Another 2013 Tech with Vibrations

[AC_MDX]

Seems like the dealer should have test driven the MDX until the flat spot issue disappeared.. Good job..!! You just avoided yourself a big headache..

AC

Originally Posted by Fortyb

Same issue was happening to me when i was getting ready to purchase My MDX..The one i told them to let me hold for the day has a weird vibration going on..I went back to the dealer the next day to finalize the deal and told them i did not want that one and to exchange it for another one..He tried to tell me it was from it sitting up to long on the lot and it may have cause flat spots in the tires..I did not care what caused it and i went home that day with a Brand new different Mdx..

[zmanH2]

I guess we can't edit the first post, right? I wanted to add this info there....

Jan 22, 2013
I finally get the follow-up call from the Acura Client Relations District Manager but there is no good news. He states that this *vibration* is a *CHARACTERISTIC* of the Acura MDX. I told him this is a ridiculous statement especially for a luxury SUV

I only have 400 miles right now (this is not our main vehicle) so I told the District Manager that I will drive it some more and hopefully break it in....hoping the issue will disappear. I said he will hear back from me if this persists.

[newyork326]

Zman... You should not give in! Take the car back to the dealership and make them road force balance the tires. It does not completely solve the problem but it does help.

Keep taking it back until its fixed!

[AC_MDX]

Don't put more mileage into the vehicle. Find an MDX without the issue and traded in. The more miles you put into the vehicle the more difficult it is to traded and to legally return it.

If balancing the wheels/tires make an improvement, then the problem are on the wheel/tires, otherwise it will not make any difference since the dealer should have already performed a balance when you first took it for the vibration problem.

No, vibration is not characteristic of the MDX. My MDX has no vibration issues and no MDX of people I know have vibrations. The ones I had were finally completely fixed by alignment/new-tires/balancing. You cannot balance defective tires or incorrectly worn tires, they will lose their balance after a couple hundred/thousand miles.

AC

Originally Posted by zmanH2

I guess we can't edit the first post, right? I wanted to add this info there....

Jan 22, 2013
I finally get the follow-up call from the Acura Client Relations District Manager but there is no good news. He states that this *vibration* is a *CHARACTERISTIC* of the Acura MDX. I told him this is a ridiculous statement especially for a luxury SUV

I only have 400 miles right now (this is not our main vehicle) so I told the District Manager that I will drive it some more and hopefully break it in....hoping the issue will disappear. I said he will hear back from me if this persists.

[S/T-MDX]

I have a 2012 Advance with Michelin tires and only 5K miles. So far I have had no issues with vibration. Is this primarily with 18" oem wheel/tire set-up issue?

[Task]

Originally Posted by S/T-MDX

I have a 2012 Advance with Michelin tires and only 5K miles. So far I have had no issues with vibration. Is this primarily with 18" oem wheel/tire set-up issue?

Interesting - I too have an Advanced (2013) that I purchased. It now has about 900 miles on it. Mine does not have any vibration at all at any speed. It didn't get a chance to sit for very long on the lot though since it just rolled off the truck the day before I bought it. Maybe it is related to the different wheels/tires?

[nexgenmax]

Wow, they'll go that far to BS... I'm new here and I was researching for MDX and ran into this.
So much for paying more for "luxury item". Can they prove this so called "characteristic"? Did they actually have paperwork of this "characteristic"? Is it in the user's manual that this "characteristic" is explained?

Sorry to hear, but please do fight for what you deserve.

Originally Posted by zmanH2

I guess we can't edit the first post, right? I wanted to add this info there....

Jan 22, 2013
I finally get the follow-up call from the Acura Client Relations District Manager but there is no good news. He states that this *vibration* is a *CHARACTERISTIC* of the Acura MDX. I told him this is a ridiculous statement especially for a luxury SUV

I only have 400 miles right now (this is not our main vehicle) so I told the District Manager that I will drive it some more and hopefully break it in....hoping the issue will disappear. I said he will hear back from me if this persists.

[partizan]

Guys, I know it might sound silly but let me ask you this. Dose anybody, who experience vibration problems, has wheel locks installed? I'm asking because I had very strange driving behavior from my car after four wheel locks were installed. Had to put them off and weird vibration is gone. I would never think that wheel locks, little bigger that the regular bolts, will cause such problems but it is what it is.

[S/T-MDX]

Originally Posted by partizan

Guys, I know it might sound silly but let me ask you this. Dose anybody, who experience vibration problems, has wheel locks installed? I'm asking because I had very strange driving behavior from my car after four wheel locks were installed. Had to put them off and weird vibration is gone. I would never think that wheel locks, little bigger that the regular bolts, will cause such problems but it is what it is.

Again, no issues with OEM wheel locks on 2012 Advance wheels (19"); I have them. I also had them on my 2009 Tech (18") with no issues. Did you use OEM locks, and did you torque them (even one lug nut should not cause a vibration if the others are torquerd right).

[TheJimbo]

I have wheel locks on my 2012 Tech, no vibrations at any speed. Racked up just over 8k miles since I bought it last May.

I sympathize with those experiencing the vibration issue with no successful fix, but it is NOT a vehicle characteristic.

[tolson37]

I've got wheel locks on my 2012 w 15000 miles and no vibs at any speed. Never had to rebalance either. Same on my previously owned 2011 model. Good luck to those having issues.


Sent from AutoGuide.com App

[rabit]

Is it front wheels? can you tell which one?
Can you swap the wheel(s) with the ones in the back?
I'd also suggest don't drive that for too long and keep the pressure both on your dealer and Acura. Don't take this BS!
I have a 09 and never had any vibrations of any kind.

[partizan]

Originally Posted by S/T-MDX

Did you use OEM locks

Yes, they were OED wheel locks.

They are sticking out a little bit (see picture below) but I never thought that it can cause any problem. But it does. Talk to other guys and they kind of agree that possibility to unbalance the wheel having one bolt a little bit bigger then the other is very little. Any way, after the removing the wheel locks everything was back to fine.

Originally Posted by S/T-MDX

... and did you torque them (even one lug nut should not cause a vibration if the others are torquerd right).

No, I didn't. Just regular hand torque, as usually.

BTW, my is MDX 2012 Base. No OEM tires (Bridgstone) no the new one (TOYO) never cause any vibration problems. Car produced late 2011.

[S/T-MDX]

Sleuthing a bit more; did you remove and place the wheel back on the hub and torque all the nuts by hand?

If so, you may not have seated and torqued the lug nuts correctly and perhaps therein may be the problem.

[ddswv]

Always torque all the lug nuts with a torque bar, not a torque wrench adapter that attaches to an air wrench. (A lot of shops use the torque wrench air bar adapters)

A $30 torque bar has saved me years of aggravation and I am not suggesting warped rotors are creating your vibration issues, but in my experiences early vibrations started from improperly torqued lug nuts and then as miles racked up, the vibrations became worse especially when slowing down from interstate speeds/etc.

Two years ago, in August I neglected to do this during a tire rotation, and by October (1500 miles) my front rotors warped. I started having a continual vibration (front right seat shaking). Dealer replaced them. I took the MDX home; re-torqued by hand no more issues.

Used to always have issues with my pre-Acura's having warped rotors till I started doing this myself and never had an issue again till I forgot to do so myself on the MDX that August.

Not suggesting this is a solution to your issues, but it fixed mine and I didn't have the tires rebalanced when the rotors were replaced.

Yes I have OEM Wheel locks too