Small story (warranty + rotors)

[mglavina]

Alright so as some of you may know I just bought my car in very late August. It had about 51,000 kms and the comprehensive warranty just ended (I still have the powertrain warramty). About a month and a half after purchasing the car, I started to hear this wierd clunking noise coming from my rear drivers side wheel. I took it in today and let them test drive it and the mechanic said I need new rear rotors. He didn't say what the problem was or anything just that I needed new ones. Even though I just bought it, there is no warranty because there are 54,000 kms on it and its been 30 days since I bought my car.

Almost seemed like as soon as the 30 day warranty was up I started hearing the noise . The priced it out for me, and the new parts plus installation would be $244 + tax. Personally, if I were to replace my rotors shouldn't I look into better ones? Maybe dimpled, drilled or slotted? I don't want to pay $300 for poor quality mazda rotors that won't last that long.

All input is appreciated, I never really looked into after market brakes either...

 

[mysleeper6]

Rear rotors? I would take it someplace else. Unless something out of the ordinary is going on, your fronts should have worn much faster than the rears (front does more braking) so his lack of an explanation seems odd.

 

[8.5MS3]

unless the previous owner drove around with the parking brake on ...... remember some people are dumb

 

[amilliems6]

slotted or drilled rotors shouldn't really be used for DD... so if this is ur DD then dont bother... buy blank ones..Are you planning on replacing all 4 or just the rear?

 

[Jay Davidson]

You should absolutely get more than 33,000 miles out of a pair of rotors, especially the rear ones. I'm at 73k and mine may need to be resurfaced sometime soon, but certainly not replaced.

$244 isn't too bad a price for new rotors and labor, but I'd take it to a different shop to find out what's really wrong with your car. I'm not entirely convinced it's the rotors.

-Jay

 

[ms6acton]

what mazda dealership did you take it to?

 

[mglavina]

I should actually add this part in:

Originally I took my car to Achilles Mazda in Acton because its closer to my house. I explained the situation on how I just bought my car and they told me they could take a look for $45. I didn't plan on paying for it, because all I wanted was for someone to look at it, and I also just bought it. They told me that because I didn't get the car from that dealership they can't look at it for free. They said it would be better if I take it to the Mazda dealership that I bought it from. So I took it to 401 and Dixie Mazda (Ontario Mazda) and they wanted to charge me $100 just to look at it, even though I just bought it from them! I complained and eventually they took my car for a spin around the block and the mechanic just immiedietly said I need new rotors.

We went back inside and again I complained how its like brand new and the service & parts manager came out. They said they would do the labour for $99 instead of like $199 and they would give me 10% off the new parts... so total like I said $244 installed. Personally, I don't see how my rear rotors already need to be replaced, my front ones are fine. They even look a lot better where as my rear rortos are all orange and rusted up .

Not gunna lie, when I was buying my car they had another speed 6 that had pretty high mileage, it also took a while to `clean`my car. Wouldn`t be surprised if they switched the brakes or soemthing along those lines because when I test drove my car before I bought it there was no noise.

 

[Jay Davidson]

Does the clunking sound only show up when you apply the brakes? If so, can you feel the clunking though the brake pedal?

(This still doesn't sound like a rotor issue to me...)

-Jay

 

[mglavina]

Yes, only when I apply the brakes. I can't feel anything on the brake pedal and you feel nothing in the car either. All you hear is the noise but it seems like nothing else is affected. You can only hear it at speeds at 20 km/h or less, it may be happening at higher speeds or all the time but I can't hear it. It's louder downhill also.

 

[steverulz]

I believe I have the same problem, I brought it once to the dealership and they only cleaned them, which solved the problem for a couple of months. But now it is back and I'll have to look at my rotors to see if they have something wrong.
I'll come back to see if you can solve your problem

 

[Guest20182]

I had the same problem. I bought my car in May of this year. When I was looking into buying my car we noticed that the passenger side rear rotor was rusting where the pad should have been making contact, so the owner (I hadn't bought it yet) took it to the local Mazda dealer, and they lubed the slides (he had the receipt) so we bought the car thinking that it would work itself out (the car had 21,xxx on it) We knew the car sat quite a bit being a 2006, having 21,xxx on it, and a Miata and MS3 sitting in the owners garage. So anyways, at about 23,000 the drivers side rear rotor was starting to make noise, I took a look at it, and couldn't believe that it was down to the wear indicator. So I took it in, they told me that I was driving with the parking brake on, which I know was not occurring while I drove it, and the problem didn't exist on this side with the previous owner. They wanted like $440 or something outrageous for rear pads and rotors. I said screw this, was about to walk out. The service lady then proceeded to try and haggle with me, she crossed out the $440 and wrote $415. That was the first time that a service person ever made an attempt to haggle. I said no way, went to AutoZone and got Duralast rear rotors and Duralast Gold Ceramic pads for a total of $80 and did the brakes in an afternoon. I lubed everything up really good, and haven't had a problem in the last 4k miles, and those pads really grip well, I'm quite happy.

 

[mglavina]

When I first heard the noise I actually took off my wheel and just used brake cleaner all over the brakes. It helped a little bit but really didn't do much. After a week I heard it again so it did next to nothing.

and btw thanks all for the input... keep it coming...

 

[mglavina]

Update...

So I car pooled with my bro today and let my dad take my car to a mechanic. It wasn't any kind of dealer so it wasn't mazda related. This mechanic was a pretty good friend of my dad and wouldn't lie to him or tell him some kind of b/s. He said that on these types of cars, the front brakes are bigger and are used a lot more often then the rear brakes. He said that because of this, so much more moisture can settle on the rear rotors, and its just a build up of dirt and rust which is why I hear the noise everytime I brake because when it makes a full rotation its hitting the brake.

He said I definetly don't need new rotors right now, and that I would be fine for at least 10,000 kms... After that maybe get new ones or refinish, clean and lube up the ones I have now?

 

[Jay Davidson]

Okay. That does make sense.

Jay Davidson retracts his previous assertion that the clunking noise is not caused by the brakes. (loser)

-Jay

 

[mglavina]

Yeah so I should be fine for at least the winter. When spring comes I've gotta do something about it...