hey all... need some of your opinions here...

okay, i take very good care of my little box and baby the damn thing... about three weeks ago, i took it in for an oil change and had them inspect the brakes for a little bit of squeaking... they said they couldn't reproduce the squeaking, but they said brakes were fine (pads remaining were at 50% on the fronts 90% on the rears and have owned the car since oct. 2003 with just over 30K miles)...

come to today, the right rear brake is squeaking pretty loud upon application... since i carpool with my fiance, i took my truck... and i dropped the car at my mom's house so she could take it to the dealership for me (she's retired, has all kinds of free time, and lives 5 mins away from the dealership)...

this is what they told her... the right rear drum was dirty... and it was because the driver was "braking too hard"... then proceeded to charge me $57 to clean it out... i know a decent bit about cars, but am not an expert... that said, i feel like i just got hosed...

i'm stuck at work and probably won't have a chance to talk to the dealership until this weekend... just wanted anyone's opinion on this before i take it in... or even if i should take it in...

does 90% remaining on rear pads over 2+ years and 30K plus miles sound like i'm "braking too hard?"... why only the right side drum?... just doesn't sound right... what do you guys think?....

 

Lawrence, sounds like they made $57 off of you, when they shouldn't have. Doesn't sound right to me. I have over 48k and it was fine up until last week.

 

this does not sound right...

'pad wear at 50% on the fronts 90% on the rear'

the fronts should see more wear than the rear...either you got the numbers backwards, or you have a problem with the parking brake not retracting.

 

More likely pad remaining, not amount of wear. If it was at 90% wear, they'd be selling you a brake job.

Sounds to me like they just wanted to recoup some of their time, since they probably didn't find anything.

Do you brake hard into a lot of left turns?

 

my bad guys... i'll fix the original post... but yah, it's pad REMAINING, 50% up front 90% for the rears...

sorry for the mix up... but thanks for the help!...

 

What a bunch of Bulls**t. I'm 55 yrs old , my grandfather owned a car dealership that my dad took over in the mid 1950's and I have been a mechanical whiz since I was 12 yrs old. Did hundreds of brake jobs before losing my virginity at 14.
Do you have any flat spotted tires to support this moronic diagnosis? Jerks like this really ____ me off and give dealerships the reputation they have today.
Show them this post!

 

yah, i'm going to take the car in with the work order this weekend and have a little discussion with them... i'm pretty torqued about the whole thing...

no flatspotting, no hard braking into left turns (or any turns for that matter), none of that... hell, i've only ever had to panic stop once (first time and only time to experience the ABS on the box) and that was probably about a year ago... and just considering that i've only used 10% of my rear pads over the course of two years (i believe it was 2mm of wear)... it just doesn't add up...

i don't buy into the idea that i'm going to have to shell out $57 extra for every 10% of my rear pads i use... come to think of it, i think that's exactly what i'll ask them this weekend... i'll let you all know how it goes down... and yes, i'll bring the link to this thread along with me...

thanks again fellas...

 

Maybe (just maybe) the 'dirty' drum was due to the previous inspection. There will be a bunch of brake shoe residue inside the drum, and if it gets between the shoe and the drum when the first folks put the drum back on, maybe that could cause some squeal.

If the dealer wanted to charge you $57 for labor, since they did spend some time, that's fine, but they should explain that it's a labor charge for inspection. The explanation they gave you sounds very, very, bogus. There's no way you could be a hard on your brakes if you've got 50% left on the fronts after 30,000 miles. Also, if hard braking made the rear brakes dirty, it would have made both of them dirty.

Go ahead and meet with the service manager, and explain that you were dissatisfied with the explanation. Be firm, but polite. $57 is not unreasonable for cleaning and inspecting the brakes, esp. if they cleaned both sides, but they need to be more forthcoming with their explanations.

Good luck!

 

First question is: "Did it fix your complaint?" If so, then whatever the cause, this was the problem.

Just keep that in mind and keep a polite tone when talking with the service director. They NEVER react well to customers who bully them.

Just some constructive criticizm for you.

-Alex

 

excellent points!..

in all honesty, up until this week, my dealings with them over the last two years has been very positive... plus, i've been on the other side of customer rants so i have a decent idea of how to approach...

thanks for the advice!...