Polarization-dependent sum frequency generation (SFG) vibrational spectroscopy was employed to examine CO overlayers on Pt(111) and Pd(111) single crystal surfaces at room temperature. Utilizing different polarization combinations (SSP and PPP) of the visible and SFG light allows to determine the molecular orientation (tilt angle) of interface molecules but the analysis of the measured Ippp/Issp is involved and requires a proper optical interface model. For CO/Pt(111), the hyperpolarizability ratio (R=βaac/βccc=βbbc/βccc) is not exactly known and varying R in the range 0.1–0.5 yields tilt angles of 40°–0°, respectively. Based on the known perpendicular adsorption of CO on Pt, an exact R-value of 0.49 was determined. Polarization-dependent SFG spectra in the pressure range 10−4 to 36 mbar did not indicate any change of the tilt angle of adsorbed CO. Modeling also indicated a strong dependence of Ippp/Issp on the incidence angles of visible and IR laser beams. Complementing previous low temperature/low pressure data, room temperature CO adsorption on Pd(111) was examined from 10−6 to 250 mbar. The absolute PPP and SSP spectral intensities on Pt and Pd were simulated, as well as the expected Ippp/Issp ratios. Although CO on Pt and Pd should exhibit similar intensities (at high CO coverage), the higher Ippp/Issp ratio for Pd (48 vs. 27 on Pt) renders the detection of adsorbed CO in SSP spectra difficult. The presence or absence of CO species in SSP spectra can thus not simply be correlated to tilted or perpendicular CO molecules, respectively. Careful modeling, including not only molecular and interface properties, but also the experimental configuration (incidence angles), is certainly required even for seemingly simple adsorbate–substrate systems.