Brake change nightmare by tyre & brake chain

KwackerJack

In May of this year I sent my 08 Bmw 3 Series into a well know tyre and brake supplier for front brakes as they were binding for some reason. I'd usually send it to the main dealer as I'll be trading (Usually I'd do it myself)



I was advised that on the driver’s side the inside brake pad was worn more than the outside and this may be caused by dirty brake components or perhaps a faulty calliper. I was also advised that the car required new front discs as they were below the leagal limit most likely due to wear and being that the inside pad had also created enhanced wear on the disc.



Once the work was completed I paid approx €400 and collected my car. I was told the brakes were now clear of binding and good to go.

On the 29/7/18 while travelling to Mullingar with my pregnant wife and son the car started to feel as if it was breaking slightly and I could hear a squeal from the front drivers side wheel. I got out to inspect it and found an excessive amount of break dust and heat which was not present on the passenger side wheel. I left the car to rest for a few minutes and then continued home where I dropped back into the garage. I explained to the guy on the desk that I had this issue and showed the receipt from the work that was carried out, he advised me to book in a time and have it inspected and he would supply a quote for the work, I explained that I wasn't paying for this and I was advised to talk to management.

Btw This was the longest drive since the new parts, usual it's a 5 mile trip to work so the mileage on the new parts were very low



I come from a family of mechanics and spent all of my summers in my Father’s garage replacing everything from lightbulbs to engines and gearboxes so when I arrived home I then decided to remove the wheel, calliper and pads myself as with my work hours the garage will always be closed and I need the car.

What I found was nothing short of laziness or lack of training. As you can see from the attached pics the calliper is corroded with rust and brake dust, the calliper bolts are scored and marked and the calliper mount is corroded also. This dirt and corrosion have been there a lot longer than 2 months and show that they simply threw on new disc and pads, charged me €400 and sent the car back out onto the road.


The calliper should have been cleared of corrosion and dirt, the calliper bolts should have been cleared of scores and greased and bottom and top mount slides should have also been greased with Copper Grease or similar. I would have imagined that this is standard practice to clean all brake parts when installing new parts???


Anyway after 2 emails and the first drop in I've yet to hear back.


What are my options of they tell me to go away etc


Thanks

mickdw

Nothing new there unfortunately.
Your mistake was going to them originally.
They are trained to up sell and not trained for much else.
You are just lucky they didn't sell you a couple of shocks and an exhaust as well.

tcawley29

You could tell them you'll bring them to small claims court for not fitting a new caliper if you don't get either a generous or full refund.

If they refuse tell them you'll have pics of the brake components and invoice sent into news/social media.

This may or may not work but its worth a shot.

Honestly I don't think I would give them a second chance to work on the car.

mickdw

I doubt they charged for new caliper. If they did, they have no leg to stand on.
More likely, the bill was for discs and pads and cleaning and lubricating caliper.

Jennehy

<Please keep your posts to helpful advice. If you have nothing to add then don't post.>

Doctors room ghost

mickdw wrote: »

I doubt they charged for new caliper. If they did, they have no leg to stand on.
More likely, the bill was for discs and pads and cleaning and lubricating caliper.

They didn't clean the caliper though if it's heavily corroded.probably fukd in new disks and pads slapped it back together and leaned hard on the biro writing the invoice.should have cleaned the caliper and the outer edge of the piston and lubed it while working the piston before refitting to ensure it wasn't semi seized.its fairly basic servicing and shoddy at best to fit new disks and pads and throw back on a sh1tty caliper that may not be working and charge big money.
When they had it put back it would have been obvious it was sticking by spinning the wheel or by pushing the car.a good mechanic would even notice it labouring on the clutch that the caliper was stuck and labouring an extra load

KwackerJack

Thanks for the replies


So after a chat with the local area manager they are taking the car tomorrow for the day.

They will inspect and test drive the car to find the issue.

The manager was very apologetic and advised that the non cleaning was not acceptable and advise they will do whatever it takes to find and alive the issue and give the brake components ba proper clean.

So tomorrow awaits and we shall see what the outcome is.b

kerten

KwackerJack wrote: »

Thanks for the replies


So after a chat with the local area manager they are taking the car tomorrow for the day.

They will inspect and test drive the car to find the issue.

The manager was very apologetic and advised that the non cleaning was not acceptable and advise they will do whatever it takes to find and alive the issue and give the brake components ba proper clean.

So tomorrow awaits and we shall see what the outcome is.b

I guess this is the business model of those chains.

upsell, skimp on the job, if someone notices, play "Oh how could we miss that. it never happens normally". Not a bad model considering percentage of car savvy people on the road.:D

seagull

Are they at least providing a loaner while they check over the car?

9935452

Id question whether the discs needed replacing at all.
There was a thread on here at one stage where people were dropping their cars in to a nationwide tyre place for an oil change.
Without seeing the car they were recommending front discs and pads to be changed

mickdw

Doctors room ghost wrote: »

mickdw wrote: »

I doubt they charged for new caliper. If they did, they have no leg to stand on.
More likely, the bill was for discs and pads and cleaning and lubricating caliper.

They didn't clean the caliper though if it's heavily corroded.probably fukd in new disks and pads slapped it back together and leaned hard on the biro writing the invoice.should have cleaned the caliper and the outer edge of the piston and lubed it while working the piston before refitting to ensure it wasn't semi seized.its fairly basic servicing and shoddy at best to fit new disks and pads and throw back on a sh1tty caliper that may not be working and charge big money.
When they had it put back it would have been obvious it was sticking by spinning the wheel or by pushing the car.a good mechanic would even notice it labouring on the clutch that the caliper was stuck and labouring an extra load

I know they didn't clean anything. My point was in relation to the stated small claims court option. In that case, nobody will guarantee that a sticking caliper will perform perfectly. They would simply have to claim that they attempted a clean and lubricate and if the trouble has now returned, a new caliper or full rebuild is needed.
The fact that they are scamming pricks would be hard to prove.

zilog_jones

In my experience, if you're probably better off doing things like this yourself if you want it done properly. A place like this generally couldn't be arsed inspecting/cleaning the calipers; and if you took it to a main dealer they'd just want to replace the caliper at significant cost, even if it's serviceable.

One note: I would not recommend using copper grease on the caliper slide pins (if that's what you meant) as it's not really a lubricant and not safe for use with rubber or aluminium components.

zilog_jones

zilog_jones wrote: »

In my experience, if you're probably better off doing things like this yourself if you want it done properly. A place like this generally couldn't be arsed inspecting/cleaning the calipers; and if you took it to a main dealer they'd just want to replace the caliper at significant cost, even if it's serviceable.

One note: I would not recommend using copper grease on the caliper slide pins (if that's what you meant) as it's not really a lubricant and not safe for use with rubber or aluminium components.

It's used primarily on caliper pins for anti sieze purposes rather than lubrication, by the time it does any damage to rubber components they would have needed to be changed long ago anyway from general wear and tear.

CJhaughey

Kori Aggressive Monochrome wrote: »

It's used primarily on caliper pins for anti sieze purposes rather than lubrication, by the time it does any damage to rubber components they would have needed to be changed long ago anyway from general wear and tear.

I don't agree with this, I have tested copper grease on brake slider rubbers and they swell up quite quickly.
Its designed as a metal to metal anti-seizing agent, for things that are exposed to heat and need to be disassembled without the bolts corroding in place.
Manifold bolts for headers etc.
For metal to rubber there are specific lubricants that don't swell the rubber, Red Rubber grease is good but I found Motorex sell a grease called Grease 2000 that is fluorescent green and doesn't affect elastomers plus is highly waterproof.
Most of the Japanese companies supply sachets of grease with OEM caliper rebuild kits and the Toyota ones have a pink grease that is lithium based for metal to rubber sliders.