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God Dam Brakes!!!


ben p

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Afternoon all.

 

I'll start from the beginning...

 

A couple of weeks ago I started to notice a very faint squeaking noise that was coming from my drivers side front wheel, that only seems to happen when turning to the right. The car is under warranty so I popped in to my local dealer for them to have a look at it, after a hour or so of playing around with it the mechanic said that he had cleaned and re-greased my brakes to it should solve the problem..... It didn't and due to work commitments the next time I could get down to the garage was 2 weeks time which was today. Now apparantly after closer inspection part of my brake pad had broken off and damaged the disc?!?! and it that wasn't bad enough he also said there was a fault with the other disc and that they both needed replacing? baring in mind the car was only serviced 4 months ago, a day before I actually picked the car up! I just find it hard to believe that so much could go wrong with in 2 weeks! By the time I spoke to the garage the mechanic had already left so I sort of got a half arsed explanation from one of the salesman. Now they did say due to the fact that I've only owned the car for 4 months that they would reduce the cost of the repair from £650 to £325. What do you think guys? I can't help but feel like I'm getting shafted.

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I would insist that they did the repair for free. If you've only had the car a few months and the brake has broken and damaged the disk then they should cause it's not wear and tear as far as i am concerned.

 

I've had a few problems with mine and everytime the dealer has looked at it or sorted the problem for free. If you get no joy from the dealer call Nissan GB customer services. I've raised an issue with them at the moment about my brakes (cause they clunk) and have found them very helpful. If they agree that the work should be done for free (which they should) they'll basically tell the dealer to do it.

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I would insist that they did the repair for free. If you've only had the car a few months and the brake has broken and damaged the disk then they should cause it's not wear and tear as far as i am concerned.

 

I've had a few problems with mine and everytime the dealer has looked at it or sorted the problem for free. If you get no joy from the dealer call Nissan GB customer services. I've raised an issue with them at the moment about my brakes (cause they clunk) and have found them very helpful. If they agree that the work should be done for free (which they should) they'll basically tell the dealer to do it.

 

I've been down the customer service route before, when the garage agreed to put 2 new tyres on the car and they put the cheapest nastiest tyres they could fine on, which where awful! Nissan customer services basically said they can ask the dealer to change the tyres but if they say no, they have no power over them to 'make' them. And guess what.. they said no!!

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I've been down the customer service route before, when the garage agreed to put 2 new tyres on the car and they put the cheapest nastiest tyres they could fine on, which where awful! Nissan customer services basically said they can ask the dealer to change the tyres but if they say no, they have no power over them to 'make' them. And guess what.. they said no!!

 

I've had a positive experience so far. I'll let you know if this changes. If you think the dealer won't do it for free then I'd get an independent to have a look and maybe replace the parts. The only thing I plan on using a main dealer for is servicing and thats just for the duration of my warranty period.

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I've been down the customer service route before, when the garage agreed to put 2 new tyres on the car and they put the cheapest nastiest tyres they could fine on, which where awful! Nissan customer services basically said they can ask the dealer to change the tyres but if they say no, they have no power over them to 'make' them. And guess what.. they said no!!

 

If you've got a dealer warranty then isn't it invalidated if you deviate from OEM spec for items like tyres? If so, wouldn't the dealer be invalidating your warranty by their own error?!

 

Sounds like a really tight-fisted dealer though: what was the saving they made - £30 a corner?

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I've been down the customer service route before, when the garage agreed to put 2 new tyres on the car and they put the cheapest nastiest tyres they could fine on, which where awful! Nissan customer services basically said they can ask the dealer to change the tyres but if they say no, they have no power over them to 'make' them. And guess what.. they said no!!

 

If you've got a dealer warranty then isn't it invalidated if you deviate from OEM spec for items like tyres? If so, wouldn't the dealer be invalidating your warranty by their own error?!

 

Sounds like a really tight-fisted dealer though: what was the saving they made - £30 a corner?

 

Exactly! The thing is though if they had told me what they where planning on doing I would of paid the extra myself!! The dealer is @*!# to put it mildly, but unfortunately I have a 2 year warranty and service plan with them! :doh:

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They must be accepting some liability for this else they wouldn't offer any discount at all. The mechanic who inspected and 'repaired' it the first time you went in has been, from what you've described, at best careless and at worst negligent. You have driven away from a repair to your brakes, which have subsequently become unserviceable with terminal damage to the discs. :scare:

 

The 'closer inspection' that you mention should have been done in the first place. I would definitely pursue a full repair at their expense.

 

If they wont do it, get in touch with trading standard etc... to garner further opinion on it.

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...Now they did say due to the fact that I've only owned the car for 4 months that they would reduce the cost of the repair from £650 to £325

£325 isn't actually that bad considering the price of genuine parts. An independent would get pattern parts for £150-200 and charge £50-100 labour.

 

But it's still worth pushing them harder considering their mechanic declared the brakes fine 2 weeks ago. A main dealer shouldn't be selling a car with only a few months life in the brakes either :thumbdown:

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If they're offering to replace Brembo rotors and pads like for like for £325 - all they're doing is knocking off the labour.But going on your previous experience they'll put some crappy rotors and pads on - so I'd fight them on this one and demand free repair with like for like parts.

The 'technician' should have picked up that your pad was gone - this is their fault.

While you're at it read the warranty terms and conditions and check what it says about parts / like for like etc - and if they're a Nissan dealer mention you're a member on here ;)

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They could argue the point that it was fine at the time of service... I know it's only 2 weeks ago but still it could have been fine in the eyes of a repair man. Had an issue with my bike a while back that my front calipers started to seize on me turned out the techie changing the pads had not bothered his bum to clean the cylinders when he swapped pads so the brake dust melted onto my pistons after a while and caused my brake fluid to boil... could have ended very badly but was lucky it was solved before the fluid boiled so much so it pushed the pistons onto the disc and lock the front wheel. Warranty wouldn't cover consumables would it? :bounce:

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Its good practice to change both sides anyway, regarless of the fact that only one side needs doing.

Not withstanding the previous inspections, its a good discount being offered, however, if you are concearned about costs it might be worthwhile pricing up some quality aftermarket items and asking a local, experienced forum member to fit them for you.

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I got to speak to the mechanic today who told me the lining on the back of the pad had come away from what ever it was attached to, or something along those lines! This apparantly caused the pad to score the disc. I've had nothing but problems with the dealer so I'm very reluctant to give them any money at all. My cars booked in with Abbey on friday for a tune up, and mark has agreed to have a look at them for me, I'd feel much happier with a second opinion and I'd much rather have Abbey fit me some nice new performance discs and pads, even if they are going to cost me £550! :scare:

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