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Geokilla Here.

28K views 104 replies 19 participants last post by  Gonzo 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
Hello everyone. My family is a brand new owner of the 2015 Acura TLX SH-AWD with Tech Package. We just took delivery of the vehicle tonight and so far so good. If you search my username, you'll see that I use this username on a lot of forums.



I've only spent maybe one hour driving the car so far and already there are a few things I am having trouble with or things I would like to ask:



  1. The 9 speed automatic has a rough 2 to 3 upshift and engine start/stop is not very smooth at all. Hopefully the transmission smooths itself out as the powertrain breaks in and the TCM adapts itself to our driving style.
  2. The car shakes and vibrates a lot at speed. It happened on the drive home at city speeds and got more pronounced when I took it on the highway. It was pretty bad to the point where even the seat back of my seat was vibrating! Even my worn out S70 is better. A fellow member over at RedFlagDeals at the same issue as well and he said it was solved once he switched over from the Goodyear Eagle LS-2 to Michelin Primacy MXM4.
  3. I am trying to figure out how to get the best sound quality from the ELS sound system. Haven't found anything that quite matches the 2012 Volvo S60 and 2000 Volvo S70 in terms of quality. I'm not an audiophile but it was quite obvious to me that the Volvos sounded better. Any recommended settings?
  4. The transmission is a bit slow to respond when in "Normal." I tried to overtake a car today, accelerating from around 80Km/H to 120Km/H and the car just didn't want to drop a gear or two. Again, maybe after the TCM adapts it'll be better?
  5. Does Acura have a software program we can install on Windows like how VAG has the VAGCOM and Volvo has VIDA?

I'll try to update the thread and OP with a couple photos once they're available. I should mention we also have a 2014 Acura ILX Premium. I personally dislike that car very much....



Hope I'm welcomed here!



 
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#2 ·
Welcome to the forum and congratulations on the purchase.

I would recommend that you have a look around and use the search function. There are many posts that discuss the transmission as well as the ELS system.

Acrua does have the Acuralink App that you can install on smartphones as well as the Acuralink web interface that may acheive what you're looking to do there. My salesman explained all of that to me and even had me download the app while I was there to ensure it connected to the car properly.

I only had the LS2s on for a month or so before I switched to the Super Sports. I don't recall having the vibration that you're explaining. If it's that pronounced, I would bring it back to the dealer to see what they say.

I hope you enjoy the TLX more than your ILX!
 
#3 ·
Yep I read up a bit about the transmission. Not so much about the ELS audio system but I did find one thread about it. It was mostly about members talking about whether it was a good system or not though. Don't think anyone shared their settings?

Acuralink App is not what I'm looking for. I'm looking for the Acura equivalent of VAGCOM and VIDA, which is basically the software that mechanics use when you bring in the car for service and they hook it up to the computer.

I definitely will take it back to the dealer soon. I already notified the salesman last night as soon as I got home and he said the car shouldn't do that. We'll see how it goes. According to Acurazine, I'm not the only one with this problem.
 
#4 ·
Welcome fellow Canuck. We (Ontario) also have a very dead FB page too lol.

According to Acurazine, everyone has a problem with everything lmao. I thought the TLX section was bad until I hit up the RDX section. They are a special breed of moron.

-Dont really have a problem with the tranny, although it never seems to pick the right gear to be in. There is also an update for us Canadian finally for it too. I dont use the start/stop. Brake hold is great though.
-Shaking could be a simple wheel balance eventhough the GY tires arent the best either.
-Sound quality I found really depends on the source and having the bass up too high results in some rattles Ive found. Im always playing with the settings.
-Try Sport, drives much better. The normal and eco Ive found are way to lazy Im guessing in the name of fuel economy. In any mode you can also downshift manually.
-Ive never seen anything like VAGCOM on a non-euro car before. I use a BT OBD dongle and the Dashcommand app, but its very limited compared to VAGCOM.
-
 
#5 · (Edited)
Did the thread get moved over from the "New Members Introduction" to "TLX Owners Check In?"

The service adviser did a road test of my car on Friday afternoon and agreed saying that the car is vibrating a lot more than it should. Going to bring it back next week to do a software update. You would think that when they PDI the car, the software is already up to date. But nope! Even the tires were over inflated.

Ah that sucks. There are some things that would be cool to change if possible. Like a tach and speedometer sweep when the car starts for example. And changing the tire pressure from kPa to PSI.

Note to self: Use Search function more.
 
#6 ·
You would think that the predelivery would cover the updates and at least get the tire pressure right. Hopefully they fix it when you take it back. I've seen other instances of excessive vibration with the TLX online. Tires seem to help but I don't think that's the whole issue.

Unfortunately Kpa is attached to the metric system and its not something we can change. Trust me. I've looked.

I'm not sure what you mean by a tach and speedometer sweep at startup.
 
#7 ·
is this the same geokilla from RFD? thought you would have gone for a volvo lol

welcome!
 
#10 · (Edited)
Imgur: The most awesome images on the Internet

I took this photo two days ago but anyone notice what's wrong? Take a look at the odometer on my dashboard then add up the mileage on the trip computer at the top screen. Was my odometer rolled back?! I brought it up with Markham Acura service department yesterday afternoon and they couldn't give an answer. Said it was probably a glitch. My friend thinks the trip computer was turned on as soon it was installed on the car while the odometer wasn't turned on until it left the factory in USA. Or something along the lines of that.

I also had a service appointment to try and get rid of the vibration as the car is traveling at high city and highway speeds. What they did was update the PGM-FI and ABS software. Not sure how that would solve the vibrations as the vibration seems to be coming from the tires and suspension. Going to drive it tomorrow, pay attention, then report back. You would think that a brand new car would be PDI'd with the latest softwares. I guess the only way to find out is to ask the dealer to install all the latest softwares and then document them for me right?

Anyone notice that the rev-matching downshifts is fairly aggressive even in Normal mode? The car actually accelerates as the transmission downshifts as I try to invoke some engine braking.
 
#11 ·
That is a strange find. I know the trip can be reset under different scenarios (i.e .there's a setting to have the trip reset when you get gas). Maybe it's something along those lines.

I don't use normal mode at all so I can't say for sure how the downshifts work in that mode. In Sports mode there is a noticeable downshift which I would expect in this mode. It might explain some of the surging that some are experience when they are slowing down as @MTD suggested in another post.
 
#12 ·
That is a strange find. I know the trip can be reset under different scenarios (i.e .there's a setting to have the trip reset when you get gas). Maybe it's something along those lines.
Yeah that's what I thought but regardless the mileage in the trip computer shouldn't add up to more than what the odometer has as a new car.
 
#14 ·
Here are two photos that I took of my car. Would be great if a moderator can update the OP to include these two photos. I edited them to remove my sister and friend's face.
 

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#16 ·
I've had the vehicle since October 1. I put on just over 700km in it since then and after two service visits, the only thing the dealer did for me was two multi-point inspections, the software update that I mentioned before, and a road test on probably a local street so speeds were probably rarely, if ever in excess of 75Km/H. Today I asked them to look for more software updates and I mentioned maybe balancing the tires but they didn't find anything, claiming they already did that. I think I need to go do a road test with the service adviser and mechanic next time. Or just go to another dealer. The thing is though, the service adviser did say there was vibrations last time.

As for my odometer and trip computer not adding up, you can see it in the attached photos and video. Somehow the sum of the trip computer mileage is more than what is on the odometer. Does this mean that my car's mileage is actually more than indicated?

The transmission is also not shifting very smoothly as I reported in other threads. It's slow, feels unrefined, and overall is slightly ruining my enjoyment of the vehicle. The rev matching downshift doesn't help either as it frequently applies way too much throttle to rev-match. Maybe I'm just being picky here but I expect a pretty perfect car.
 

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#17 · (Edited by Moderator)
So after 3 service visits at two dealers, I have officially given up with trying to get rid of the vibrations at highway speeds. It seems that we'll either have to live with them or get new tires. If I go that route, I'll consider the Yokohama Avid Envigor 95W or Falken ZE950 A/S 95W or Michelin Pilot Sport AS/3 95V or Continental Extreme DWS 95W, in order from cheapest to most expensive. My family and I did a trip together to go see the foliage and visit Casino Rama and the car was vibrating pretty much the whole time on the highway.

Speaking of trip, the car does 145Km/H easy... Too easy.

I'm planning to get the car detailed, tinted, and the front covered in paint protection film. Using midrange to high-end tint and PPF film. But holy crap these things are expensive!

Now I'm just going to quote myself and paste what I wrote in the other threads. I'll turn this thread into something like a mini-blog I guess?

Aside from not being able to skip shift, I noticed that the transmission cannot downshift from 9th to 4th with just 5 tugs on the left paddles. I'll have to go from 9th to 8th to 7th. Then wait two seconds for the car to catch its breath. Then 6th to 5th to 4th. If I try to go from 9th to 8th to 7th to 6th to 5th to 4th, the transmission software just "hangs" and it'll be stuck at say 6th gear for example. Try it out. I can easily reproduce this when I drive home at night and take the highway off ramp.

Man the ZF 9HP is SLOW. :mad:
I noticed that because the ZF 9HP is so slow to shift, I can occasionally get it caught out on a 3rd to 2nd or 2nd to 1st downshfit. I'm unsure what gear it's in when I catch it make a mistake but basically I'm coming to a slow, slow speed (5Km/H?) then I accelerate like I normally would because traffic ahead is picking up speed again. During acceleration, the transmission will basically slip then downshift as the transmission tries to deliver the power to the wheels. Then it'll finally accelerate as you can clearly feel the shift in G forces.
 
#18 · (Edited)
So I got my car back from Auto-Links where I got paint protection film installed on the hood, front bumpers, headlights, and partial fender. Don't have to worry about getting more stone chips! Already got a couple in the one month and one week we had the car already :( Also got those areas detailed as well. Apparently there's a long, deep horizontal scratch across the hood. I mentioned it to the assistant sales manager when we took delivery of the car and he said it was just wax residue. Me being dumb completely forgot about that afterwards and now it's probably too late to do anything about it.

There also appears to be some white residue at the top of the grill that cannot be washed out. Has anyone else noticed this problem with their TLX?
 
#19 ·
I haven't noticed anything on mine....although mine is white so I don't think I'd be seeing much of the white residue.

I went over mine pretty well the day after I got it and didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. Perhaps a good detailing shop could buff them out?
 
#22 · (Edited)
My dealer finally had a mechanic go on a highway road test with me today. Went on the 407 and 404, going up to 140Km/H. The tech agreed that the vibrations are coming from the tires and that the Goodyear tires are not good. They don't ruin the car as a whole, but they do ruin the car's ride and comfort. I couldn't speak with the service advisor after the road test as I had to rush to work so I dropped the car off to let them do what they may have had to do.

I asked to get the tires replaced and it appears that I'm eligible to get the tires changed to Michelin Primacy (MXM4?) for a fee. However I have to get it done ASAP which isn't really going to work for me as I'm going to switch over to winter tires this weekend if I can get my hub rings by then.

Could you post a picture? I'm not sure what we can suggest if the detailer couldn't get it out. Maybe replacing/painting/wrapping the grille?
I'll post a picture if I can't get the white stuff out. The detailer is going to try again. Turns out the detailer didn't actually know about the white stuff but he thinks it is lithium grease spray. The ones that told me about the white stuff was the shop that did the PPF for me. Mixed them up for some reason.
 
#26 ·
Well the dealer called back today and the service manager won't let me exchange the $500 credit for service. Tires only. $1087 + tax for the exact same set of Michelin Primacy MXM4 that I can get for $810 + tax. They claim that what they get are high quality tires while tire shops get bad ones. Going to speak to the Assistant Sales Manager tomorrow, the one who sold us the car and see how that goes. Chances of contacting Acura of Canada Customer Relations just increased as well.

Also I forgot to mention yesterday, the $500 credit is supposedly only valid if I don't exceed 2500km on the odometer. I guess they expect me not to drive the car since I'm already at 2400km. I told the service advisor that I will swap over to winters this weekend so I'm not meeting that requirement as there is no point in buying tires until spring 2016 right now.
 
#28 ·
Took advantage of the warm weather and switched over to my winter tires today. For those that don't 't know, I had bought a used set of 225/50R18 Dunlop Graspic DS-3 mounted on 18"X8" Drag DR-31 rims that was originally used in a lowered Nissan 370Z. The tires were manufactured in 2009 with plenty of tread life. Heck they look brand new and barely used! Only thing that worries me are their age and the 95Q rating. The rim offset is 35 according to the Internet. They were a pain to change because of manufacturers playing this silly game of "form over function" where in this case, the rims and tires are way too big for my liking. They are stupid heavy and I wouldn't be surprised if I injured myself from crouching and squatting so much since I had to change 12 tires and clean the brake dust off of them too. There was also the rim design playing a significant factor in my struggles as it was really difficult getting the lug nuts in properly using the impact gun and then hand torquing them with a wrench. Changing the ILX tires was such a breeze because they were so light.

It was my first time changing tires by myself today and having done three cars in 6 hours (yes I'm slow), I can safely say the following: I HATE LUG NUTS. GIVE ME BACK MY WHEEL BOLTS!

With regards to my Goodyear Eagle LS-2 vibrations, I am still in the middle of sorting things out with the dealer. Going to contact the service manager and see if I can speak directly with him over the phone and together we try to work something out. I spoke with the assistant sales manager and he said I have to deal with their service department and service manager since he can't do anything for me.

I don't have photos for the TLX with the Drag DR-31 wheels on. I'll try to take some photos tomorrow or later this week. They look really good and I'd honestly rather use the Drag DR-31 as summer rims and the OEM Enkeis as winter rims.
 
#31 ·
I like wheel bolts because I feel like they are built better and are more secure. Plus they're easier to use. Significantly easier. I'm holding the tires up regardless. I don't trust putting all of that unsprung weight on just one or two bolt. Maybe it's because the Drag DR-31 are designed in the way it's designed. Like I said, changing the ILX was a breeze.

Forget pictures... tire vibration gone with the new set of tires?
I still have to contact the service manager regarding buying new all seasons or summers and using their credit or whatever. I haven't driven fast on the Dunlops yet as my top speed was 90Km/H. Rush hour traffic problems.
 
#32 ·
Got my winter wheels and tires balanced today for $96 tax included because one of the rims and tires had to be spun as it was severely off. They were severely off balanced and vibrating like crazy in between 110Km/H to 120Km/H. They used a Hunter DSP9200 to balance it which is apparently almost the same as the Hunter Roadforce wheel balancer. Took a quick highway trip and it's much better now but I can still feel some vibrations from the seats and steering wheel. I don't know if I'm just too picky or whether there's a problem with the suspension or tires/wheels. Going to have to do some back and forth driving with the Acura ILX and my girlfriend's 2005 Toyota Camry to find out.
 
#34 · (Edited)
Not trying to be a jerk but I figured it'd be easier if I just copy and paste the link where I went in detail about the winter setup I got.

What I did notice is that the tires don't grip very well in damp conditions. Took a highway off ramp faster than average. Turned the wheel 90 degrees or so to the right while doing 60Km/H. Understeer?! :| Having second thoughts about this used set of winter tires.
 
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