I am writing for my mom. We bought an xA back in May and already the brakes are worn and the two front tires need to be replaced. The car has 8,000 miles on it! They say my mom, a 51-year old, HOT RODS! WTF can we do. Scion blames the dealership. The dealership says they didn't do anything wrong. 2500 miles ago we brought the car in for a noise coming from the front passenger side and the tech said the noise was normal - that it was caused by the brakes "relieving pressure". I've never heard this in my life!

Goodyear says they aren't responsible for the tires because they should have been rotated at 5,000 miles. They keep passing the buck. No one will take responsibility for this crap. What else can we do? Anyone else ever hear of brakes and tires wearing out in 8,000 miles on a non-racing/performance car?

 

I dunno about the tires, but does your Mom ride the brakes?

 

No. She doesn't ride the brakes. And that wouldn't wear out the tires.

 

yeah sounds like she rides the brakes . HARD

and the tires? does she hit curbs and such that could have very well ruined her alignment?

 

no she doesn't ride the brakes HARD and does not hit curbs. Goodyear says they wont pay for the tires because they were not rotated at 5000 miles. Whatever. Goodyear's website recommends 6-8000 mile rotations. Some cars dont recommend it until 10k. SO that is a lame excuse. The alignment is fine.

 

theres no possible way for them to have worn that much if the alignment is fine. a car can drive straight and true and still have bad alignment.

the stock goodyears are crap but i got about 30k out of em hardly ever rotating and burning out all the time.

could be a manufacturer defect but i'd have thought it'd blow before it'd have that much of accellerated wear.

brakes again there no way possible they'd wear so fast without another failure in such a short amount of time.


there has to be stuck calipers (again very rare for such short mileage) or she's riding the brakes.

 

the dealer she has been going to treats her like crap. i told her to take it somewhere else, another scion dealer and to fight it out with scion corporate for warranty service. i just posted here to find out if anyone else had any problems.

 

definately try another dealer but i can almost guarrantee you you will get raised eyebrows anywhere you take it. all of that wear in such a short time screams abuse.

 

thats messed up, i would get alignment checked that would prob cause tire wear..

 

fortunately, tires and brakes are fairly cheap to replace. I'll have to side with hotbox on this one - if it were just one thing worn out, it would be possible that something mechanical is to blame, but the combination of those two things 'screams abuse'

sorry it's not what you want to hear.

 

have you ridden in teh car with her for extended periods of time and made sure she's driving exactly how she "normally does" versus the eased up driving tons of people exhibit with their kids and or when their "normal" driving could be causing problems.

 

i'm gonna chime in and pretty much say that i'm gonna have to agree with hotbox...

something is either really wrong with the car, or mommy can't drive.

 

On my last tc I trashed the stock bridgestones in 5k, granted canyon driving is not very good for treadwear, but brake, iono id have to agree with the other posts, most dealers are going to think abuse. You should check your brake pads regularly so you can see how they are wearing, same with tires.

 

Please don't take this wrong but the above statement makes sense. I can't recall the number of times I have followed someone "riding the brakes" Does she drive with both feet? One for the gas one for the brakes? My wifes new car has now just turned 3k and the tires are "like new" so as far as the the tires being worn out in 8k, sounds like hard use to me. Both starting and stopping. Maybe you should take a day off from work and follow your mom around just to see how she really drives. You might be surprised.

I know thats not what you wanted to hear, but it might be correct.

On a side note -- Who else has access to driving the car? A younger/older brother/sister?

 

Pictures of the tires might help us know whats going on too, Or atleast let us know how they are worn.. . Are they evenly worn or just the inside or outside.......

 

thats exactly what i was thinking. My mother in law drives with both feet, and she goes through brake pads like water.

 

how you srive a automatic with both feet is beyond me, but hey its not my car. good luck with the whole situation, hope everything works out for you

 

get an alignment, get new rotors installed along with new pads. warped rotors can mess up pads fast. How does a rotro get warped? riding the brakes, i.e. coming off Highway speeds to a stop and sitting on the brakes. the heat from the braking will transmit from pad to rotor and bend it.

 

that's a great point.

 

yeah i had problems as well i bought my xb with 1 mile on it at 16,000 miles the brakes were gone and the two front tires were as smooth as can be but i never swaped tires - trust me on this 1 and get some slotted rotors