sbarton

So I've had my 08 TL base w/nav for about 8 months now. It's got around 39k miles, and here's my problem. I started noticing an underlying resonating noise from the front that bugs the shit out of me. The noise is subtle and at highway speed isn't all that noticeable, but I still hear it. It is most annoying at around 40mph on all but the smoothest pavement. It's doesn't sound to me to be normal road roar that you get from the tires...it's this resonating mid/high'ish frequency thing that weaves it way in and out of the normal tire noise at various speeds and road surfaces.

Road with a service mgr and pointed the noise out and he pointed it out before I did. A day later, he called back and said he had drove 2 other TL's and they had the same noise so it was normal for my model.

Couldn't really accept that, so I took it into another dealer, and the've replaced both front wheel bearings and the intermediate shaft to try and resolve it for me. This has been over the course of several visits the past couple of months. Have been working exclusively with the service mgr at the dealer and have been treated very well. In the midst of all this, I had a set of new Yokohama YK580's put on just to rule out tire issues. My old tires were original OEM and getting near the wear marks. Afterwards, general road roar (what I consider normal road/tire noise) went down considerably, but the underlying noise I described above remains.

They are running out of ideas and so I asked to drive another TL. The only one they had was an 06 with 90k miles. Same fucking noise. I've never had a car/truck with a nasty noise signature like this. During the course of all this, I drove 4 different 2012 Acura service loaners and none of them had any sort of noise like this.

I know try to describe sounds and such with text is next to impossible, but I'd really like to hear some opinions about what level and type of road noise I should be hearing with a stock TL and oem wheels.

Thanks in advance.

EATSLEEPRACE

iTrader: (1)

My guess would be the tires....I had an 05 TL with kumho tires...noisy and horrible ,changed to good year still noisy.....after a while I upgraded to 19" inch rims with Achilles tires and although they are cheap tires but were way quieter than the others I had


My type s now has continental Extreme contact tires and I like them a lot....super quiet and good tires

sbarton

I dont' think tires are the issue. My old MX4 pilots had the exact same noise. These new ones have the same exact noise, but more focused in the 40mph range. The 06 I drove last week had the same noise. To me, at this point it sounds more like some sort of resonate harmoic thats propogating through the susupension/subframe. It may be a normal noise for the TL. If it is, it's a really bad design flaw thats getting tossed in with "road noise".

Will Y.

With OEM 17" wheels and OEM Michelin MXM4 Pilots or Bridgestone RE960/RE970 A/S Pole Positions, the interior noise in a 3G TL should be quieter than a Honda Accord, perhaps about the same level and quality as a Toyota Camry XLE, with no odd harmonics or audible frequencies other than those generated by the road surface.

Any accidents to the TL prior to you getting the car? Have you had the subframe connections checked as well?

Welcome to AZ.

sbarton

No, carfax was clean and the car had a good documented service history at a local dealer.

One issue that I have failed to mention is that the old front tires when replaced had severe balding on the inside. Tires had 39k miles on them when I replaced them. Not being the original owner, I dont know if these had ever been rotated or not. I know this type of wear is common on the rears so again, not sure if the wear occured on the rears and then they were roated up front sometime before I bought the car. I was planning on getting a 4 wheel done at some point. I have been reading about lower control arm bushing tears and cracks, but I would have thought the tech would have examined those. Bushings would make more sense with this noise when I think about it, but I'm really no expert.

Turbonut

iTrader: (1)

Check the engine RPM and if in the 1200/1500 rpm range, you'll find it a normal, although annoying drivetrain vibration. If it happens to be this, even the restyled 4G's are included.

sbarton

thx, confirmed early on it was not RPM dependent

Will Y.

OK, get all four wheels aligned ASAP, before the new Yokos pick up any further bad wear pattern. In fact, rotate them before the alignment.
Ask the tire/alignment tech to check the bushings while you're there.

Once the alignment is done, please advise if the noise persists.

Wear on the inside rear tires is a sign of a misalignment or other problem-- uneven wear tire is NOT a "common" characteristic of the TL. The TL tires do not develop inner wear if everything is properly aligned, parts and bushings are intact and the tires are periodically rotated.

Turbonut

iTrader: (1)

Sort of conflicting statements as 40 MPH is certainly going to be a given RPM, so guess I’m confused.

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

^lol.

it could be a vibrating heatshield.

sbarton

spoke to the dealer I purchased from. Looks like they noticed the tire wear and a 4-wheel alignment before selling to me. they faxed me the paperwork, but I couldn't read some of the alignment numbers because the contrast on the fax was bad. I'll followup next week with a hard copy just so I can see the numbers, but i don't want to get too side tracked by it. Car doesn't pull or vibrate or have any weird handling characterisitcs that i can tell.

@justnspace - i'll ask the dealer to check that next time im in - I think there is a head shield that protects the carrier bearing and I think there are heat shields on the breaks? anyway thanks for all the input.