When you ask, "Do the dealers know that this is a major problem?" my reply is, I'm not sure it IS a major problem. It seems only you and maybe a couple of other people have experienced this so far. The '04 TL seems to have a few problems that affect a lot of people and few other problems that are uncommon and not indicative of a generalized issue. I think your brake problem is in the latter category. At least I hope so.

Good luck.

 

All i have to say is brembos rock i have stoped from 130mph to 40mph with no fade at all and i have almost 10k on them. I had the same crappt breaks on mt CL-S if your going to be hard on thr breaks then you better go brembos or dont stomp on them to hard

 

I had a chevy truck(that was a POS!!!)and in the 3 years I owned it I went through 6 sets of rotors and 4 sets of calipers in less than 34,000 miles,I thought it was a HUGE problem,problem was my truck was one of only a few that had braking problems

 

Read the entire post....he never claimed to have the Brembo Brakes on his 5MT....he said that he was looking into them and that they were to expensive.....just an FYI

 

I had this problem where the steering wheel was shaking above 60mph on highways, took it to dealer and they fixed it.

 

Thanks for reading it carefully buddy

Kunal

 

Now was this because of the balancing of the wheels? We are talking about brakes... I first thought it was balancing but it turned out it was my brakes.

 

well my bad on not that, I meant when I braked above 60+mph on highway, the steering wheel was shaking.... that happened after A1 service was done on my TL.

 

I've had an ongoing battle with warped rotors on a 2002 QX4 (Infiniti) for the past 2 years. 2 dealers have tried with varying degrees of failure to fix it. 2 weeks ago, the brakes were worse AFTER the service, so I went back and pointed out a TSB from 11 months ago. Despite their assurances to the contrary, it had not been done, so I was given new pads all around and they remachined the rotors.

On picking it up, the brakes were even worse, doing the scary shuddering thing Kunals mentions (before, they just pulsed and groaned). Back I went, royally peeved. The mechanic came out with me and almost soiled himself when he braked. We talked about it on the way back and he had a revelation. The truck had been washed immediately after he had returned from his test drive, and he knew the brakes were hot because he'd been heavy on them to test it.

So, according to those guys, hot brakes + cold water = warped rotors. They reset the rotors, didn't wash the truck and the brakes have been the best they've ever been! They've also changed their policy about letting vehicles sit for 10 mins before they wash them. Shame it took so long to fix!

My 2000 TL had minor rotor work done, but only at 25000+ miles, and it was fixed first time. Can't wait until the fall, so I can get my new 05 TL!

 

What was the end result after you took the car back to the dealer? Did they replace your pads, turn your rotors, or what?

 

I headed back to the dealer after i found out what could have been the problem with my TL....
The dealer resurfaced them and had asked to make longer stopping distances if I didnt want the problem to reoccur!
I now have my tl and its perfectly fine! No shakes or anything... but i am just a little worried if what if i need to brake hard again..... are they going to help me??
well i guess i just have to wait and see.]


Kunal

 

Sir, your assertion that this doesn't happen on Jetta's, Toyota's, etc. was comment that raised suspicion on your post IMO. I have personally owned a Toyota 4Runner, Tercel, Echo, Sequoia, and Camry and two of those cars experienced warped rotors during the years I owned them. In fact, my 1997 4Runner Limited had an admitted problem with the rear brakes that caused brake fluid to leak on the rear pads, causing them to grab like they were throbbing during moderate braking. Honda's do not have a monopoly on warped rotors as your post seems to indicate.