i'm assuming that they did not report back that any of your tires were "out of round" or any of your wheels bent? road-force balancing would have indicated this. did they check your alignment? maybe you have a toe problem. also ask them check to make sure that all your suspension components are in good shape...could be a bushing that is worn or defective. also, the dealer may have not noticed any vibrations on their test drives if they drove under 75mph...usually they'll only drive at the posted legal speed limit.

 

There were a lot of complaints regarding vibrations with early 2007 MDXs. In some instances roadforce balancing worked, and in others, new tires did the trick.

Personally speaking, I've never had this problem, so I can't speak with any authority on the subject, but I'm sure that there are others here who can. In the meantime, do a search and see what comes up.

Good luck.

Regards,
Adam

 

I was at the dealer 5 or 6 times with the same problem with my 07 MDX.In 07 there were lots of posts about this.Road force balance worked sometimes,but if the tires were removed from the rims you may have had that done already.In my case I had the dealer let me drive a new mdx and when it drove fine I had him switch the tires with my car.It may have been tires or rims.
Good Luck the car is worth the trouble Joe kids

 

I'm experiencing the same problem on my 07MDX. I'm planning on bringing it to the dealer after I get the tires rotated and balanced.

 

Vibration

Was the vibration problem ever solved?

I just took delivery of 2009 MDX Sport and I have the same problem. Once I hit 70 I feel vibration. Dealer said they could not duplicate the problem, but they rebalanced the tires for me. Problem persists.

I am also experiencing a significant lag when I punch the gas. Car revs high and hesitates before shifting. Dealer also claimed not to notice this problem and said to be patient while the car "breaks in."

I turned in a 2006 MDX and didn't feel any vibration or hesitation at any point in my ownership.

 

what if it's not the tires? Have they looked at the suspension items? Such as lower/upper arms, stabalizer arms (if it has..my 2001 maxima had a bad stab bar which caused intermittent vibrations at highways speeds)

 

Thanks for the reply. They've not investigated any of these items, claiming instead that the balancing was sufficient. What you're saying makes alot of sense given that I'm also feeling an unusual amount of bounce from the suspension. I tried switching back and forth between "comfort" and "sport" modes and the bounce was the same. I am having another dealer look at it this week and will raise the possibilities you've suggested. Thanks again.

 

i am having the exact same problem on my 2009, did you go back to the dealer?

 

Vibration

I went to a second dealer. They also balanced tires and then rotated them. When that didn't work they swapped out wheels and tires with new ones. That didn't work either. Now they are looking into suspension issues. I notified Acura (corporate office) that I want a new car and they are investigating.

 

Road force balancing is not enough, you must find a shop who will
also do " force matching" , which is taking the time to match each tire
with each rim assembly, this will lower the " roadforce number " and will ensure the high and low spots on the tire " match ", do a search
for Hunter GPS 9700 road force and look for a shop under zip code
lookup to find a shop that will spend the time to do this, I had a vibration issue on my 2007 and this solved the problem, I was reimbursed for my costs by the dealer, It will cost approx 200 dollars
as it is time consuming, each tire and rim assembly is measured and " matched". Hope this helps.

 

Road force balancing is not enough, you must find a shop who will
also do " force matching" , which is taking the time to match each tire
with each rim assembly

I would be inclined to agree with this suggestion, except I'm not certain that there are actually 2 different procedures for road force balancing. Properly done, road force balancing requires "clocking" of the tire on the rims; in other words turning them in relation to the rims. In general, this is sufficient to bring the road force numbers into "spec". Once in a while, the machine will suggest trying a different tire/wheel combo, but that's just a further step in the normal road force procedure. In any case, I've also found that even when I request (and pay for) rfb, I sometimes have to watch and remind the tech to actually do it. It's a lot of extra work and time. Well worth it in cases like these, IMO.

Our 2008 also vibrates at 70+ mph. Since we drive in Indiana and particularly Michigan (where the speed limit is 70 mph) on a regular basis, we're regularly above 70 mph for long stretches. I just had the car in for tire re-balance, and am hoping for the best on our next long trip. If the vibration is still there, then I'll get the dealer or Acura to pay for proper rfb, since their Hunter machine isn't equipped with that feature.

Good luck.

 

Vibration

I think problem is solved, although I drove home in the rain so I couldn't drive too fast. Dealer says the drive shaft was defective out of the factory. They replaced it and claim to have test driven at 85 mph without any more vibration. Once weather clears up, I'll find out for myself and let everyone know. Thanks to all posters who gave suggestions. Apparently not an easy issue to pinpoint (or Acura's in no hurry to replace this very large part). Any thoughts on whether driving for about 1500 miles with a defective drive shaft might have messed anything else up ?

 

I think problem is solved, although I drove home in the rain so I couldn't drive too fast. Dealer says the drive shaft was defective out of the factory. They replaced it and claim to have test driven at 85 mph without any more vibration. Once weather clears up, I'll find out for myself and let everyone know. Thanks to all posters who gave suggestions. Apparently not an easy issue to pinpoint (or Acura's in no hurry to replace this very large part). Any thoughts on whether driving for about 1500 miles with a defective drive shaft might have messed anything else up ?

Yes, for those that care, I know this is an old thread.....has anyone had any follow up on the plausibility of a bent drive shaft causing the highway vibration many of us experience in our 07+ MDX's?

 

I have had a similar problem with my 2008, but the vibration got worse when I was turning right on an S curve. They tried balancing and aligning, but it didn't work. So they put it on a machine and found out I had a cracked left hub assembly. After they fixed it I haven't had a problem since. Hope this helps.

 

I had 2007 traded to 2008 and both new when I got it and drives with vibrations at 70mph. I also have X5 but never had high speed vibrations even at 100mph. It doesn't feel safe for me to drive MDX more than 70mph because of the vibrations and wind noise that I always end up switching to middle lane instead. It is frustrating that I couldn't stay in the inner lane most the time whenever I take a long distrance driving.

 

I had the same issue. I went to a good shop, had them calibrate their Hunter GPS machine to make sure it was perfect. They were able to get rid of 80-90% of the issue, and the car finally felt more planted at speed, but not planted enough for my tastes. I could still feel a hint of vibration and on long road trips, it would become annoying. I also found myself in the center lane, keeping it below 70.

Early on, the dealer tried to tell me this was a "common characteristic" of the car. At first I laughed at his excuse. But after new rims, three different sets of tires, 6 wheel balances by different shops, AND two loaner MDXs that also vibrated at 75 mph, I'm starting to think the original dealer was right and it is a pretty common characteristic of the MDX.

IF you can find a shop that really knows what they are doing you can get it MUCH better. At first I thought they nailed it, but over the next few weeks, the vibration began to return. I was never able to get it 100% smooth. The next step for me was going to be to try to balance and turn the rotors. But I gave up and just traded it in.

Keep in mind, all of the troubleshooting above was done within 9 months of purchasing a brand new, $41k vehicle. It's nice to know that I'm not the only one who had this issue (misery loves company), but that doesn't bode well for Acura's quality control.

 

Just as a follow up, our vibration problem was rectified by the dealer simply re-balancing all 4 wheels/tires. They were not properly balanced at the factory in the first place, which is what I suspected all along.

 

Thank you and please gives us an update after sometime.

 

Dealer now is asking for $35 for balancing and recommending wheel alignments as well.

Are any of these things covered under warranty for '08 with 25K?

Did you guys pay out of pocket to the dealer for correcting the high speed vibrations?

Thank you.

 

I had 2007 traded to 2008 and both new when I got it and drives with vibrations at 70mph. I also have X5 but never had high speed vibrations even at 100mph. It doesn't feel safe for me to drive MDX more than 70mph because of the vibrations and wind noise that I always end up switching to middle lane instead. It is frustrating that I couldn't stay in the inner lane most the time whenever I take a long distrance driving.

??????

What does any of this have to do with which lane you drive in? The only reason I drive in any lane other than the right hand lane is to pass someone.

G

 

Dealer now is asking for $35 for balancing and recommending wheel alignments as well.

Are any of these things covered under warranty for '08 with 25K?

Did you guys pay out of pocket to the dealer for correcting the high speed vibrations?

Thank you.

I paid nothing, but we had mentioned the same problem during the first oil change service about a year ago, so I made the case that this was a pre-existing condition that the dealer had neglected to correct.

Alignment rarely has anything to do with tire/wheel balancing or vibration, so I'd pass on that.

$35 isn't much to pay if the re-balance fixes the problem, IMO.

 

The dealer no longer charging for tire balancing and didn't pursue for alignment either. But service manager (sm)advised to stop going to this type of forums because "it only will make me find something wrong with my car but actually nothing".

I've been a member on this forum since 2007 and this is the first time I came up to them but I felt intimidated to tell him this.

I don't have the chance to drive at least 70 mph yet if tire balancing corrected the vibration but sm also had doubts the mechanic hit 70mph during test drive.

Otherwise, either go to another dealer far from home or make the vibration my indicator to slow it back down again and don't proceed to pass.

 

But service manager (sm)advised to stop going to this type of forums because "it only will make me find something wrong with my car but actually nothing".

Your SM is just plain lazy...:28:This forum is a big help. :29:

 

I just bought a 07 MDX sport and been experiencing this vibration. Talked to the dealer they said they can't test for vibration at 75-80mph they're only allowed to test within the speed limit 55mph.
tried already:
- paid to have my wheels balanced - DIDN'T fix it
- Had my tires/rims checked by custom shop they couldn't tell me anything was wrong either. So I have them swap my left side rim/tire with right side and now it moved most of the vibration to the right side but its still there.

It's really bugging me, i bought the car for long highway trips and sucks to shaking the entire ride.

my other theory ... it seems the wheels seem to really vibrate when the engine rpms are low rpm ~2500 kinda like when its in cruise control not at higher rpm. Im trying to see if this is the case at all speeds when cursing at low rpm wheich would point to some other issue.

 

The drive shaft issue is more intriguing to me...My mechanic mentioned a possible drivetrain issue causing the vibration since it only occurs at 65+ but Acura is manipulating people into thinking that any tire other than OEM causes the vibration.

 

After so many wheel/tire shops failed (to varying degrees), as well as new tires failed I started to wonder the same thing. I decided I didn't want to open that can of worms and just moved on. I hope you guys have better luck!

 

I had the exact same issue as Bear1906 several years ago with my 2007 Sport, 8+ trips to dealer-Balanced Wheels, change wheels and tires, rebalance etc all N/G.

Turned out to be defective drive shaft.

Recently at a trip to dealer for another issue mechanic showed me a room full of defective drive shafts waiting to be sent back to Acura !!!!!!

 

I'm guessing that's what was wrong with mine (and the loaners I drove) as well.

 

Vibrations continue after factory reps' intervention

I too have experienced vibrations at high speeds in my 09 MDX. The problem occurs typically at speeds of 70+. Many of the problems listed by other posters have been present including steering wheel vibration, front end vibration, pull to the right, etc. I have been to the dealer 5 times in an attempt to have it corrected before contacting client care. The dealer was not responsive at all -rebalanced the tires, realigned the vehicle twice, rotated the tires, replaced a wheel that was "out of round", and then ultimately told me I was crazy. After being assigned a case manager it took nearly a month to get an appointment scheduled with a factory rep. Once he met with me and test drove the car for nearly 2 hours, he determined it was problem with the tires and authorized a replacement set.

The vibration has been reduced but the ride is not what it should be for a vehicle of this caliber. I have owned 3 other Acuras including an MDX and thus far I am losing faith. I will drive the car for a bit longer waiting for the vibration to worsen, contact the factory rep again, then file lemon law.

 

I too have experienced vibrations at high speeds in my 09 MDX. The problem occurs typically at speeds of 70+. Many of the problems listed by other posters have been present including steering wheel vibration, front end vibration, pull to the right, etc. I have been to the dealer 5 times in an attempt to have it corrected before contacting client care. The dealer was not responsive at all -rebalanced the tires, realigned the vehicle twice, rotated the tires, replaced a wheel that was "out of round", and then ultimately told me I was crazy. After being assigned a case manager it took nearly a month to get an appointment scheduled with a factory rep. Once he met with me and test drove the car for nearly 2 hours, he determined it was problem with the tires and authorized a replacement set.

The vibration has been reduced but the ride is not what it should be for a vehicle of this caliber. I have owned 3 other Acuras including an MDX and thus far I am losing faith. I will drive the car for a bit longer waiting for the vibration to worsen, contact the factory rep again, then file lemon law.

Sounds like we went through a very similar process, minus the call to Acura care. The dealer gave me a new set of wheels and tires one week after I bought the car. The fixed the alignment issue in the first shot. Several wheel balances later, I decided that maybe it was an issue with the Michelin Latitudes in general and gave up on the dealer.I tried the Yoko Avid Envigors as I've had great experiences with Yoko's on other cars. The first three shops botched the balancing, made it worse then ever. Then per a member's suggestion on here, I found a really good local shop that really spent time helping me. The botched the first balance, but then re-calibrated their Hunter machine and got it 90% better. But there was still a hint of it and over the course of the next month, steadily got worse. Now, I was firmly convinced that the issue was not with tires or wheels, but possibly drive shaft, hubs, control arm, etc. What most concerned me is that the two loaner MDXs I had also vibrated and "boomed" as well.

At this point, most people would contact Acura care, file a claim, lemon law, etc. But, combine the vibration with the constant booming coming from the rear suspension and I was just done. Because I bought the MDX at invoice and put $5k down, I was able to trade it in on my new A3 with no loss. It's the best decision I ever made. My wife and I just took the A3 to the lake house. We had the two of us, our 2 year-old daughter, Golden Retriever, 3 small suitcases and misc bags and everything fit just fine. Along the way, I enjoyed a solid, smooth, planted ride, even at speeds up to 90.

I hope others have better results with you MDX issues. I really wanted to like this car - just wasn't mean to be, I guess.