Baccus49

Hello group.

Acura TL '06, MT. At around 10,000 miles I noticed the rear rotors were very heavily scored. The dealer under warrantee resurface the rotors. The service manager claimed it was because I did not drive the car enough and rust was building up on the rear rotors causing them to score. He said it was not an Acura problem and would not do anything more about it in the future. In the next 10,000 miles the scoring returned, but the dealer refused to do anything even though the car was still under warranty. The car is now out of warranty and has 30,000 miles on it and the scoring is now very heavy. The dealer now claims I need new pads and rotors. The dealer refuses to do anything about this, again claiming I don't drive a car enough and rust builds up, which in turn causes the scoring problem.

I drive the car around 6,000 miles a year. It's garage keeps and used almost every day to go in and out of town, which is about 5 miles round-trip. At least once a month or so it gets a 150 mile round trip highway use. There are also some 15 to 20 mile local trips in suburban traffic each month.

I've never had this type of problem with any other car with rear rotors. In fact almost all the cars I've had never have had rear rotors replaced. And I've had high mileage on them.

Is this problem unique to Acura TLs, or is the dealer is simply trying not to repair what was wrong?

Advice will be appreciated. I would like to escalate a complaint to Acura's regional office and further, if it is a valid one.

Thanks in advance for any help

Baccus

UA6

This is new to me. Maybe someone else can give you some input on this problem.

LoveMyTL-S

Are the front rotors doing the same thing? Why only the rears? My wife only drives her car about 4k miles a year with no rotor issues. It sits out in the driveway with my car, so it's in the weather and does get some surface rust at times. But no rotor scoring.

Bearcat94

Light surface rust shouldn't matter. Especially since you are driving your car a little bit almost every day.

There is either some other problem or there is no issue (just visual).

Can you feel the scoring? Does it catch a fingernail? Is it on both sides of the car? Do you live or drive in an area (dirt road/drive, etc) that would cause dust/grit to get between the pad and rotor?


Do you have pics?

veggiemonster

iTrader: (1)

surface rust would not do anything.

what kind of scoring are you talking about? there are a few variations which make a difference. heat scoring and discoloration? or grooved rings?

did you use OEM pads?

i bet it's a contaminated pad, do you touch the brakes constantly to observe the scoring progress? skin oil (if enough, which isn't much honestly) could cause the pads to be contaminated and result in uneven wear, and heat scoring...


edit: re thinking/re reading OP's post, i'm sure he needs new pads by now. i'm sure they took off plenty of material to get rid of the original issue, and rotors are really only "good" for 1 proper cut. did you replace your pads at the time? reusing scored pads would only cause the problem to cycle back as you have stated.

autoftl

Im sure its not just surface rust.. since just a few taps of the brakes will eliminate that.. It could be age... or have you ever done a lot of agressive driving?? Like overheated the brakes where they wobble when you hit them?? Just trying to trouble shoot what it could be

Baccus49

Thank you all for your help. Let me see if I can answer some of your questions.

The scoring is only on both rear rotors. The front rotors are fine. I am the original owner. The car is not aggressively driven. I think the ABS system has only come on once or twice all the time I've had the car. I do not notice any pulsing or braking problems. But I am sure the brakes are not operating at 100% judging by the appearance of the rear rotors. I drive on paved roads. I can easily feel the scores with my fingernail. The scoring is quite deep. I do not touch the rotors on a regular basis -- almost never. There are only a few smooth rings on the rotors. As you would see in the pictures, most of the rotors are rough and discolored (I can not seem to post these picture here -- sorry). The pads are OEM. The dealer never replace them; he just turned the rotors at around 10,000 miles when I first called his attention to it. He insisted it was caused by a rust due to my lack of high mileage and refuse to do anything more. The newly turned rotors gradually turned into the old rotors and now the problem is quite severe. The Service Manager refuses to acknowledge that he did not repair the problem correctly when I first brought to his attention under the warranty and now says I need a new set of rotors and pads. He still insists it a "rust" problem.

One of the reasons I wrote to this forum was to find out if anybody else has heard of low mileage Acura TLs having the problem I'm describing, simply because they were not driven a large amount of miles every year. It is my feeling that had the dealer correctly fixed my problem originally under warranty, I would not be having the same situation recur again. It seems to me that since the problem was reported on the warranty and they never corrected it in spite of my calling it to their attention each time I brought the car in for its yearly service that they should be held responsible for it still.

I'm not a mechanic so I can't guess as to what the cause is, but I too feel it is not being caused by the rust issue that the service manager claims is the cause. My feeling is that the car has a mechanical defect and the dealer has not repaired it correctly.

If I can't make any progress with the general manager at the dealership, I believe my next step should be to go to the Acura regional office or higher. and file a complaint there. It seems to me that since the repair occur under warranty and the dealer has never fixed it correctly, I should still be entitled to a correct repair procedure under the warranty even though the warranty has now expired.. What do you all think?

If you have any further thoughts I would appreciate hearing them.

Thank you all again for your help.

Baccus

Bearcat94

Good Luck.

Brakes are a wear-and-tear item. In some circumstances you may get warranty consideration. Once. Twice? Not likely. Unless you can find an underlying mechanical defect (a stuck caliper for instance; although that is not a likely cause in this case).

Regardless, they never should've machined a rear rotors with 10k miles on it. Stupid. Only covers up the problem and potentially introduces new issues.

Baccus49

BearCat94, I agree brakes are a maintenance item. But I think in my case the rears are scoring (grooving) up way to quickly for normal wear. I don't know what is wrong. But I would like some confirmation, which I think I'm getting here, that at least the dealer's explanation of rust build up on the rotors due to low mileage driving is not a plausible or normal cause of the problem I've described.

Thanks.
Baccus

U3A6

Had this issue with the rear rotors on my 06 TL. Read several posts on this board (and confirmed by dealer) that indicates that the issue is that the pins the caliper slide on accululate rust and cause them not to fully release-so they drag on the rotors. In my case, I had them lube the pins and turn the rotors-no problems since. Seems to be only a rear caliper problem-likely a design issue with the either the boot for the caliper pins, the expensive silicone grease they use, or both. Dealers know this is an issue and usually check this at B-service. Can use the DIY in the Garage section for doing your rear brakes-to lube the caliper pins.