Greg G

That's what my sales guy said as well. One of the reasons I decided to buy a new car was to get a better ride in the snow (my Prelude was pretty bad) so I just don't want to risk problems. The tirerack.com ratings are horrible for the stock tires. After all the things I read here it just made sense to me to play it safe.

-Greg

need4spd

Just for laughs, look at the tires on the new 2005 Odyssey spy shots over at the car connection, they are the same POS EL42's, I guess Honda/Acura did not learn their lesson yet.


Link - http://www.thecarconnection.com/inde...8&article=7267

Xpditor

You've got better eyes than I do!

They also put those tires and the Potenzas on BMW, Lexus, Ferrari, etc.

I haven't had any problems with mine (car built April 12, 2004).

need4spd

Yes the do, each one has a different design, the belts on the BMW's are completely different material, as is the tread design.

The TL has a shallow tread, and many of the cross cuts are not completely cut (reducing snow traction).

Who cares

rets

What I've found on BS website, EL42s for 04TL is the only one with 235/45R17, and there are only two other vehicles using 245/50R18 (BMW 7 series) and 248/50R18 (Saturn Vue Redline). No other cars are using EL42s <55...

This might be the reasons why other owners of vehicles are quite satisfied with them so far. Maybe BS just cannot make 235/45R17 as good as others...

IMO.

acuraddict

Dude, that is great news! I am so glad to hear that I helped you to get the Michelins. For me, the non A/S Pilots were the right choice, since I live in Los Angeles, but the A/S's are great great tires. I hope more people negotiate the same deal you did.

VERY COOL!

rets

Great, I agree, this is the best scenario we could try to get if dealers have refused to swap tires for free. $100 for each EL42 is the decent price, especially if you compare to the :shit: those outside tire shops would give to you...

Greg G

In the tradition of "don't count your boobies"...

I got the quote on the Pilots from Acura. They wanted $260 for each tire and $186 to install so even with the $100 per tire I would be spending $826. I checked tirerack and they have them for $192 per tire with a $50 rebate if you buy 4, $30 shipping, and $60 to have them installed locally = $808. I actually loose money if I take the $100 per tire trading in to Acura! I dug in my heals and said Bull!@#@#! Since today is the last day of the month and they wanted to finish up the sale they agreed to give me an additional $300 off the price of the car (they offered $200 at first but I told them my wife wanted to go test drive the Accord (the truth) and they gave up another $100). I can buy from Tirerack do what I want with the old tires. Any thoughts on the best way to sell them? Do any of you who defend these tires want to buy a set cheap?

-Greg

agd

Is there a problem with the HP summer tires as well?

Xpditor

I wouldn't say I defend them; I just haven't had any problems in 600 miles. Sure, if I could get a good deal, I would be interested. Of course, at the rate I drive, I probably won't need tires for another four years. I drive about 4,000 miles per year. (with that car).

XP

Greg G

Sorry, I did not mean any offense nor did I direct the comment at you. I recognize that I was was being a bit of a smart ass . I have been reading lots of stuff by people taking both sides. My call is to play it safe but if others are happy with the tires then I'd be happy to have them go to a good home.

-Greg

Road Rage

As usual, those reviews are all over the place, and I put little stock in them - some of the best tires I have owned have bombed there. All-season tires are just that - a compromise in all-seasons. Duh. I have Bridgestone RE-050's on my S2000, and Dueler H/L's on my Outback - so I may be biased, but it is in favor of a terrific tire company - supplier of the RE-050 Scuderias on the Enzo - I do not believe they make a lousy tire - it defies common sense, as they leverage the technology across the various lines.

Xpditor

Greg: No offense taken. I'm well seasoned from months on this forum and am used to dealing with quintessential smart asses.

I take it all with a grain of salt. I take what I need and leave the rest.

XP

999999

All tires are a compromise. it depends on what to you is most important and what can be compromised. Dry handling?, ride comfort?, noise? hydroplaning? flatspotting? ice and snow?

Sure, there are bad tires. However, among the good ones you end up with trade-offs.

And, sure, a good tire company can make a lousy tire. Michelin makes some for sure.

Xpditor

I have tried to make that same point about a dozen times. The EL42's are Ultra High Performance, all season tires that are rated for 168MPH. They are low profile and not designed for comfort or quiet. They are sporty tires on a sport-luxury sedan. You can't have your cake and eat it too.

If you want high aspect, soft and cushy tires- they make them. But they won't give the same performance as these tires which, I believe, retail for over $200 each. They actually cost more than the HPT Potenza summer tires if you buy them from a tire store.

Instead of a high performance tire option, perhaps Acura should have a soft and cushy quiet, H rated tire option (with an appropriate speed governor) so everyone could get what they want.

It's vaguely interesting to me that they are for shit in snow.

What is snow?

XP

Greg G

Actually, you can get the tires from tirerack.com for $116. Check out the link:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....omCompare1=yes

Living in NJ and going through a couple of very scary trips home last winter in my Prelude I am VERY interested in the snow worthiness of these "all season tires".

-Greg

Xpditor

Thanks, Greg. I see they are on sale now. In my post, I said they RETAIL for over $200. I believe that is accurate. If you look at the tire right under it priced normally at $197. It's a 250 so it's 5 cm wider but it also is ZR rated (not WR). But, thanks for letting me know they're on sale. I can use that info to try and get the price down if I buy up some of the orphans that are laying around in people's garages

I can appreciate that, Greg. It's just not a factor for me. That's why I would consider buying some take-offs.

XP

kingbrad

2004 TL Navi - I am having the same tire issues (2800 miles) noise and vibration. The dealer just replaced the tires with the same. How did you get the dealer to swap for Michelins. I am in Charlotte and having no luck getting them to do this. Thanks.

huskerfan

I bought my TL back in February and it had the old EL 42's and had the flatspotting problems. I complained to ACS for several months before they finally admitted the problem and told me to take my car to the dealer to have the tires checked. The dealer confirmed that the tires were flatspotting and said they would order me a new set of reformulated EL 42's. I said I would rather have another tire and offered to pay the difference. The dealer said that Acura would not allow them to do that. The new tires were worse than the originals. I went back to the dealer and they checked them out again and said they were flatspotting but that was a normal characteristic of the tire and Acura would not do anything else. ACS said the same thing. I called Bridgestone and got in touch with the area representative. After some negotiating he offered to replace the EL 42's with LS Z's if I would pay the cost difference. I agreed to pay the $34/tire cost difference and added a lifetime road hazard and lifetime balance and rotation. Total cost was about $320. The LS Z's ride and handle much better and, so far, have not had any flatspotting. I think it was a good deal because the LS Z's have the dealer warranty, a better wear rating (320), and a better traction rating (AA). OEM tires have no warranty. I also think that the cost of rotation and balancing over the life of the tire would have cost me more than the $320 I spent. The road hazard warranty will give me a new LS Z for about $30 (cost of warranty per tire) if anything should ever happen to one of them. Since Bridgestone lists the LS Z's at $298/tire, if I should ever destroy one in a chuckhole or by hitting some road clutter, I think the cost was worth it.

jdb8805

How much did that cost?

lindros2

I think the answer is "it's negotiable."

Depending on how firm (but not irate) you are, and how new your tires are, you can get them for <$35/tire.

If you're an angry a-hole and have 10,000 miles on your tires, most likely you'll be out of luck.

I had 5500 miles on my EL42's (actually 4000 on first set, 1500 on second), and was able to negotiate on a set of Michelin Pilot Sport A/S's (albeit it not cheap).

RhodeRunner

It all depends on your dealer. I had no problems trading the EL42 for Pilot Sport AS. I have never dealt with such a customer oriented dealership as the one from where I bought my car. Not only will they pick up your car for service- from wherever you are, but they will also leave you with a loaner. And if you get all of your warranty work done there, they will extend the drivetrain warranty to 100K miles.

MyAcuraTL04

" << There's no doubt that the EL42 isn't the perfect tire, and Acura could have made a better choice. However, saying it is an unsafe tire is unsubstantiated. How does it compare to other tires on the road? Take the average tire on a new minivan. Which tire is better in most respects? Probably the EL42. So this is all relative. People say the EL42 hydroplanes badly. But compared to what? There's no objective testing to look at, just opinions. That includes the Tire Rack ratings by customers. Trying to look objectively at those, they don't make complete sense. Why are the lower rated tires worse in essentially EVERY aspect, by a large margin? All tires are a compromise, and even the "bad" tires are good in something, generally (like they are quiet, or have long treadlife, for example - but the tire rack ratings blast them uniformly in every category). >> "



How about this.......when my TL only had 200 miles, I had a tire blow out, which destroyed my rim, and the Acura dealer washed their hands of the whole thing, which meant I got stuck for $500 + right out of the gate......

Sounds pretty unsafe to me.

mickey3c

I have them on my g and my tl and I have logged about 10,000 miles on a set thus far and they seem ok... But then I am not pushing my car that much. They suck in the snow even with AWD. I would not say do not buy the car because of the tires...

But the fact that you can be in for a 600 tire bill in the first year of driving sucks. Anyone who allows a second set to be put on the car is crazy. You should get better all seasons.

The ELs have a 200 treadwear rating... The avons are 360 I think which means that you should get at least 50% better treadwear.

Brettg

Looking on tire rack, there seem to be a number of tires that would work
on the TL, more if you dont need the high speed ratings...

I dont know if you can shange the size slightly and get more rim
protection and a better cheaper tire.

I had michelin MXV4 tires on the Passat and liked them, I also
used dunlop sp5000 tires on the Jaguar and liked them a lot.

Yokahama has an avid, for $105.00 each that is rated well, along
with their avs db s2 for $145.00 each....

Continental has a extreme contact for $151.00.....

I dont really have a problem with the stock tires, but know they are poor,
stiff, noisy, poor wet traction, low treadwear ratings....

People seem to complain about most stock tires on most cars, but the
EL42's seem to be rated REALLY lousy....

Brett

Legend2TL

I drove in a extremely heavy thunderstorm last Saturday night on some back country roads in Mountgomery County, Maryland and was quite amazed how well the EL42's did in the rain.

I will probably try the Avon A550's for replacement. The EL42's work fair in snow but in the rain I was actually impressed. This is on a 2005 so they probably are the second generation EL42's.

FWIW, the Tirerack reviews for the Goodyear Infinity's are also pretty bad but have them to be great all around tires for the Honda Pilot we own and they wear very well (60K+).

Actuary

MY 05 TL came with Michelin MXM4. It hydroplained once at 75MPH for a blink second under heavy rain. Tire chirps on dry pavement at launch occasionally. Hope this helps for u looking for replacement

mbwmn

Bridgestone (Firestone) has a 30-day ride warranty. if the dealer just replaced them, take your receipt to an authorized Bridgestone (Firestone) dealer NOW and swap them for a set of SE-03's or RE-950's!!! i did this when the Acura rep repalced all 4 tires and wheels. the dealer charged me $63 for mounting/blancing for 4 SE-03 PolePositions in 245/45/17. the retail price of the EL-42 and the SE-03 were the same (w/ in $5?)!
http://www.bridgestone-usa.com/store...r/index_bs.asp

hth!

catalytic

OEM tires are generally bad to mediocre. Speaking from my experience with Jettas, they often came with Eagle LS or Michelin Energy MXV4 for models with the 15 and 16" rims, and Eagle RS-A or Michelin Pilot HX MXM4 on the models with 17" rims.

Talking to a lot of people and looking at the ratings, consensus was the Eagle LS were utter crap, and the other three were mediocre at best. I was lucky and got the Pilot HX MXM4's, which were the BEST of the sorry lot, but have not been happy with the poor wet traction and road noise for a few years.

crm_codder

LS-Z - perfect tires. I get one too.

03CoupeV6

Welcome to a year ago.

JazzoRenee

So, I brought my 05 TL in 08 and i wish i would have known that these tires sucked!!! I ended up getting new tires like a year later and my car only had about 25,000 miles on it by then.
I have the Protenza's which I would give 6.5 our of 10 compared to those Turanza, and now I'm going to replace those with these Continental Tires.

Turbonut

iTrader: (1)

Why revive a thread after 6 years?

Bearcat94