Well the front brakes on my '04 limited coupe have been squealing uncontrollably for a week and I could not take it any more. It would squeal while driving not just braking.

Dealer says the pads wore a groove into the rotors and that they all need to be replaced. I said that probably the calipers caused this and that it should be covered under warranty and they said no, brakes are only covered from 12 months of purchase price.

Total charge to fix... $575 Car only has 23,000 miles or so. Never had a car have bad brakes after 23,000 miles. My Porsche S2 is still on its original rotors after 17 years. Ugh.

Anybody have a link to TSB or anything that might help?

Thanks.

 

I have 29,000 on my car, i just changed my pads to the Rotex pads the old pads were worn about half way.

 

Short answers is: Probably not....

Shortly before I traded it, I took my PT Cruiser for it's 30,000 mile service to my local Chrysler dealer; they told me that the back brakes were worn and I needed new pads and discs @ around £300; together with the cost of the service, that bill was £600. ouch!

I'm kinda used to it over here and just thought that maybe European car brakes weren't as robust as US brakes... something to do with the pads being more abrasive as they no longer contain asbestos...

My wife once rode on the brakes all the way down Lake Tahoe on my Expedition... they were smokin' at the bottom, but they survived...

 

Hmmmm what about the warranty? I can't find my paperwork, is there anything about 12 months? Andrew? LOL.

 

your calipers & rotors should be warrantied for 3yr/36k... pads usually are not going to fall in the same warranty period... normal wear & tear item.

i personally would pull the rims myself and take a look... i find it hard to believe the rotors are grooved?? but they may be... if the calipers have issues (which is rare).

 

Since brakes (pads) are considered a 'wear' item, they are only covered under a 12/12 warranty. If the caliper malfunctioned and caused other damages, then you may have a case to appeal the bill to DC, since the calipers are covered under the 3/36. Did the caliper stick? Was it replaced?

 

it all depends on your driving; brakes could last 10,000 miles, or brakes could last 60,000 miles. how long have they been squealing? if they squeal when you brake, that's one thing (heat, friction, glazed, rock stuck in between pad and rotor, etc). but when they squeal while driving that means the pad has worn down and the indicator is physically grinding against the rotor. given enough time it would groove the rotor. did your brake pad wear indicator light come on? that might be one angle to play if you're trying to get a brake job covered under warranty.

FWIW, if you bought pads and rotors and did them yourself, the job would probably cost you half.

good luck --

 

i have a set of nearly new pads (front & rear) about 1,000 miles on them you can have for free (well... cover shipping).

not that i recommend dusty pads.


good luck with the dealer and repair ... i would try another local dealer for their input and honesty.

 

now its even less than half! nice guy.

(front rotors cost $62 each, FWIW)

 

I'm with former NXMX5 on this one. The first set of brakes on my Volvo was at 11K miles, and the rotors needed to be replaced. This generation Volvo did not have the warning sound when pads were wearing down. I didn't change my driving habits so I had no reason to believe my brakes needed work until I started feeling and hearing that rough sound of metal to metal when braking. After I replaced the rotors and pads, I never had this issue again, strange. Brake service was at normal intervals of about 40K miles.
Keep in mind some dealers always replace rotors when doing the pads. I don't know that it's necessary, but some won't do the brakes if you don't want to replace the rotors. I was told that it was a liability issue, as the rotors are out of spec for high speed braking. That being said, I don't think the price they are charging you is unreasonable.

 

Well paid the bill, looked at the old rotors and pads and the pads still had meat. He said that the pads grooved the rotors due to heat. Well HELLO if this is the case then the pads are defective right? I've never owned a car where the pads wore the rotors without the pads being down to nothing. My Porsche is still on its Factory rotors FROM 1990!!

Horses sh*t!

 

That is rather odd. And I don't know what the specs are on these rotors or how much tolerance they might have for such a thing, but on many cars, if the groove is not deep they can cut the rotor a little thinner and it will work just fine. I would think that on such a fine car as we have that they might have thick enough rotors that this would be an option. But... I could be totally incorrect, too. Maybe something worth researching in case this comes up for someone else. (Unless someone knows for sure already). (someone?) (anyone?) lol.

 

When you have brakes squealing for a week even when they were not on is going to destroy the rotors. Most pads are designed to start squealing when they are worn to the replacement point. Replace when you first hear this. No warranty is going to cover abuse.

Gary

 

^^^ LOL did you read? The pads had plenty of meat left! He tried saying because they were not asbestos pads hahahahaha. Then I said you can't be serious, you're not talking to a moron. They he said the sensors caused the gouge, and then I pointed out that the pads still had plenty of meat so this would be impossible. Then he said they only covered brakes for 12 months. I told him there is obviously something defective here.

He just kept repeating "12 months" over and over and over and over.

I paid and just looked at him for death to take him away.

 

MAYAman, when your car gives you lemons, make lemonade! Look at this as an excuse to upgrade and get those cross-drilled rotors & Rotex Gold pads.

 

^^^ too late.

 

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That sucks MAYAman! One thing I'm sure of is dealer's are hurting right now, business stinks so it wouldn't surprise me at all if they stretch the truth a bit. I'm with AMG lover on this. I'd get a regional mgr involved, you might get be surprised. Its worth a phone call or a letter.

Pat