of.

I just had my car into the dealership having isntalled the aspec suspension, and I printed out the information from this board about the beta specs. They were supposed to confirm this with Acura corporate, but when I got the car back there was a sheet sitting in the car with the a-spec installation and alignment specifications, and they used the "old" specs to align my car! @#$@$@#$@# (I am NOT happy about this because I don't want the same problems you're having in a year).

So...my question..and the question if anyone knows how to get a hold of Acura corporate, is...what are the new a-spec alignment specs and are they "officially" released yet? (I heard a rumor they were).

Here is a link to the thread...no one ever responded to my last post so I'm not sure which specs should be used these days, and I really hope my car isn't aligned to the "old" and incorrect settings like I suspect it is....
https://acurazine.com/forums/ramblings-12/outsourcing-lets-slow-down-128774/

260 HP

iTrader: (3)

Feathering, cupping, wearing the inside tires actually will occur on a lot of Hondas, even those in stock height. This is because most Hondas already have somewhere between 0 to -1 degree of negative camber in the rear. This helps the car to turn more eagerly and have good handling at the cost of tire life.

When the car is lowered, the camber, especially in the rear, will be more negative because this is the nature of the car's suspension. I have to agree with the service manager that this will happen with everyone who owns the TL.

This problem isn't exclusive to Hondas/Acuras. I know BMW cars also have this trait, wearing the inside tires because of the negative camber from the factory.

On side note though, feathering or cupping is accelerated if the car's toe setting is off. Are you sure that your car's alignment is perfect?

Another thing, some tires are more susceptible to cupping and make more noise than others. If you're using Yokohama AVS ES100, it's one of its characters. Tires with harder compound will resist cupping better.

I don't have camber kit on my car, so I can't really suggest one to you.

Sorry, I can't be of much help in your case....

gqchicago

https://acurazine.com/forums/showthr...spec+alignment


This issue has been discussed at length in these forums. Everyone believes the factory alignment settings for the aspec suspension TLs is off...which causes pre-mature tire wear unnecessarily. Above is another link discussing this at length.

I am going to call Acura customer service in a moment here and ask myself, as I just had mine done to the old specs and I don't think the SA even called Acura Corp. to ask even though I printed out both of these threads and left them with him... /sigh...

gqchicago

Bah.....just called the Honda Cust. Service number listed in the other thread....they transferred me to Acura Customer Service...that # FYI is 800-382-2238, they however couldn't answer the question. They said only Acura "Techline" can answer technical specification questions, and Techline won't talk to end users, only dealerships.


So...now I'm trying to call my dealership to see if we can get Acura Techline on the phone...will keep you posted.

03TypeS6Speed

Hi gqchicago, thanks for all the follow up in regards to my post. Please keep me posted on your findings with Acura. I will print these pages out and hopefully my dealership will replace my tires.

For those that had their tires replaced for free by Acura, please let me know how and what are the exact words you guys used to have them replace the tires for you.

My initial call to the service manager, he said he will not replace for me. Please help.

gqchicago

The only situation I know of where they replaced tires related to the alignment problems were the crappy Bridgestone Turanza tires. I haven't heard of anyone getting the a-spec Yoko's replaced ever. In fact, the parts guy at my dealership and the master mechanic both commented to me that they would never sell their Yoko's since most people want tires that will last more than 15k miles, and these being high performance tires have a very short life span, by design. That's the tradeoff you make when you go to a very high performance tire unfortunately. I do suspect that the alignment issues are making them wear out a lot sooner though, but I don't think you will get Acura or a dealership to replace them, sorry.


I however, have the stick rims and Michelin's on an a-spec suspension, and plan on adding the a-spec rims eventually, which I will use for summers only and switch for the winters. However, I don't want the Michelin's to wear out early due to being aligned incorrectly.

I think that you will end up in the same situation if what I suspect is true about the new specs for alignment aren't addressed in your situation 03.....so you go and buy new tires...and in a year the rears are worn out prematurely.

Krehm

I have a 2005 TL, 6spd with the A-spec handling package. I have the same issue with the camber. The specs limit the camber at -1.5 and mine is at this limit and the camber cannot be adjusted without a kit. I commute over 50 miles a day, mostly freeway. I purchased my car from Bellevue Acura in Washington and the dealer requested and received approval from Acura to comp me a new set of tires. I selected the Michilin Pilot Sport A/S and they were installed on the 4th of this month.

With that said, how is the ingalls camber kit?

grey06TL

I am having the same problem I need to take my a-spec in to service. My tires did not even make it 10k. I shouldn't have to put a camber kit on this is a package from acura. My friend is a tech and he said they have a recall on bump stops but I don't think thats making this happen!

special-ed

definitely sounds like a toe problem. Like 260 said, negative camber will wear out the inside of the tires but once your suspension settles in after install, toe may change and toe will eat your tires FAST!

Get the ingalls. Can't remember the part numbers for the rear but the 2 rods (pair required for each side) will definitely give you the maximum adjustability for tuning out toe/camber. When you order, eack kit will have 2 rods so you'll be buying 2 kits total.

OTOH, with the a-spec suspension since it doesn't drop the car too much, the dealer should have definitely been able to align the car correctly without you having to purchase the ingalls kit.

Krehm

Normally, I would agree that you would not need the ingalls kit with an a-spec package. However, what I found was that driving a significant amount of freeway miles each day does not allow the tires to change position, no hard turns. The Acura rep mentioned that the suspension is set up for more agreesive driving and not just freeway miles. He mentioned that they have seen a little bit of this problem in other areas of the country, but have not come up with a fix.

grey06TL

Yah all I do is drive on the highway. I want to get new tires to put my wheels back on my car but i wonder if I should wait. The tires are 800 bucks if Acura would help out it might be worth a little more wait.

hondakidd

I have been fighting with Acura for past year and half about this situation. I purached one of the first A-spec kits in Feb 04 and i have 54000 miles on my car and i have went thru total of 10 tires after my 4 that came with the car. They have yet to find a fix for it, but i would love to hear more about the highway mile issue. I also drive all highway miles and my car is currently in the shop getting tires as we speak. I just called the attorny general office of North carolina of this problem, because i have spent nearly 3000 dollars on this issue and i have yet to have a fix. so, Please email me with your issues and i can present those to AG and hopefully they might be able to get some pressure on ACURA To fix this problem. Krehm please tell me more about the highway issue? THANKS

mgpatel123@gmail.com