I am desperately seeking some advice on my current situation. Sorry for the long description, but I didn't want to leave any details out. Any help or advice would be MUCH appreciated. Thanks in advance.

So I posted a thread last night asking is the rotors were covered under the warranty. I went to Acura today and they informed me they are not covered. I had changed the brakes myself to Duralast Golds(Shitty I know) after going to the Acura dealership and having them inform me brakes are not covered in the $600 I spent on the maintenance package (only covers oil changes and tire rotations...retarded). I had traded in my BMW and specifically asked if it was covered and of course at the time they said yes. My fault for not reading all the fine print. ANYWAY, I went in today and expressed my frustration that the rotors are warped on a car I just bought. They went on to tell me that me changing the brakes myself was OBVIOUSLY the cause of this..lol. So, after about an hour and a half of going back and forth with the sales manager, the service manager, and one of the owners, they offered to give $200 towards changing out the rotors which costs $225ish plus labor($90 an hour..interested to know what others have paid for labor) if I also pay to change my brakes through them to Acura Brembo pads. They tried to say I voided my warranty by changing the brakes myself and that they could not even touch the rotors if they didn't put Acura brakes on the car. The brembo brakes cost $200 alone plus the labor. They're trying to convince me to just machine the brakes, so they don't have to change them. I have my head filled with so many different ideas after 90 minutes of mindfucking, so any advice or experience in this situation would be much appreciated.

Thanks for reading!

 

Dont spend the 200 on the brembos its not worth it, get them machined so they smooth out, and buy yourself good pads

 

Well, they won't even work on the rotors because the pads are "aftermarket", so it's either do it all or nothing at all.

 

Any other input you guys could give?

 

Your original post said you bought the car with known indentations on the rotors. If that's the case, sorry to say, but buyer be aware.

Change the rotors and pads yourself . You can buy OEM Brembo pads off of ebay for $150. There are a few vendors on this board that sell rotors and there are tons of rotor sources on ebay. There are 3 or 4 very good DIYs in Garage. It's pretty easy and will save you money.

 

So even though they're willing to pay $200 towards the service, you think they're overcharging anyway and it would be better just to buy the parts and do it myself?

And I definitely didn't say I bought the car with known indentations on the rotors, so I'm not sure where you're getting that. They even told me they changed the brakes and oil before selling me the car which was untrue.

 

Any mechanic that does brakes will resurface the rotors much cheaper than the dealership.

 

Might be a little much but keep fighting it and if they refuse to do the work with no charge threatin to get the state attorney general and the BBB involved, that works

 

??????

You should have taken the car back to the dealer rather than change the pads. Now that you've done work on the brakes, you're out of luck with the dealer. No dealer will entertain replacing the rotors after a customer has worked on the brakes. Sorry.

 

?????????? is right.. I never said I bought it knowing it had obvious indentions. I bought it then shortly thereafter noticed the indentions when I changed the brakes which was 7-10 days after the purchase. Not sure what's so confusing about that.

If you had read the post, you would have seen that they are offering $200 towards changing out the rotors if I have them change the brakes also. Not sure the point of your post, but thanks anyway.

Never did I ask if the dealership would work on the car. They already agreed to as long as I changed the brakes through them as well. The question was is it worth it if they're willing to put $200 towards it... I would like to do most of the maintenance through the dealership to maintain the maintenance journal for better resale, but if I could get this done for cheaper than the price after taking the $200 off then it's not worth it..

Also, I was wanting to know if anyone else had been in a similar situation and what their experience was like.

 

I agree with the posts above:

If you bought the car and found a problem with the rotors --> straight back to the dealer you go to get it fixed.

Now that you've done work on them, the dealer won't touch 'em. Their fix is "put everything back to stock." It's all they can really do. Yes the OE parts are somewhat overpriced, but you know exactly what you're getting.

BTW, our local dealer standard labor rate is $96/hr.

Also the bit about "voiding you warranty" is complete and utter BS. That'd mean every car that went to Firestone for a brake job would have a voided warranty.


That said, anybody can resurface rotors (if thats the only option). Anybody can change pads or rotors. It is really pretty easy to do yourself. There are some issues with the retaining screws, but if you know what to expect, you'll be fine.

If I wasn't willing to spend $400 - $600, and didn't mind some compromise in performance here's what I'd do:

Go to NAPA and get a set of their "premium" rotors for the 6MT TL (~$60 each);
Get a new set of pads (if you think you need them);
DIY the install.

If you want to spend the $$, get new rotors and pads from Excelerate Performance (Rotora or StopTech) or HeelToe Automotive (Racing Brake or StopTech).

www.excelerateperformance.com
www.heeltoeauto.com

Both are vendors here and can hook you up.

 

Be thankful they are offering a $200 credit, but as you don't know what the total will be with labor, ask them, and if it's too high do the job yourself. When buying a used car, even if the brakes are fine at time of purchase, chances are they will be one of the first "repair" items needed and that in itself is no big deal. If the rotors are out of round, turning can be done, but if more than a few thousands needs to be removed from each side, just purchase new rotors, do an install and be done with it as it makes no difference whether the dealer does the repair or you do the repair as far as resale value. It’s just that your pocket will be a lot lighter if the dealer does the job.

 

And to add to the post above, keep your own journal. If it was me in your situation I'd just do the job myself DIY and be done with it. Why give your money to the dealership? Keep the Duralast Gold pads and just either get the rotors turned or change them out.