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This PAX tire issue is a complete fiasco.  Yes I am experiencing the vibration issue with our second set of tires.  It rides nice at 80/MPH but it vibrates like crazy at 55/MPH.  This is extremely disapointing and I will be trying to get a CLASS ACTION organized.  

I'm sure with the number of vehicles that have been sold there will be plenty of attorneys willing to take this issue up with Honda.  It's unfortunate that we even have to go there.  

I had a bad experience at my local Honda today as well and did a quick search and found this tread and feel validated.  They made me feel like I was the only one as well.

I have just 17K miles on my Odyssey...I didn't want the PAX tires when we bought the van and asked the salesman to switch them out as part of our deal...but he said that they would be good and under warranty until 50K miles.  I had my first tire replaced (warranty) at 1200 miles and today at 17K miles was told that a patch (I had a nail and slow leak) would cost $90!!  I was also told that my tread was 4/32 and would need two new front tires very soon at $307/tire and $100 for alignment.  I also got a quote for replacing the whole tire assembly with basic EX tires and it would be $1497 for all four tires.  This is ridiculous that these are my only options and at only 17K miles!!!  I was told, when I asked about other complaints, that they were getting good feedback and about to rollout the PAX system on some other Honda models - sounds like Honda and Michelin have a nice little raquet going here at the consumers' expense.

There has to be some other governmental or governing entity that we can complain to besides Michelin and Honda...any ideas?  I am all for the idea of a class action, but it would be lengthy and we won't likely get a response for a while and what are we to do in the meantime?  I am going to call Clark Howard (our local consumer guru in ATL) and I will let you all know what he says.  In the meantime, let me know if anyone knows anything else!  

Glad to see I'm not the only one having trouble with these tires... We were on a trip around 300 miles from home when we had a blowout on our Acura RL at 70MPH. The PAX system worked great and allowed us to drive to an exit where we could look at the damage (the glamour of the system stopped there). We called the Acura hotline and they arranged for us to be towed ~75 miles to the nearest Acura dealer with the PAX tire changing capability. We checked into a hotel to wait for the dealer to open. The next day we waited 4 hours for the service department to tell me they didn't have the tire and couldn't obtain one. The good news was that another dealer around 30 miles away had one tire available... the bad news... for some reason they couldn't get it from the other dealer. I had to drive the car 30 miles on a flar tire to the other dealer. When we got there the new dealer said they didn't have the tire and just had the PAX system installed a few days earlier...

At this point I almost lost it..

Then, someone realized that they did have one tire and the person that was trained to change it was actually there.

The cost: $875!!! ($140 labor/$735 tire)

I almost lost it again...

We needed to get home so we told them to get on it before the $875 number actually set in. At this point we looked through the Michelin info that came with the car and called their 800 number. They agreed that the tire was covered under their 24 month warranty and said the new one should be no cost to us (the car only had 1,800 miles on it). The Acura dealer still tried to bill us $140 for mounting and we had to have Michelin straighten them out.

We're happy the tire was covered but now what? When we bought the car we understood that the tires would be more expensive than traditional tires (Michelin states ~15%) but this is ridiculous. Honda/Michelin should work to decrease the cost of these tires and increase the number of service facilities. If they can't do that, a recall should be issued to put standard wheels and tires on the cars because $3500 for a new set of tires every 20,000 miles should be illegal. The consumer shouldn't have to carry the burden of retrofitting regular wheels and tires onto their car to avoid these insane costs.  

I have an '05 Touring Odyssey, I asked the question before purchasing about the tires, and was assured they would be every good as the other type of tire, cost and last about the same.  I did not have 15,000 miles on this vehicle, and had to have 2 new front tires.  The tires of very expensive, I have had 12 tires on the van including the ones that were on it upon purchase.  All I ask is that Honda get rid of these tires, give us new rims, and I would pay for regular tires.  I have spent a ton of money on tires and wheel aligment and fee to install them.  What a bunch of BS, I will agree, just want something done about this from Honda and Michelin.

This is my second Odyssey, don't think there will be third.  

bobfeller, please keep me in the loop on a class action. I am sick of these PAX tires on my '05 Touring Odyssey.
dreynoldssr@ec.rr.com  

I like Clark Howard, please let us know the outcome of your conversation.  

Well said...the Honda-PAX honeymoon is over. For us it occured at 20,100 miles with two of my tire going bald and two with about 5000 miles of tread left.

I figure at this rate, given my hoped for Honda milage, the cost of the tires over the life of the car will exceed a fourth of the original purchase price! That's some expensive tires!

Our story is the same as all the rest...expensive options touted by the salesman as trouble free and high-milage failing at a point consistant with the cheapest radial on the market! Furthermore we face the $1300 bill for replacement and were given by Michelin the names of only four "local" (non-Honda) service centers in a 150 mile radius of our home in Central Florida.

The dealer says it's Michelin and Honda Corporates problem. Honda says it's Michelin's and Michelin says it's Honda's.

The ONLY honest answer I have gotten so far was from the Honda Service Manager who told me the tires were a disaster. They are failing at an average of about 23,000 miles, will cost $300 each to replace (in part because they are so complex they take an hour a piece to change!). He summarized his view saying if he had a Honda Oddessey sitting on the floor of his garage they would not have PAX on them...small consolation for us PAX owners!

Soo...where are we folks? there are hundreds who are facing this problem.
Has anybody "got the stick" out there to take action? I sure am ready to join.

Chuck McB
Central Florida  

I called Clark Howard today and actully spoke to him on air.  He was very aware of the issue and considers it a safetly issue.  He actually gave Honda's name on air and called on them to do the right thing.  In the meantime he recommended filing complaints with http://www.autosafety.org and http://www.nhtsa.gov which I plan to do today and urge you all to do as well.  

I also plan to send a letter to both the head of sales and service at my honda dealer and to honda and michelin corporate officers.

I am also going to follow up with a discussion with the attorneys in my family about the possiblity of a class action suit - I have seen some others out there against other car manufactures and other run-flat-tire manufacturers but not sure about their status or success.

In the meantime, I have to do something to keep my family safe on the road, so I will get quotes to replace the entire PAX system with standard tires, rims, etc.  I got a quote of $1500 at the dealer, but I am going to get other estimates (as I won't be going back to that dealer).  

I wrote Honda again on February 8, 2007 regarding the life of the tires with only 17,000 miles on this set of tires.  Ready to put new ones on now. What a run around from them, that was left on my machine.  They have not even returned a letter to me, just a call left on the machine, saying I might want to check with Michelin.  I asked them to replace eveything I would need so I can purchase regular tires, and I would pay for the tires.  This has been a horrible experience with Honda, the customer is paying for a Honda big ole mistake.  Sorry I missed Clark. Please keep me up to date on class action.  I too will file complaints.  

I just bought two new tires in january from a local honda dealer in birmingham al.  that was exchange tires and wheels for four hundred and sixteen dollars. I am gonna need two more tires before long,so I asked the dealer the price for two more tires now that they have the machine to mount them.I was told that they would be $320.00 each,I called michlin and was told that was to much.and for the dealer to call michlins eight hundred number when I got ready to buy and they would handle with the honda dealer. It might save you some money to have the dealer call  michlin when you are ready to buy more pax tires.  

We, too, would be interested in joining a class action lawsuit.  If one happens, keep me informed at jenniestiles at yahoo dot com.  

I feel your pain. I was so happy the day my custom order odyssey came in. I waited for years to get one of these top vans! My "honeymoon" period was over when my 30,000 mi check came up. Unaware of the problem, my Honda dealer told me I had a slash in one of my tires. It was not leaking air, but I should watch it. Well, I am thinking, I bought the car for safety! I have 2 small children and I wanted the best! So, I started calling around tires places and hence this is where the roller coaster nightmare begins....My dealer. Oh, we don't have the special machine that can fix your tires, you are going to have to go somewhere else. We can recommend a place! I said great and went off to take care of the problem. They told me I had to replace the 2 tires and it would cost $1000. I couldn't believe it! At 30,000 miles? The car was a year old! I didn't want anything to happen to my kids on the road and I didn't know how dangerous this could be so I complied. However, a shaking/ vibration began within my steering wheel, that has to this day, 46,000 miles NOT been fixed. ONce I go 60 miles an hour it shakes. I replaced 2 more tires, balanced, aligned, new rotors, you name it...I have been in the shop with it numerous times. I have begun to hate my car, which I have to drive everywhere in! I finally thought I got smart and took it to another dealer, because the local one where I live was of NO HELP!  They don't know anything either.I just want to get rid of it. I am so sick of dealing with the problem and am so happy to hear others who also have headaches. We do need to unite. What else can we do?  

I'm living the same PAX nightmare with my '05 Ody at 30k miles. i began at around 24k miles searching for an alternate option. Tire Rack was the best at $1300 for new tires, wheels, sensors, balancing and delivery.I would just buy a doughnut spare and be done. Hate that I have to do this at all, but it'll be better in the long run. problem is when I called back , they were no longer allowed to sell them to me because of their agreement with Honda and Michellin. Great. now back to dealing with H & M neither of which wants to claim responsibility. Mich. says I'll void my warantee if I convert, Honda says Ody suspension is tuned only for PAX system. who knows.
as of right now, Mich. has agreed to discount PAX tires for me, dealer has the equipment but not the training. reading here about the vibration, I'm leanig toward converting anyway. waiting. thinking. fuming.

d  

We have about 37,000 on our '06 Touring Odyssey.  We will need four new tires soon.  You guys are scaring me.  We saved a few hundred or thousand miles by placing the partially bald tires to the rear.  Pacific Honda in San Diego had not had their Pax "machine" working for some time.  They recommended either going to Discount Tires or just switching the tire/rim set for new ones. They recommend switching out because of issues with tires manually installed on the rims.  I have this funny feeling that Pacific Honda is intentionally not dealing with the tire issue by keeping their Pax machine "not working right now."  

I own an 06 Ody with 35k on these PAX tires, of course these thing need replacing,  it's a travesty at this paltry number of miles.  I want to join the class action suit.  There is no reason that this "advanced tire system" should fail so dramatically.  I want to know if the Ody is truly tuned to the PAX system, this sounds like Honda talk.  Is there anyone out there who has put on new wheels and tires to escape this Michelin disease and what did they use.