thsiao

I went to Vegas this weekend from LA and noticed that my steering wheel would shake like crazy when I was trying to brake at high speeds (60-90mph) and especially if they were hot from the long drive. I took the car to the dealership today and they told me they were going to "change the brakes and resurface the rotors" for around $230, since everything related to brakes is not under warranty. He also said that my rotors were not warped, but rather they felt like they were because they were overheated and my brakes needed to be changed. My question is... are warped rotors part of the warranty? And are my rotors warped and he is giving me BS or is he speaking some truth?

mlionel

thsiao,
dealer feeds you a line. I had my rotors and pads (front only) replaced under warranty twice (at about 24k and 42k). Second time though under "good will". Press them hard. Tell them that Acura has service bulletin on this (I don'n remember number).

yield2s

Ya thats BS i had mine done at 30k under the TSB for "shaking steering wheel" What dealer are you going to, hopefully not Acura of Santa Monica.

VTEC11

Try taking it to another dealer, may have better luck elsewhere. But yeah, you really shouldn't have to pay for a brake job at 21k miles.

goldendragon576

I had mine done twice as well, once at 25k and the other around 33k. Just remember you can always get what you want....as long as you yell loud enough.

thsiao

Its the dealer on Alhambra.

lx4life

Just remeber warranty is not really suppose to cover wear and tear cause how does the dealer know you arent autocrossing or trying to do 150-0 in only under 100 feet, you can get a brake job anywhere from 3000 to 36000 miles it just depends on how you drive and the driving condition.

joecooool

One autocross event will fix it.

thsiao

Just got my car back and you won't believe what happened... they chipped the passenger side front brake caliper that I painted with sooooo much effort and love! Boy am I pissed off!

edgalang

FYI: Rotors & brake pads are considered wear & tear items. NO CAR MANUFACTURER considers this as a warranty item...although PLENTY do it as a "courtesy".

BTW...my wheel shakes on high speed driving too...but I can only reproduce this on long trips.

edgalang

Same thing happened to me when I had my calipers painted red. Since then I repainted it black so I don't have to deal with maintenence.

Chet03TL-S

They don't have to replace it under warranty but other dealers will. You should tell them that you will take it to another dealer your friend knows will warranty it and not take you car into their shop again. My dealer is willing to push for warranty work since I am staying loyal to them and taking my car into their shop only.

yoda

Great! now my wife's car has the warped rotor feel to it now. And I know my wife doesn't drive hard/fast.

Anyone have the service bulletin number that I can reference to the service advisor at the dealer?

Thanks!

thsiao

How many miles on your car? I don't brake hard ever on my car yet the rotors were warped... the brakes on the TL simply suck.

yoda

40k miles on the car. MOstly freeway, so it's not like she's on the brakes a lot.

mlionel

yoda

Do some search on this site. I recall somebody listed this TSP number a few months back. Regarding wearable items - pads and rotors. They are wearable items. But rotors should not warp at 20 or 30K. If they do, that becomes a safety issue. Otherwise, Acura would not have service bulletin and would not under any circumstances pay for this.

Lucid4000

Here is a link with Acura Recalls http://www.alldata.com/TSB/01/02013132.html

Hope that helps.

IGOTJUICE007

If its a manufacturing defect they do, someone posted a while back that there was too much mettalic used in the brake bad which caused overheating and hence premature warping of rotors. But a dealer will never admit that, same thing happened to me, I made them call their factory rep and the rep told the dealer they had to do it under warranty, mine happened at 14,000.....

Chet03TL-S

I have a 2003 TL-S which is suppose to have the less agressive pads. If they do, then they still warp the rotors cuz I can fell it getting worse. I have 14.4K miles on the car now. Once the dealers stop replacing rotors for free I am going with Rotora rotors and EBC Green Stuff pads. I haven't heard of anyone having warped rotors with that combo so far.

thsiao

Any ideas of how much that would cost with labor?

Natismati

So your telling me that acura covers warped rotors? I have 21k .. What about break pads?

Chet03TL-S

You can probably get your dealer or a dealer near you to replace rotors and pad under warranty. A lot of members have had it done.

As for the cost of Rotora Rotors and EBC Pads. Front Rotors are about $160-$190 and pads run about $85. Consider it takes about 2 hours of labor. Add $120-$200 for the labor charge. So I guess they would come out around $365-475.

Shop around and find your parts online. Then look for a trusted mechanic to get your brakes done or do it yourself if you feel up to it. Just don't forget the impact wrench to get that rotor off.

brizzle

I just got mine serviced today for this exact issue. I took my car to an acura dealer in Jenkintown, PA and they advised that it wasn't the rotors at all and in fact it was the brakes that needed to be replaced. They were going to charge me 259 for the front and 259 for the rear brakes. I went to another dealer in turnersville, NJ today and they fixed it by resurfacing them at no charge. Be careful some dealers will try to milk you by charging you for the brakes then resurfacing the rotors and you'll think the issue was resolved but pay a lot more.

mlionel

When dealer offers to resurface rotors, decline. Our rotors are not that beefy anyway and warping because of that. Resurfacing makes them even thinner, and prone to more overheating and warping.
I insisted on replacement rotors, when I had a problem. Just be argumentive with dealer.
Regarding pads, when I was told to pay for them, I said put them right back. Service adviser did not want to, because it's not proper way to overhaul brakes (new or turned rotors=new pads). So they just put new ones, and they did it at no charge.

Stillen_I30

the "wear and tear items are not covered under warranty" statement refers to wear-and-tear items that are free of manufacturer defects and are considered "normal" and in viable working order.

Once you deviate from this, where you have a bunch of customers coming in all complaining of the same problem, which is premature rotor warpage...well, the key word here is "premature." The manufacturers will have the dealer take care of such cases as a free-fix, as a warranty issue. Just imagine if you bought your own rotors and installed them yourself, and then you realized that after 10K miles they have warped, this is a premature manufacturer defect which warrants replacement free of charge.

and to the guy who said "how will the dealer know you haven't taken the car for autocrossing," well, the dealer's service manager and his team of technicians shoudl all be smart enough (after all, they were trained and received certification to perform their jobs) to be able to detect whether or not the customer has taken it autocrossing. Techs should be smart enough to detect/hunt for the signs that would symbolize such abuse. If they are too lazy and they dont want to bother with getting compensation from the warranters, they will refuse and offer other services such as rotor surfacing (which may allow the techs to receive pure compensation from the warranter since it is a pure-labor procedure). But i dont know the sure details of all that stuff that goes on behind the scene at the dealership regarding who pays for what and how are the workers compensated.

RichTm3

apparently this is a common with TL's. I have the same problem on my 03 TL-S with 30k miles. I just ordered new front slotted rotors and pads from Racing Brake at Heeltoe.com They are great quality but a little pricey. rotors are $225 a pair and pads are $83. The hub on the rotors are painted to prevent rust from developing. You can talk to Marcus the owner 949-295-1668. Racing Brake have alot of experience behind their rotors and pads. Their pads are actually matched to their rotors. Marcus says warping will not be an issue with this combo. They also have a tech section outlining how to properly bed the pads.

Ellcapitan

I have the same problem too w/ my '03 TL-S, w/ 44K miles. Rotors were resurfaced, but they're still warped; you can feel it when they heat up at speed. I'm currently looking into replacements, but $225. for a pair of rotors is WAY TOO RICH for my blood. I suspect that any replacement rotors, that are not oem Acura rotors or the crap they sell on Ebay, would be sufficient. AutoZone sells their "Duralast" rotors for $82. a pair. I've used these on other cars with GREAT success. Brembos are $118. a pair. I'm sure they're at least as good.

Personally, I don't see the point in paying double for some fancy slots and painted hats. Cosmetic gimmicks are fine when they're free, or even just a little extra, for the sake of appearance. Extra money is much better spent on better pads. There is absolutely no benefit to be had from slotted, or dimpled, or drilled rotors (drilled is actually bad, as they're prone to cracking), on a street-driven car. It's just an easy, cheap way for manufacturers to charge DOUBLE for their rotors.

01tl4tl

You are way under-informed about good rotors and pads
read all the tecjh pages on www.racingbrake.com then come tell me about fancy paint and slots and value
Brembo- duralast- OE- all about the same- OE quality- which does not mean best thing going for your car- just cheapest deal Acura could get on parts in bulk

RacingBrake rotors will last 2 or 3 sets of pads without needing resurface- without shimmy- without warping
You really do get what you pay for in brakes
And as I always say
wife brought the last car home 2 feet shorter!!!

NOTE the TL is not like any other car you had in the past- it requires good/better parts than your old beater did

RichTm3

It wasn't the painted hubs or fancy slots that sold me on the rotors. It was the quality of the rotors and experience from Racing Brake. And the slots do have a function as well, they are not just there for looks. And the painted stuff was just an added bonus. My main goal was to reduce the chances of having another warping problem.

01tl4tl

I did a lot of research before buying mine- and I have worked in the repair industry for decades- these are ~the shite~ brake rotors!!

My post was meant for elcap- who needs to understand the differance between soft cheap rotors made in unknown lands- and the full on top quality of this designed -manufactured and shipped in america brakes

Thats not even regular paint on them- its a special coating will never rust and looks great

Ellcapitan

Okay, alright, I'll read all their sales pitch ("tech. pages") and let you know if it changes my mind and long-standing knowledge--that removing material from a rotor by creating slots, etc. would actually tend to increase the likelihood of warpage, rather than help prevent it. (I'm not the closed-minded type; I'll give it an honest chance to convince me.)

Luke7

I have a 1999 TL. Bought it 2 years ago (Sept. of 2005) with 38000 miles on it. The previous owner had the brake pads and rotors replaced by Acura at 30,000 miles=free of charge. I now have 82,000 miles on the car and with the pad only 1/2 worn out. The brakes are starting to show signs of warped roters. I'll be replacing them soon=myself.
Our cars are known to have brakes from the factory that are lousy and don't hold up well. I had the same problems with my Accord and Prelude. I spent more money on brakes than anything else on both cars. I don't drive hard or slam on the brakes/ride the petal etc. There are after market rotors that will last longer. Just do a search and hope you get a good set. Honda replaced my rotors on my Prelude 5 times before it had 50,000 miles on it. One set they put on lasted 1 mile. I turned the car around and went back to the dealer and gave it to em. They had replaced the rotors and brake pads and the new rotors were warped from the get go. They replace them again and again and again 5 times. I finally gave up on Honda Rotors and bought after market rotors that lasted over 100,000 miles with no problems. An import dealer got them for me and assured me that they were great. They were! Hopefully you'll have better luck with after market!

Ellcapitan

It's all sales pitch, pure and simple. It's like saying, buy this car over that one because this one was designed to a tight tolerance on a super-special computer, using the latest available technology... Big whoop, they all do. They claim their rotors are of a harder metal. Harder metal is less dense, less dense=more warping. Their idea of quality control is casting their name in the rotor? Uhh...okay. ...Skip straight to the meat and potatoes: the warrantee. You get all of six months of a (very) limited warrantee (!), where other quality rotors offer two years. 'Nuff said.

Don't get me wrong, they're probably still good rotors, but still not worth double the price.

Ellcapitan

PS: They list rotors for my '03 ('99-'04) TL-S, but pads only for '99-'04 regular TL models. Are the rotors different, and the pads the same, between TL and TL-S models? They do list pads for '04-'07 Type-S models (?), where as far as I know, the only year a Type-S was (is) available in the 3rd gen TL is '07. Am I missing something, or are my drugs not the same strength/prescription as theirs?

RichTm3

El Cap, At least you are open minded. But you never know, the AutoZone stuff may or may not work. I'm just not willing to take a chance. I don't want to do the brakes twice. The TL's are kind of heavy cars, and may require really good quality rotors. And rotors that are marginal in quality and wormanship may not last on the TL's.

RichTm3

El Cap I am not sure. I ordered mine thru HeelToeauto,com

here are the pads -made by RB
http://www.heeltoeauto.com/product.php?productid=40002


here are the rotors made by RB

<http://www.heeltoeauto.com/Racingbrake-UP-Brake-Rotor-Slot-Acura-TL-99-03-Front-Slotted-PAIR-90761-90762-pr-25013.html>

Ellcapitan

...And, oh yeah, partially insulating the heat in the rotor with protective paint.

RichTm3

So I take it you're not buying a set anytime soon?

Ellcapitan

Hahaha, I don't know. I think I may just need more convincing... I also get a kick out of the idea that the ROTORS had anything at all to do w/ the wife bringing the car home a foot shorter.

RichTm3

There is also Rotora rotors and of course Brembo rotors. And for pads you can use Hawk HPS (I have on my M3) or Axxis Ultimate pads. But slotted is the way to go. And I would not buy any off brand from Autozone.