tiger2471

First of all here is the number to open a case file concerning the poor tires (EL 42s) that have been placed on all Acura TLs except for the '05 Acura TL w/NAVI!!!!
**800-382-2238** Ask to speak w/Jason***I am pretty pissed at this moment, becuz of the lack of concern and blatant disrespect being shown by Acura. I recently went to my dealership **Karen Radley Acura/ Woodbridge** becuz I had complained of my tires flatspotting issue which really annoyed me. You see I feel that I as a customer am entitled to having a "proper" set of tires on my car. THE EL42s ARE NOT THAT TIRE!!! Obviously Acura is aware of this defect so in order to quell public concern and disatisfaction Acura equipped the '05 Acura TL w/NAVI w/Michelin tires. To get to the point, a service rep told me that I was justified in my disatisfaction and they wanted to check my EL42s to see if I had the so-called "upgraded" EL42s w/out PVC. I had the updated sorry-assed EL42s on my car and the service rep informed me that Acura was not replacing the tire w/Michelins, only the dealership would do this and this would cost the dealership. I asked the service rep what made NAVI owners more important than non-NAVI owners and they had no idea, basically they said nothing. Now the only upgrade that the Acura TL comes with is Navigation but clearly the tires are also an upgrade and I posed this question to the service rep and they were at a loss of words, NO FREAKIN' IDEA. I was given the customer care number and I opened a case file. Five days later I get a call from the "great" customer care rep JASON who informs me that Acura is not going to replace my EL42s w/Michelins becuz they consider problems with the "flatspotting", sorry-excuse for a tire EL42s as a "CHARACTERISTIC TRAIT" of the tire. HOW IN THE HELL ARE THE PROBLEMS WITH THIS TIRE CONSIDERED A CHARACTERISTIC TRAIT OF THE TIRE!!! This is simply a sorry ass excuse from Acura and it is NOT ACCEPTABLE. I asked the rep how this could be considered a characteristic trait and why were '05 TLs w/NAVI not equipped with the EL42s also instead of Michelins if Acura was not acknowledging that the tire has a problem. JASON had no idea, he had no answer!!!!!!! If Acura is going to give it's customers such a bullshit excuse with no explanation to what makes the NAVI owner more special, THAT IS NOT AN ACCEPTABLE RESPONSE AND SOMETHING SHOULD BE DONE ABOUT IT!!! That is why I would like all Acura owners with an issue/ PROBLEMundefined w/EL42s to call Acura and open a case file and ask for Jason!!!! This is the only way we as Acura TL owners will get some action and be afforded the "proper" tires. THERE SHOULD BE NOTHING WHICH PLACES ONE SPECIFIC UPGRADE OF NAVIGATION ABOVE OWNERS WITHOUT NAVIGATION!!! Also, '05 owners should not be considered special either. You see by placing Michelins on '05 TLs w/NAVI, ACURA is ACKNOWLEDGING the PROBLEM WITHOUT PUBLICLY acknowledging it!!! I am sorry for the long post but I felt we as TL owners needed to step up and voice our DISCONTENT with FIRESTONE ***ERRRRRR ***BRIDGESTONE EL42s! I would appreciate any further responses, criticism or advice. Thank you and to all a good day....................................Tiger

yzfrebel

My suggestions is for you to just buy new tires if the dealership won't. Acura as a company won't do anything about the tires. The OEM tires only last about 12K miles anyway.

This has been my only major gripe about the car. But now I have the pilots A/S on and the ride is great.

GUMP

12K? Is this correct. I already have 9k on mine (since July) and wasn't looking to buy new tires so quickly. I had Mich Energys on my last Accord coupe that lasted 55k.

gbriank

I got 11,000 out of mine. It depends on how you drive, but I would not count on them lasting very long. The EL's have a 260 wear rating.... The Energy's have a 400 wear rating and have a high sidewall.

Bryanshore

You should also call BRIDGESTONE

ed99

Our tires will probably last no more than 15000miles b/c of the soft rubber compound. It will wear out pretty fast depending how you drive. I just had mine change recently due to a flat. Flatspotting is a huge problem with this tire and I talk to my dealer and they said the tires on the TL is not part of the warranty. They were for the TL's before 2002. But they told me that they took the tire warranty out for TL's 2003 and up and replaced it with an extra year for road side assistance. So goodluck to anyone to get Acura to change our EL's for another tire brand. Funny thing is I called to more than 5 tire retailers (They only sell tires and wheels) and they all said our EL's are very good high performance all season tires. They also said they outperform any all season high performance tires in the market except for Falken ZE-512 and Toyo Proxies4. What a bunch of bull eh and our tires retail for more than $300 US for most places I called. But only the TL owner really knows and understand what kind of tread we have. CRAP....!!!

One more thing I forgot to tell you all. I asked Acura service about anyone else complaining about the EL's and they said quite a few. MOst of them said the major problem was tire vibration and the EL's creating the car to go off in alignment. Most of the ppl complained about the alignment but Acura service said it is covered under warranty. So that is a good thing if your TL feels like it is off in alignment and you can bring it to Acura for fix for no charge.

nfnsquared

Got 16K on the original EL42's. Got at least 5K (really, probably 10K) left.

Bluenote

When I worked at an Acura dealer Jason was my contact for ACS.

He's a hard working guy, and he's been with Acura for years. He doesn't deserve the treatment you're giving him, Tiger.

If you ask for a specific CA specialist, you will only get him if he handles the zone you are in. So someone else with a tire issue in California, for example, will end up with another specialist. That's the way ACS is set up. Maybe they do it this way to keep someone from starting a witch hunt, but it's probably so a specialist can keep track of a customer if he goes to more than one dealer, and so he deals with a finite number of Acura representitives.

Jason hasn't told you this because he doesn't like you or value you as a customer, he's telling you this because he's toeing the company line. Nothing more. I know that doesn't make you feel any better, but hopefully you won't take it personally, because Jason didn't make it personal.


It's been common practice for years for Honda and Acura to use different tires on different trim levels. I've seen 1st generation TL's and Vigors come with more that one brand of tire, the Legengs & Integras as well. Some tires wore better, rode better & sounded better than others. I probably had more complaints of rapid tire wear than vibration on Bridgestones, and I preferred Michelin as a result.

If the Bridgestones flat-spot when the cars sits overnight, and Acura determines this is a normal occurance, be it from their own tests, or from input by Bridgestone, then you probably aren't going to get very far with ACS.

Finally, the tires cary a seperate warranty through the manufacturer. I agree with Bryanshore-you should call Bridgestone.

yzfrebel

Good for you. I am a pretty aggressive driver so maybe mine have worn faster than most. I am hoping I can get 25K- 30K out of the pilot A/S. The tire dealer told me I should get 40K. But I do drive pretty fast.

Also, are you from Bossier City? I am originally from Shreveport.

darthferd

I have 6500 miles on my 04 TL. Will an Acura dealer fix the alignment for free?

Bluenote

Alignments are covered by Acura for 12 months/12,000 miles as an adjustment.

JMan

Got Firestone to replace mt EL-42's with new LS-Z's. Much better tire and my Acura dealership reimbursed me for the differce in the cost of the tires.

nfnsquared

Were they the PVC EL-42's?
How many miles did you have on them when you got them replaced?
Thanks.

tiger2471

Jason hasn't told you this because he doesn't like you or value you as a customer, he's telling you this because he's toeing the company line. Nothing more. I know that doesn't make you feel any better, but hopefully you won't take it personally, because Jason didn't make it personal[QUOTE]

I could care less if this wasn't meant or was meant to be personal. I was more upset that Acura is giving customers this bull**** excuse. This is a chcrteristic trait of the tire is not an acceptable response, it is a very negative "charteristic trait" which they tried fixing by placing Michelins on Acura TL w/Navi. But they could care less about Acura TL owners without Navi, that is the problem I have.

Lore

Do you know if this alignment warranty covers additional alignments you have performed? For example, if your car has a severe toe-in problem and you get it fixed at 10,000 miles, is that new alignment also covered for 12 months/12,000 miles?

gbriank

[QUOTE=tiger2471]Jason hasn't told you this because he doesn't like you or value you as a customer, he's telling you this because he's toeing the company line. Nothing more. I know that doesn't make you feel any better, but hopefully you won't take it personally, because Jason didn't make it personalI assuming that you have pursued this issue ad nauseam with the dealer. Acura isn't going to do anything about a tire they didn't design nor manufacture. I'd take your car to your local Bridgestone owned establishment and complain. Most folks have been getting swaps to other tires (LS-Z).

As for being made to feel like nothing by Acura, this is a tactic they picked up from the "Big Three". GM figured that if they threw up enough roadblocks that you would get tired and leave them alone. And they were right, people did....and they also stopped buying their cars. Same will happen to any auto company thanks to forums such as this that provide an environment to share their experiences......

grktl

It's not only non navi customers. I have an 04 navi and I got the same ignorance from ACS as you did. It is not Jasons fault it's Acura's fault for being ignorant to a serious issue. I have already stopped one friend from buying a tsx and another from buying an RL. Both friends but a different make and are happy. I did not want to see my friends deal with the ACS crap. I have a career in which I travel 3 times a week. I leave my car for a few hours at the airport garage and I must deal with 15 minutes of hell on these tires. I have 7k miles on my tires. Eventually i will give up and buy new tires as I love the car but Acura will never see my money again. I don't have the power to get my tires changed but I do have the power to influence my friends and clients who drive in my car, to not buy a car from Acura. 15 minutes of hell is not normal.

gbriank

dude, you don't know you have the power until you try..... take the car by a bridgestone dealer (one that isn't a franchise, but directly owned by bridgestone) and complain about the tire. you might be surprised..... they may offer to do an exchange.

grktl

I will take it to a bridgestone store when I get back into town. I will see what they say and update everyone.

rmastbro

I couldn't agree with you more.....


It took 9500 miles but the Bridgestone Turanza EL42 is no longer on my vehicle. The best part about this I replaced them with Falken Ziex Ze-512 with little money out of my pocket... $6.08 to be exact!!!

Here's what I did..... I complained to my local Acura dealer about having excessive flat spotting issue and tried to convince them to replace them with Michelin Pilot's but to no avail..... However I was able to get the Acura dealer to replace them with another set of EL42's.....

I then had to take a different route to remove the dreadful EL42's from the TL ... I called several local Discount Tires stores and found one willing to accept a trade in. After reviewing several tires Michelin, Toyo's, Dunlop, and Yokohama I decided to take a chance on the Falken Ziex Ze-512 base on Consumer Reports rating (#1) and various positive comments on this forum...

The dealer gave me the tires and brought them down to Discount Tire for the exchange. I was able to buy a set of Falken Ziex Ze-512 for $486.08 (with tax) and they gave me $480 credit for the Bridgestone Turanza EL42 (half of what they could buy the tire at $240). After the installation I returned the used EL42's back to the dealer.

So there you have it a new set of Falken's Ziex Ze-512 for $6.08....

Since I got such a good deal on this I decided to purchase the FREE tire replacement program for all tires. $17.25/tire....

The have only had the tires on for 1 day but the first thing that I noticed is how smooth of a ride the TL was after removing the dreadful EL42's ...

Only time will tell if the flat spotting will return with these tires, but I am keeping my fingers crossed

Big Blue24

This site convinced me to bargain in the pilot a/s as part of the deal. I had to pay $40 a tire to switch but it was well worth it because the pilots are great! I'd call Bridgestone and get their service rep involved or just pop for the new tires and enjoy the car that much more.

jazzpicker

I agree, Bridgestone will probably help you.

I-MOD

I have been going to Karen Radley Acura for at least 10 years now and have never been treated like that. Maybe the way you acted towards them caused you to have an unpleasant experience. I have never see them act deceptive or unprofessional in all of my years going there. You have to keep in mind they are a dealership that has to give you the information as Acura tells them. I'm quite sure they were just following normal procedures. When I had my 04 TL I got my tires swapped out with absolutely no problems at all at Karen Radley. My feeling is that if you calmed down and handled your case with Acura in a more professional manner you would get further, and maybe you have but from the way your explaining things here on the forum it doesn't look to be the case. Just my opinion.

D.

jazzpicker

I-MOD,
I would wait a minute before blaming Tiger. I am an old time Acura customer and was absolutely treated like shit by one of the case mgrs. Acura's customer service is awful if it involves anything more than a question. I can't recall being treated that badly by any other place that I have ever done businesss with. The Rep I talked with was Geremy Birkinshaw and he was rude and aggressive. I wrote a letter to Acura about the experience and never heard anything back.
I agree that the customer should be professional, and courteous on the phone but so should the the customer service people. I have done a lot of business in my life, own 2 TLs and expected much more than a angry case mgr not willing to help. Maybe Karen has another side that you have yet to see.

I-MOD

After 10 years and 9 new Acura's from them i'd say I know them pretty well. And almost everyone there has been there since my first purchase. I'm not saying Acura service (Phone) is great but I just can't see Karen Radley Acura trating him like shit. The have one the Acura Precision team award for service and you don't get that by treating people like shit. I can't speak for the Acura phone service rep as I have not had to deal with them except one time for a headlight issue on my 04 TL. Which was handled very fairly. I'm not here to bash Tiger I'm just saying people respond better when you keep your cool and deal with them professionally.

D.