TSX tire noise

"David Vincent-Jones" <davidvj RemoveThis @verizon.net> wrote in
news:17NFg.2325$Te.841@trnddc07:

> 2006 TSX .. at highway speeds the tire 'rumble' is so loud that the
> radio and CD is almost useless and I need to raise my voice
> significantly to converse with my passenger. Totally unacceptable!
>
> All my pre-purchase testing was done around town on rather smooth
> roads .. sounded fine .. but at 120 k. on a concrete roadway it is
> deafening beyond belief.
>
> Dealer says the setup that I boaght is absolutely standard delivery
> and they claim that only 'old ladies' complain about the noise.
>
> I will be dumping my TSX as fast as possible.
>
> Pity. the rest of the package is really nice....
>
> David
>
>

Follow the steps in the manual. Go up the management chain at the
dealership, then to Acura, then to the BBB. The BBB will have a
independent tech drive the car.

The absolute first thing you should do is comparison drives with the
service manager. I suspect you're looking at a bad tire.
 >> Stay informed about: TSX tire noise 

David Vincent-Jones wrote:
> 2006 TSX .. at highway speeds the tire 'rumble' is so loud that the radio
> and CD is almost useless and I need to raise my voice significantly to
> converse with my passenger. Totally unacceptable!
>
> All my pre-purchase testing was done around town on rather smooth roads ..
> sounded fine .. but at 120 k. on a concrete roadway it is deafening beyond
> belief.
>
> Dealer says the setup that I boaght is absolutely standard delivery and they
> claim that only 'old ladies' complain about the noise.
>
> I will be dumping my TSX as fast as possible.
>
> Pity. the rest of the package is really nice....
>
> David

It's unlikely it's specifically the car. It is most likely one of
the tires. I've driven at least three of the TSX's and they are all
pretty quiet. I've also owned two TL's and now own an RL. All have
been extremely well made vehicles.

Take it to your dealer and have them check out the tires. It isn't
something that you should live with. They'll make it right.
 >> Stay informed about: TSX tire noise 

What I would suggest is asking, are the tires you have from the
dealership specific to your area in the country. I know for example
there are two set ups that my dealership uses one for all season
conditions that ride well all around but might be considered a bit loud
on the highway, or a sport wheel designed specifically for ideal
driving conditions and are just about silent at speed. I would check
into that if that were the case, ask that the dealership do something
to reimburse you for the mismatched tires.
David Vincent-Jones wrote:
> 2006 TSX .. at highway speeds the tire 'rumble' is so loud that the radio
> and CD is almost useless and I need to raise my voice significantly to
> converse with my passenger. Totally unacceptable!
>
> All my pre-purchase testing was done around town on rather smooth roads ..
> sounded fine .. but at 120 k. on a concrete roadway it is deafening beyond
> belief.
>
> Dealer says the setup that I boaght is absolutely standard delivery and they
> claim that only 'old ladies' complain about the noise.
>
> I will be dumping my TSX as fast as possible.
>
> Pity. the rest of the package is really nice....
>
> David
 >> Stay informed about: TSX tire noise 

On Sat, 19 Aug 2006 23:26:53 GMT, "David Vincent-Jones"
<davidvj.TakeThisOut@verizon.net> wrote:
>2006 TSX .. at highway speeds the tire 'rumble' is so loud that the radio
>and CD is almost useless and I need to raise my voice significantly to
>converse with my passenger. Totally unacceptable!
>
>All my pre-purchase testing was done around town on rather smooth roads ..
>sounded fine .. but at 120 k. on a concrete roadway it is deafening beyond
>belief.

Have you been on that road in other cars? Some aggressively surfaced
concrete roads do cause a lot of noise, but it's going to be present
on anything this side of a Rolls Royce. Though, I suppose you could
buy softer tires (Dunlop used to be famous for such), at some cost to
either or both handling or durability.

Is the car OK on those old smooth roads?

J.
 >> Stay informed about: TSX tire noise 

"David Vincent-Jones" <davidvj.DeleteThis@verizon.net> wrote in message
news:17NFg.2325$Te.841@trnddc07...
> 2006 TSX .. at highway speeds the tire 'rumble' is so loud that the radio
> and CD is almost useless and I need to raise my voice significantly to
> converse with my passenger. Totally unacceptable!
>
> All my pre-purchase testing was done around town on rather smooth roads ..
> sounded fine .. but at 120 k. on a concrete roadway it is deafening beyond
> belief.
>
> Dealer says the setup that I boaght is absolutely standard delivery and
they
> claim that only 'old ladies' complain about the noise.
>
> I will be dumping my TSX as fast as possible.
>
> Pity. the rest of the package is really nice....
>
> David
>
>
You may find yourself replacing the tires yourself the best option rather
than dumping the car. Sounds like your dealer is not interested in solving
the problem, so a letter to Acura might help. When I tested 06 Accords, I
found that the first one I drove the noise was quite high. On testing
another with the same tire the level was a lot lower.
 >> Stay informed about: TSX tire noise 

"John Horner" <jthorner DeleteThis @yahoo.com> wrote:
> Maybe the OP was simply trolling. He/she/it has never responded to this
> thread once it started. The Michelins on my TSX are excellent tires for
> all around use and certainly aren't noisy.

You may be right about OP. But IMHO you're not too right about
the OEM Michelins fitted to TSXes, at least the 2004 variety.
The OEM tires do indeed wear well, and aren't awfully noisy.
But that's about where the good news stops.

Try some research at a place like Tirerack or other tire sites,
and you'll discover how truly mediocre the Michelins are
(Pilot HX MXM4 P215/50VR17 just so we're on the same page).

It would be difficult to find a tire the performs as poorly as the
original equipment Michelins, at least within the basic category;
I suppose you could, but why?

Whether one is concerned about dry handling, wet handling,
ice & snow response, braking, noise, compliance ... virtually
anything related to vehicle dynamics ... there are many, many better
tires than the Michelins ... at a fraction of the price. Better in each
and every category. Markedly.

Replacement Michelins go for a stiff $175 or more per tire
at TireRack, and are upwards of $225 from other vendors.

After parsing through a lot of info, I wound up buying some
Pirelli P Zero Nero M+S in P225/45WR17 as replacements.
Ultra-High Performance All-Season tires, superior in every
way (perhaps save wear rating), for *way* cheaper ($125 per tire).
Quieter, more compliant, safer.

Why in the world people believe Michelin's marketing,
and continue to pay a premium for a lesser tire is beyond me.

So, I guess I'm trying to say that the TSX Michelins are indeed not
"excellent tires for all around use". They are over-priced and subpar.

And, anticipating comments concerning "all around use" versus
performance tires, I'd have to mention that the element of safety
is much higher with higher performance tires, hands down. And,
we're talking about an Acura TSX here, not a Buick, so performance
*is* an issue and part of the picture.

--
Rico
 >> Stay informed about: TSX tire noise 

Rico TSX Owner wrote:

> Why in the world people believe Michelin's marketing,
> and continue to pay a premium for a lesser tire is beyond me.
>
> So, I guess I'm trying to say that the TSX Michelins are indeed not
> "excellent tires for all around use". They are over-priced and subpar.
>

I'm certainly not about to buy another set when mine wear out as I agree
that Michelin tires at retail are overpriced. However, the original
post claimed that the tires were noisy, and that simply isn't the case
on my '06 TSX. I'm sure that better value tires are out there and I
will look for them when the time comes. I went through a similar
process when replacing the OE Michelins on my wife's '03 Accord. I
ended up with Yokohama Avid H4S. Indeed the Yokohamas have are a great
handling tire, but a tradeoff has been much higher noise levels compared
to the factory tires.

That said, the handling, ride and noise balance of the TSX is a big part
of why I bought the car and I bought it with the OE tires in place.

By all around use I mean never driving the car past about 7/10 of it's
performance envelope. Doing so on public streets would be irresponsible.

As far as Tire Rack user comments go, take them with a big grain of
salt. I've read thousands of the things and the user ratings are
neither consistent nor well founded. Much more interesting are the test
results for those cases where Tire Rack actually did extensive
comparison testing.


John
 >> Stay informed about: TSX tire noise 

> Much more interesting are the test
> results for those cases where Tire Rack actually did extensive
> comparison testing.
>
>

Speaking of which, have a look at these Tire Rack tests:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/testResultsModel.jsp?tireMake=Mich...n&tireM
 >> Stay informed about: TSX tire noise 

I have the same loud road noise problem at 75+ MPH. I live in Arizona. The
voice recognition doesn't work at all at those feeway speeds. I haven't had
the tires checked yet but it's a 6 month old TSX 2006.
 >> Stay informed about: TSX tire noise 

OK .. so finally I find somebody with a like problem. No I was ot just
"trolling"!

What I find interesting is that my Michelins are XSE P215/50 R17 93V but the
reference provided by others appears to be for a Michelin Pilot HX MXM4
225/50 R16.

I assume that appart from the nomenclature difference the rim size is going
to make some real change in sound transmission. How many out there are
running on R16 rims? Maybe that is the real problem.


"Ygal Giramberk" <ygal4 RemoveThis @attglobal.net> wrote in message
news:BtrIg.14267$WK4.949@fed1read06...
>I have the same loud road noise problem at 75+ MPH. I live in Arizona. The
>voice recognition doesn't work at all at those feeway speeds. I haven't had
>the tires checked yet but it's a 6 month old TSX 2006.
>
 >> Stay informed about: TSX tire noise 

"David Vincent-Jones" <davidvj RemoveThis @verizon.net> wrote in message
news:5OZIg.5198$p23.2793@trnddc04...
> OK .. so finally I find somebody with a like problem. No I was ot just
> "trolling"!
>
> What I find interesting is that my Michelins are XSE P215/50 R17 93V but the
> reference provided by others appears to be for a Michelin Pilot HX MXM4
> 225/50 R16.
>
> I assume that appart from the nomenclature difference the rim size is going
> to make some real change in sound transmission. How many out there are
> running on R16 rims? Maybe that is the real problem.

Someone is confused somewhere, maybe here ...
The only " reference provided by others ..." is mine, and that reference
was, as follows:
"Pilot HX MXM4 P215/50VR17 just so we're on the same page".

There was no reference to 16 inch rims, and no reference to a 225/50 size.
Please note the "R17" and "215/50" in the above excerpt.

So, trying once again, my OEM tires were P215/50 VR17 in size, and
Pilot HX MXM4 in model designation. Yours might have been a different model,
especially if we're comparing 2004 with 2006. But the size would very likely
be the same, and the 17 inch rims would definitely be consistent. I don't think
Acura puts a 16" on a TSX.

In terms of your original post, I realize one person's threshold for "noise"
is different than anothers. I found my Michelins, and the TSX, to be quite
quiet. Not having experience driving a Rolls, and not wishing to be entombed
in a Buick, maybe I am more accepting of "noise" than you, or my hearing
could be poor (there's certainly a chance of that).

But I myself sure as heck wouldn't summarily dump the TSX over noisy tires.
I'd be getting new tires, and asking about for opinions such as you were.

Hope you discover an acceptable resolution to your dilemma.
 >> Stay informed about: TSX tire noise