So I Paid A Well Known Brake & Suspension Franchise To Change My Brake Pads..

[Little]

The purpose of this post is to Get as much info as i can before i go back guns blazing; and also to hopefully establish that i am not royally rooted.

I dropped the car off to a well known Franchise that specialises in doing brakes & tyres.

I left them in the morning with a set of QFM brake pads and said "please machine the rotors and fit these pads"

I got back after work and the gentlemen serving said something along the lines of

"we finished your car but your brake pads are too hard: when i took it for a test drive they squeal like metal on metal and they have gouged the rotors that we just machined for you."

I'm not a mechanic so i tried to remain neutral and gave John from QFM a call and asked if he had ever heard of anything like it.

John was pretty happy to talk through and offer assistance. The pads i got off him were A1RMs off him which are not a hard compound; they are for standard rotors.

John had never heard of any situation like this and he's sold hundreds. "Somethings not right here mate" was the line i remember. Regardless in good faith he has already organised to send a replacement set of pads down.

In any case; As previously stated: Not a mechanic. I wasn't sure at this point so i said thanks to John; went out and took some photos of my rotors before i drove away and had to pay the guys at the shop 280 bucks for doing the machine on the rotors; and they were adamant that the pads were causing all the problems. Come back monday and we'll fix it kind of deal.

Now... when they say the brakes squeal... imagine somebody twisting the head off a cat... and you'd get a similar sound.

Today i went to the qualified mechanic that sold me the car. Great bloke; happy to help. I explained the situation and he jacked my car up; before he took a wheel off he made one observation.

1: Rotors had not been slow machined. His words were that there was there was a ring around the inner part of the rotor where the brake caliper does not reach and it was way higher and of a different consistency to the rest of the rotor.

In short; rotors were not machined properly.

After taking the wheel off; observation 2 came in about ten seconds.

2: There were no backing plates in the caliper... They hadn't put em back in....

My mate is happy to talk to the other guys on the phone and repeat this story; and i also have photos of before i drove out of the workshop of the inconsistencies of the rotor.

I hate confrontation but it looks like i will have to.

What if: I wrote a letter to ombudsman

What if: I got a written statement from a qualified mechanic

What if: I called this franchises head office and opened a dispute?

What if: I go in there and they pass the blame again?

[JadGTST33]

Hmm, sounds like they sure did a shit job.

I'd try to leave all the ombudsman stuff unless it all gets really ugly.

I'd recommend getting the good bloke that you bought your car from to simply call and talk to them. If they still don't budge, maybe ask him to put it in writing.

I'd be wanting them to re-machine (providing they're now not going to be under the minimum thickness), or simply replace the rotors with brand newbies. (if you chipped in the extra, maybe you coul even get slotteds)

Good luck, don't let them F you over!

[Sunkist]

ombudsman? lol i think you mean consumer affairs/fair trading?

Bit of advice.. get your sales mechanic to write you up a report with supporting pictures. if they then dont do anything(which shouldn't be the option they pic) then take it to consumer affairs with copies of invoices pics etc. but be ready for a long wait.

having it all in writing means the brake place should take you more seriously.

[Birds]

Don't start with letters and consumer affairs etc., start with a simple phone call saying that you spoke to the brake pad supplier and another mechanic and they both advised it was a load of crap (in nicer words) because of x and y. Heavy handed appoach = less likely to get a positive response from them, you should use this as a last resort.

Unless your rotors were undersized (i.e. machined too much in the past), I can't see how the pads could have been too hard, but I'm no brake expert. It is normal for brake pads to squeal a fair bit when new, even my green stuff made a hell of a racket and that disappeared after ~200km.

[alr33x]

Most instances you have to suck it up never go back cos they will undoubtedly try and refuse & deny fault.

[MUZT3K]

Most instances you have to suck it up never go back cos they will undoubtedly try and refuse & deny fault.

Man that's a weak way..it's worth a try what has he got to lose apart from 50c of a phone call

[Little]

Right... thanks for the input. First angle will to be calm and reasonable and explain the facts. More than anything i guess i need the Backing plates back- they're an essential part of the braking system; and to buy new ones from nissan is going to hurt.

Very apprehensive about going in tomorrow; for fear of what excuses they make try to make. I might start by giving them a phone call

"Oi; don't empty your bins; i think part of my cars braking system might be in there..."

But make no mistake; i've put too much love into this car to be calm while bullshit is being thrown in my face. Sucking it up is not going to happen. They owe me money; and they f**ked up my pride and joy.

[emts]

damn I have run some track pads on rda rotors b4 no squeal.

run a1rm's as well they were a very nice sport street pad and never mad a sound.

sounds super doge to me.

[alr33x]

Man that's a weak way..it's worth a try what has he got to lose apart from 50c of a phone call

i meant by despite calling/arguing the likely hood of getting anything is slim to none with most places so usually the best you get is telling everyone you can not to use that place.. nothing to do with being weak end of the day its that places word against the word of where he went doesn't mean jack shit really.. particularly as time has lapsed between being at one work shop to the next

Right... thanks for the input. First angle will to be calm and reasonable and explain the facts. More than anything i guess i need the Backing plates back- they're an essential part of the braking system; and to buy new ones from nissan is going to hurt.

Very apprehensive about going in tomorrow; for fear of what excuses they make try to make. I might start by giving them a phone call

"Oi; don't empty your bins; i think part of my cars braking system might be in there..."

But make no mistake; i've put too much love into this car to be calm while bullshit is being thrown in my face. Sucking it up is not going to happen. They owe me money; and they f**ked up my pride and joy.

let us know how you go, hopefully they are a reasonable workshop - having said that not many of those around i found when i took my skyline places.

[xALmoN]

i dont even have backing plates on my gtt, found out when i changed pads. well, no matter, the pads have stopped squealing for now, except in the wet. and now i'm waiting on those project mu backing plates.

[WYTSKY]

Based on your location in your profile, the price you paid for the "work" and the workshop's actions I am going to have an educated guess you went to the place in Cheltenham? has a stop sign as the logo+ green behind it?

If so, I can tell you they do sh*thouse work. Years ago ( 4+ ) I took my car there as I needed essentially the same thing as you have.

I got the same BS you did AND they threw out my pad backing plates too and I didn't even know until I got in there myself, at the time I didn't know much about the car, know a fair bit more now.

the car's brakes were abolutetly shocking, literally could hear me brake 2kms away. it was so bad I got pulled over by a cop telling me to fix it or a defect and showed them the reciept of the work saying I didn't do it.

I took it back to them multiple times (at least 5+) for them to try to fix it.

In the end, the solution was I had to buy new rotors as well ( slotted) and they only fixed the squeel by using copper lube on the locking bar that holds the pads in, essentially there was some movement under braking in there and it was like someone plucking a guitar string and that was vibrating - maybe because I was missing the backing plates.

couple years later when I did the next pads myself, noticed I had no backing plates...

[Little]

xalmon your post scared me because it made me think its possible mine didn't have any when it went in there. But the bloke i bought it off guaranteed me they were on the car; and i have never taken a pad off since i got the car so...

I called and a different manager was in today; he didn't know what was going on so i was polite and asked him to get the apprentice to check if he threw out the backing plates.

I recieved a phone call an hour later from the manager saying he found them (good on them for honesty) but they shouldn't be the cause of the squealing..... There seemed to be a thought process that they are not a neccesary part on the braking system....

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ATTENTION ALL APPRENTICE MECHANICS!!! THESE ^^^^ THINGS GO BACK IN THE CAR THEY CAME OUT OF

NOT IN THE BIN...

[Little]

WYTSKY i am upset for you brother... you spent possibly hundreds when all you needed was these pathetic pieces of metal...

Jeff & Shane at power road car sales (everybody should go there! and buy cars from there) do nothing but skylines & supras (& the occasional cube ) And they have been fantastic in taking the time to help and explain what was going on.

Jeff figured out in 2 minutes flat what had happened; and the explanation was basically that yeah; these little things stabilise the brake pads pressure on the rotor; without it; the pad kind of flaps around and causes scoring on your rotors... and a f**kload of squealing.

Nuh i didn't go to cheltenham; where i went to was near fountain gate shopping centre in Narre Warren; only because i'm working as a sparky there and I could walk to the worksite from there.

Basically what happened is the apprentice wasn't supervised. He was there when i went in and he was pretty quiet about the whole thing... well; they all were. Anyway... I was one last year; and i know what its like; so you can't blame the apprentice if his boss chucks him in the deep end; so i didn't say anything to him. besides. His boss will tear him a new one tomorrow anyway..

[xALmoN]

if i could get some stock backing plates i'd be happy as.

[SS8_Gohan]

"well known franchises" are just a lottery, the name means jack unfortunately... completely and totally up to who runs them and who they've hired. Pricing can vary a lot as well.

Funnily enough, i remember something about backing plates and my A1RM's when i got mine put into my GT-T... interesting... maybe it's a GT-T thing? i remember something about the guy who put them in saying he couldn't fit them with the plates? they were noisy, and i don't think they ever went back in... can't remember...

[xALmoN]

after awhile the noise dies down, so i'm not fussed, brakes dont feel any different from before.

[Sunkist]

My a1rms are fine and they are the same as the GTT brakes. No noises or anything, before I bed them in they would howl but after the 10km or driving they were fine