Question on 2018 TLX AWD Vibration
 

Hi folks,
I am in the market for a new 2018 AWD Tech. I have been reading about the main potential issues with the car, and have determined that there are 2 areas of concern:
1) the transmission;
2) highway vibration.
Last week in Toronto, I test drove a brand new TLX Tech AWD (not a demo) and, sure enough, I experienced the vibration on the freeway between 110 - 120 kph (70-75 mph).
Needless to say, I was disappointed and did not purchase it. Apparently, other new cars on the lot also vibrate... I also looked at many 2018 TLXs on the lot and they were all built between April 2017 and Aug 2017.

According to the dealer, they have a new batch on order, and should arrive in May 2018. I will go then and test drive one of the newer ones to see how they perform on the highway.

Beside all obvious comments on the factory's quality control issues and the fact that Acura apprear to knowingly release cars with the vibration issue, I am starting to wonder whether this is a design issue (e.g., resonance, etc) or is it an "execution" issue (i.e., issues with assembly, tolerances, etc).

What I am trying to figure out is whether, if I purchase the car and I replace the tires (e.g, install winter tires), I would be running the risk of experiencing vibration issues. (i.e., the factory may have "fixed" the vibration issue with carefully balancing the tires on the car, and any subsequent tire change etc would alter the system and I will be stuck with the problem).

Any one has any advice or input on this? For those who have no issues with their 2018 AWDs, what's your build date?
Thanks!

Dont get the tlx. The vibration has been there from the beginning and no true fix has been made. They performed the tsb on mine and it still vibrates. Although it has improved, i can still feel it. Pisses me off everytime that i either cruise below 70 or around 80. If i could go back, i would have gotten a q50 or a cpo gs350 f sport instead

And you don't get the vibrations with your 2017 MDX? Same drivetrain...

EDIT: ooops... hybrid so no it is not.

i think the vibration on the tlx is for shawd models. Has something to do with the subframe, and not the drivetrain. I may be wrong.

Have the 18 Aspec AWD. Have had no vibration at all even on speed up to 100. It's very smooth. 6k miles so far. Seems this issue is hit or miss. Don't hear much about it anymore so it seems either people got used to it or its not as common. Not sure of my build date but it arrived at the dealer in Aug 2017.

Thanks.
The vibration appears to affect SH-AWV models only. The built date is on the door jamb sticker, format is "mm/yy".

Hi Everyone,

And Acura continue to deny the problem. They still said is an inhirant charasteristic of the TLX. Still in court with them.
We will see what the judge will say. Too bad that it could take up to 18 months before the trial.
Acura is well aware of this and think that no one will get them to court cause of the long delay. They don't know me very well ... do they ??

If you don't want trouble, just don't by an Acura TLX SH-AWD for next couple of years.

Mickey.

After they performed the tsb on mine, paperwork said "vibrations may still be felt depending on driving conditions". I asked what driving conditions and they couldnt specify any.

Hi ,

When you're saying paperwork said "vibration may still be felt" , are you talking about what's at the end of the TSB document or they actually put this on you "work order invoice " ??

Thanks, Mickey

Work order invoice

Hi Mondster,

Will you be able to send me a copy of the workorder ?? I will add that to my case. If you agree , I will send you my private email address.

Thanks, Mickey

No problem. I have to look for it 1st

Hi Mondster,

If you find a copy of your invoice that contain the statement "vibrations may still be felt depending on driving conditions" after they applied TSB. Send me a copy at: Mickey_langel@videotron.ca

Thanks Mickey

180 mile round trip to Acura for 1st complimentary oil change in my 18 SHAWD. No vibration felt up to 90 MPH.

5/17 build date.

Have my Aspec SH-AWD for almost eight months. No issues at all. Must be something mechanical. Some models have apsolutely no issues and some vibrate. Must be mechanical and will probably not get fixed until new generation comes out.

The vibration was felt on the initial drive home in our 2015 V6 FWD but wasn't too apparent on subsequent drives throughout the 21k miles we had the car.

We now have a '18 SH AWD and there was no such vibration driving it over 100 miles home through various speeds and situations. I made sure to keep it out of Sport+ mode most of the time because the '15 would only exhibit the vibration at low cruising RPM. I'll report back if we start noticing vibrations.

EDIT: build date is 11/17

In thinking back to when I had my 2015 3.5 SH-AWD, I recall people talking about the "vibration" in relation to the VCM. I never felt it at highway speeds, or indeed any other type of vibration, but could mildly discern the VCM at low speeds around 60 kph..... only after reading about it and focusing on it. However, I would not use the term vibration to describe it. I wonder if the reason there are such different experiences described here is due to some people who pay acute attention to such things vs those that just drive and enjoy the car. I have a 2014 Altima that I noticed a mild but discernible high pitched whine when steering the car at low speeds. Drove me nuts for a while, but as I usually have the radio on, I almost never hear it anymore and I have come to appreciate the car as a solid second ride, albeit well below the enjoyment of my 2.4 TLX.

The vibration that I was referring-to in the OP is definitely not VCM-related. It's a noticeable vibration affecting only AWD versions on the freeway, like the tires are out of balance (but, from other posts, it's not the tires). There are a couple of TSBs related to this out there related to replacement of rear subframe bushings etc, but the TSBs only applied to 2016 TLX, and I am not even sure whether the application of the TSB completely solved the vibration problem. I will update this post once I have the opportunity to test-drive a newly produced 2018.

Complaints & TSB indicate its a real issue. Thing I would be unhappy about is its apparent randomness. Suggests they really don't know the cause or how to fix it in all cases. Its nice when a problem can be isolated to say the wrong bushing was used or a parts supplier screwed up but we have changed that.

So of forces you to buy from dealers stock so you can run it around & see if random chance is on your side. In my case I don't buy from stock, custom order, so I would hate to wait for a car to come in then have the issue show up when I test drove it.

I observed my 2016 car may have developed this issue. It is felt through floor,between 65-75mph, but not at 55-60. I'll install my summer wheels soon and see.

I have one of the earliest Tech SH-AWDs (Nov 2014) and I have never had this problem. On the other hand, I never drove it without the 19" wheels and Michelin Pilot Sport A/S3+ tires either. I have driven the 4cyl and FWD V6 as loaners and neither of them had it either.

Anyone have a highway vibration in a FWD? I've had my A-Spec FWD for less than 3 weeks and 750 miles and it has a minor but noticeable vibration at highway speeds. I expect this $44K car to be butter smooth on the highway and so far it is not. Called my sales rep and want to take it in for rebalancing to see if that is the issue. Hoping the wheels were not balanced perfectly in the factory.

CHECK THE TIRE PRESSURE! When I picked up my A-SPEC/SH-AWD, the tires were way over-inflated to 40PSI!
The dealers do this to prevent tire spotting
I've driven up to 100MPH, with zero vibration, at 35PSI all around
If not, obviously have them re-calibrated & balanced

My experience
 

Just picked up my 2018 V6 SH-AWD last weekend and had vibration issue.

Brought it to dealership. They changed the tires and all is good now.

My build date was May 2017, so I gather the car had been sitting for quite some time and tires were no longer good.

All good now. Only thing I haven't gotten used to yet is slow performance of the transmission from stopped. LOTS of power if you floor it, but it seems too hesitant under normal driving conditions. Need to figure out how to get this beast out of granny mode.

Sorry to hear all this bad new guys nothing would drive me more crazy than the vibration issues especially for car guys. I have owned my 2018 tlx aws aspec now for around 6 months and the seatbelt vibration issue does make me angry but since I pretty much drive solo all the time that was a easy fix. No other vibration issues experienced on both the summer and winter tires. Glad some of you were able to resolve the issues with new tires or rebalancing. If we are spending 50k on these cars we should expect things like this to not occur.

Keep it in SPORT mode, not Eco, or normal
Sport+ is a little too much for city driving; awesome on the Interstate

Spoke too soon
 

After driving the car for a week, there is definitely still a strange vibration / resonance going on. Not nearly as bad as before the tire changes, but still there. Do any of the TSBs apply to 2018? Wondering if I should bring it in?

sb, you should take it back - it could just be a tire balancing issue, since they changed the tires.

I no longer have my 2015 TLX SH-AWD (sold it) but today, I got 2018 SH-AWD loaner. The car has about 9k miles on it and I could not detect any major vibration when on a highway, but the passenger seat (when unoccupied) still insanely vibrates. Like others I got burnt on the TLX before and if I were to give a word of advice for the potential buyers, I would say - walk away from TLX, save money and get Accord for 10k less or if you must have AWD, get Q50.

Had the tires road force balanced and found out 3 of the tires were originally out of balance slightly. Decided to pay to have this done as opposed to going to the dealer and having them tell me they couldn't detect a vibration or that it was normal. Plus, they don't have a Hunter balancing machine anyway. Had a chance to get it up to speed for a couple of miles on the way home and it seemed much better. Still a slight vibration of the passenger seat (when unoccupied) between 65 and 70 mph, but much muted, and I didn't detect a vibration in my seat or legs.

Was that a vibration from the steering wheel?

In my case, the Honda AWD vibration in question comes from the floor. I might be wrong, vibrations from steering are mostly wheels/bearing/tie-rods/link issues. This one seems to come from the driveline.

Vibrations in FWD TLX?
 

Forgive me if I'm rehashing old news. I've looked through these forums and have only found a couple of instances where a vibration issue seems to exist with the a FWD version of the TLX. Is anyone experiencing this?

I ask b/c I'm interested in a new TLX (FWD variety) but the traffic in the area hasn't allowed me to test drive at a full highway speed (65-75 MPH). Of course, if I could take the test drive out of town over a weekend, I'd know for sure, but that is not an option for me. I'd hate to buy or lease one without having some level of confidence that this issue is very unlikely in the FWD variety.

Big thanks!!!

AFAIK, the vibration issue affects the AWD versions. I still recommend that you should try the actual car you will purchase in various driving conditions, especially on the highway - any vibrations on the FWD is likely due to tire flat spotting and/or imbalance. Can you time your dealer visit so that there is no traffic?

This can be corrected by re-synching the active engine mounts with the car in gear. Techline knows about this. This cropped up for me after I got the transmission replaced and they were able to correct it in a morning.

The vibration is not caused by the wheels being imbalanced. It is caused by the particular weight of the vehicle, more predominantly in the AWD models, and the transmission being indecisive in sending a signal to switch to the next gear. Our vehicles need premium fuel only, 91+ and i bet most of those complaining are putting in basic (sub primary gas brand) and regular (lowest grade at primary brand) gas.
You'll notice that you dont experience the vibration as much when carrying a load (or full tank), because that extra load on the engine triggers a later shiftpoint and that counteracts the "stuck in the middle" state which causes the vibration.

FWD vehicles are lighter and as such are somewhat immune to this because their shiftpoints occur sooner, however, if they were carrying enough extra weight they might approach this grey zone.

The engine knows when it has high octane fuel and it will be more confident in shifting to the next gear. Lower octane fuels will do the opposite, the engine will hold the gear in that spot until the pitch of the vehicle changes (top of the hill) or you increase or decrease pressure on the throttle.

Hope this helps; putting shit gas in your car wont save you money in the long run. Premium is not that much more expensive for the value it brings. Up here in canada Ultra94 (suncor/petro) is about 14 cents more per litre than regular. That works out to just $7.84 more for a full tank of premium.

As my dad says, don't be penny-wise and pound foolish. Our vehicles are engineered for "Premium" grade "Top-Tier" fuel. https://www.toptiergas.com/licensedbrands/

Hi,

Not sure if ShawnJ007 works for Acura, but sound exactly as a "Customer Relation Manager" for Acura. They tried to find any reason to tell you the car behave as normal. I always put premium gas in mine and the vibration is still there , even after all TBS applied , wheels and tire change etc. Make sure to test the car on highway before making any decision.

The vibration has been there from the beginning and no true fix has been made. Like MONDSTER said: Although it has improved, I can still feel it. Pisses me off everytime that i either cruise below 70 or around 80.

For Saintor, you said you started feeling this problem, have you change you whell and tire yet for testing purpose ??

I can't wait to get rid of mine, waiting for my case against Acura to be heard in a small court claim in Montreal. It pissed me so badly that I only drive the car for small trip and only have less than 6000K on it after 18 months of usage. I was a Honda fan for the last 35 years, but this is over now. I will also verify with Genesis when the new G70 will be available for road test.

You'll say, from Acura to Geneis , this guy is crazy. Not so sure about about this, they can't treat me with less respect that I got from Acura/Honda.

Thanks, Mickey