Comments: 1-15, 16-26
Tire wear has been excessive and the dealer cannot solve the problem. Front tires wear along the outside edge. This is an ongoing problem after rotation and the second set of tires.
Plastic tailgate has been replaced twice. The driver's door post came loose and then fell off disabling the driver's seat belt. In both cases the parts had to be ordered by the dealer. The use of the car was lost for five days after the seat belt problem.
Car is wonderfully roomy and has adequate pick-up for a four cylinder.
The Element has lots of room. After the Element, riding in some larger cars can make one feel cramped.
Four wheel drive is user friendly and effective.
I bought my son a brand new 2004 Honda Element in March 2004. He has driven it a lot (true) but it is now needing a 4th set of new tires in a year and somewhere between 25 and 30,000 miles. We finally got Honda involved and they are now saying the car was in an accident and they won't fix it. But it never was in an accident (only had 5 miles on it when we purchased). I'm trying to find other folks who are having problems to see how common this might be. Thanks.
Lkgoodwin@yahoo.com.
I own a 2004 Honda Element with 15,000 gentle miles on it. By the time it had reached 5000 miles I noticed an unusual amount of wear on the front tires. Recently I had the tires rotated.
The next day I noticed a annoying "whine" coming from the rear when slowing down from 50 mph to 0 mph. Two days later I took it to the dealership where it was originally purchased and they told me that a memo was issued from Honda about this problem. Seems the tires had worn unevenly in the front and when rotated to the rear caused the differential to "whine".
The hardest part to understand is why the front wore more than the rear on an all-wheel-drive vehicle. I was floored. The only thing I can do now is buy a set of tires every 15,000 miles at $700 a pop, or sell it.
The front tires wear more than the rear because this vehicle is not a '4 wheel drive' vehicle, but an 'all wheel drive'. For this car, most of the time the power is sent to the front wheels, and only with heavy acceleration or slippery conditions is it sent to the back. So, the wheels with the most power to them most of the time are the front, and therefore wear faster.
I have driven this car, and it seems because of the gearing of it, it would encourage one to drive more briskly and consequently burn through more tires.
October 10, 05
I had to replace all four tires on the Honda EX at 20,000 miles. All the tires had worn thin on the inside tread of the tire. I had made regular rotation, and balanced and aligned per specs. The Honda tech. suggested the Wrangler tire was not the best tire for this vehicle. Have put Toyo tires on, and I'm watching closely.
This was an 03 model. I suspect the suspension system is not adequate for the overall height of the vehicle. An internal Honda memo dated December 2004, titled "Element tire edge wear is normal" acknowledges the problem, but suggests it is not abnormal.
What is normal about getting 20,000 miles on a set of tires in a modern car?
THe thing probably runs through tires so fast because of 2 factors. It probably comes on cheap tires, and they are probably a bit small for the size. the front wears faster because it's a front engine/tranny car. Its weit balance is very biased towards the front. Tire pressure is always suspect when dealing with fast wear, as is cheapy tires (a honda fav). New tires every 15000 miles isn't terrible if you hammer on the car and get cheap tires.
I would also suspect hondas nororiously flimsy suspension getting out of alignment or just bowing under its own weight.
I have a Honda Element 2003 2wd. I now have 67k miles on the original tires. I drive mostly freeway at 70mph, 60 miles a day. The original Goodyear's have lasted well. I experienced no abnormal wear problems till I hit 60k, when the front tires seemed to wear unevenly on the outside.
My 2003 Element has had 2 tire replacements and 4 alignments.
I questioned my Honda dealership and they had no knowledge of a problem with the Element's tires. My brake pads needed to be replaced at 40,000 miles. My driver-side lock had to be changed out due to the fact that I had to make several attempts to get the key to go in and turn. Still having problems with that. All in all, I think Honda needs to revamp the Element. I will be replacing mine when the lease is done.
I have a bought a Honda Element 2004 EX 4WD, love the car and it's features.
Having some problems tho with the car:
1) Replace windshield of crack which started from the bottom.
2) My drivers seat started to become a rocking seat and was before it got replaced under warranty really loose from it's sockets. Dealer had said they had never seen this before and were puzzeled.
3) I am unable to tank more than 13.6 Gallon while the tank size suppose to be 15.9 Gallon for a 2004 model.
Did with my nr3 comment experienced the same? I put my tank level all the way to 0 and still only could fill up 13.6 Gallon?
My 2006 EX model is poorly assembled. One of the fenders is loose and body panels are misaligned.
I also wonder if honda designers have taken longer rides in the back seat? My friends got motion sickness just after half an hour.
Have an '05 Element and tire wear on the edges is excessive. Mostly city around town driving with frequent highway cruising. 13k miles in 6 months.
I first noticed wear @ around 4-5K. The dealer rotated, said all was fine. I ALWAYS check other "E"'s in parking lots and ALWAYS see the outside wear issue... some worse than others. Honda wouldn't say crap if they had a mouthful. EVERYONE needs to say something.
Other than that (and the interior dash etc. that dings and gets scratched REALLY easily), the car is a great little car - cheap and cheesy; but a great little car.
One thing that will help with "premature" tire wear on these vehicles is to put 35 psi of air pressure in them, instead of the recommended 26. The Goodyears that come on these are a "sticky" compound tire, which gives better adhesion to the road, downside being faster wear. I think most owners would agree that this little beast takes exit ramps, etc. at speed quite well, without giving the impression that it is going to plow straight ahead or skid at any moment. The sidewalls of the Goodyears are also "softer" and more flexible. This gives a better ride. They must be rotated regularly, I do mine at 5000 mile intervals, lf to lr, rf to rr, unless the tread is showing signs of feathering, in which case I rotate them lr to rf, rr to lf, ie., like tires were rotated in the old bias ply days. I have 34000 on my Element now, and tho the tires are showing wear, I feel there is still 10,000 miles left yet.
This is not the vehicle for you if your ego is all wrapped up in flaunting material appearances. The car is not perfect, and no car is, I have owned many, ranging from giant V-8 sedans from the 60's to VW beetles, and I think the Element is just a heck of a good vehicle. I would recommend one to anyone looking for a reliable, practical car.
I have a 2003 Element EX with just under 29k miles and will be buying new tires before winter. After checking comments on the boards at edmunds.com, http://townhall-talk.edmunds.com/direct/view/.f0a360c!make=Honda&model=Element&ed_makeindex=.f0a360c, it is pretty obvious that there are a lot of unhappy Element owners out there who are replacing their OEM tires with something better. I wanted a #1, smoother ride, #2 better handling and #3 less road noise. So I went with #1 a "luxury" tire, #2 the maximum width that will fit the Element -- 235 instead of 215 and #3 Bridgestone Dueler. I priced them online for $126 at tirerack.com. They are ranked #3 by customer survey results with #1 and #2 Goodyear tires, which I plan to steer clear of for awhile. The tires will be delivered to and installed at my local Tire Kingdom for less than $50. Gotta like that! another excellent resource is elementownersclub. com if anyone is interested. Also, just FYI... I did the same thing with the wider tire on my 1996 Honda Accord and what a HUGE difference in the ride and handling. Handled like it was on rails! I only wish that I hadn't waited 5 years to do it.
I got 18,000 on my oems... took my car in to honda dealer, they are buying 2 tires and I'm buying two tires, unfotunatly they are the goodyear hp's hopefuly there not as bad as the factory tires...
I got 18,000 on my oems... took my car in to honda dealer, they are buying 2 tires and I'm buying two tires, unfotunatly they are the goodyear hp's hopefuly there not as bad as the factory tires...
I have a 2005 Element with 34,000 miles and significant wear on the tires. This seems to be due to hard cornering.