dallison

I bought my 09 tsx with 40,600 miles. I just turned 50k this morning and the car is still under the bumper to bumper.

About 3k miles ago the brakes started to pulse. It would do it when i'm on the highway and just tapping on the brakes to scrub some speed off, i can feel it when braking harder(but not as much), and i can feel it when i am coming to a stop in normal traffic.

The stealer replaced the pads and turned down the rotors at 40k to certify the car and to fix the complaint of the same thing i am bringing up.

I have only owned the car 9500 miles and 5 months. The rear pads are at 6/32 and started their life at 11/32. At this rate i will burn through a set of rear pads every 9 months if this continues at the same wear rate.

I do mostly highway miles i should get about 60-100k out of rear pads. At this rate i will wear pads every 17k miles. The advisor said that these cars are bad on rear brakes.

But they also said that the pulsing will not be covered under warranty even though i have had the car 5 months. I have had other brakes replaced under warranty without any issues at other dealerships.
I know this is a wear item but 17k for rear pads and not covering rotors even after short ownership and they told me that there was no abuse?

I told the advisor that i would contact Acura NA and take it to them and see what they can do.

Am i expecting too much?

cliffs:
cpo tsx pulsing brakes not covered under any warranty after only 5 months
rear pads only lasting 17 miles

TLtrigirl

iTrader: (1)

you might be.

when i bought my CPO'd MDX within the first day of ownership i noticed the warped rotors. i told my salesman and they would take care of it when i came back in for another unrelated issue the following week. they resurfaced all 4 rotors no charge a couple of weeks later (again this was within days of owning the car that i told them this).

5 months and 9K later for you....and they already resurfaced the rotors (to certify)...you might have to eat this one. brakes are a wear and tear item. pad life...can't help you there. your best bet is to go aftermarket to possibly increase pad life. i definitely have a lot more pad life on my TL with aftermarket pads over OEM pads. the dealer doesn't know how you drive so they could say anything. they could be nice and cut you a deal...but service dept is in to make $$$. did you try and speak with the service manager??

hondas are known to warp rotors. even the accord we have (and he drives his car like a go-cart, hard stops and gunning-he may not think so, but....) he warped the rotors. he also went through OEM brake pads in like 20-25k mi (front and rear).

Ken1997TL

You're not expecting too much. But to be honest, you're better off buying your own brake pads, thats half the issue with most Hondas. Cheap pads.

NBP04TL4ME

As TLtrigirl said brakes are a wear and tear item. The dealer may work with you some and/or split the cost, but it is completely up to the dealer and their good will.
I have an indy shop I use and they will absolutely not turn rotors on Honda / Acura products. "They are too prone to rewarping." The service writer has actually told me to suck it up and live with it until the problem becomes much worse or unbearable and then - new rotors / pads.
Admittedly I've been going there for a number of years so he feels comfortable telling me straight up how he feels, but at the same time he is never looking to pad the bill.

dallison

I'll see what happens when they call me back later. When it comes time to replace them, it will be with aftermarket lifetime that i can keep taking back and exchanging for free.

TLtrigirl

iTrader: (1)

all you can do is try and get the dealer and corp to help you out a little. the worst thing they say is what? no? good luck. hope it all works out.

On The Run

When I was researching the purchase of my own CU2 TSX I noticed that faster-than-average rear brake wear was a common complaint from long term testers/owners. I'm sure Acura's knowledge of this issue is what is influencing their willingness to replace them.

Moog-Type-S

Honda piss poor brake quality?!?!?!?

Mr Marco

Had that issue on my Integra. Private shop wouldn't work with me even though they took the rotors off the car for turning (Honda requires an on-car brake lathe). In the end I bought new (better) rotors.

dallison

The bill was going to be $89 total, $30 for brake inspection and $50 for rebalancing the tires.

I wasn't really happy about that and the service advisor wasn't really budging on anything.
It was escalated to his boss after i mentioned that i won't be doing business with them again and i asked for him.
There are two other Acura dealers in the area so that wouldn't bother me.

His supervisor listened to what i had to say and offered to not charge anything as goodwill. I wasn't looking for a freebie but was irritated that they weren't able to duplicate my issues even with exact directions to duplicate them.

I told him if they split the bill with me i would be fine with that an would not hold a grudge against the dealership and would still do business with them. He wasn't completely assured that i would do business with them but my word is my word.
I could have had a $0 bill but he saw things my way and i saw things their way and i felt it was more fair to split it.

At least i know what i can't do with brakes next time.

i'll make sure i replace the rear pads with lifetimes and keep exchanging them.

TLtrigirl

iTrader: (1)

well.... sorry it didn't work out.

they weren't able to duplicate the issue? you should have gone for a ride in the car with the foreman and then talk with him about while you were both in the car.

dallison

I can't get to the dealership until after service leaves. No one besides sales is there, but i guess they aren't "qualified" to do it.

nj2pa2nc

Must be lucky-I do mostly highway driving-I will be needing rear brake replacement soon. They were measured 3,500 miles ago at 5mm. Now has 137K miles. Originals and no warping.

dallison

They said this platform eats rear brakes, that is from the service advisor.

TLtrigirl

iTrader: (1)

sales guys usually aren't that qualified. they barely know the maintenance schedule.

guess i'm lucky since my service dept (good for me, bad for them) is open 6am to midnight during the week and 7am to 7pm on the weekends.

CCColtsicehockey

The 09 does have a completely redesigned rear brake setup compared to the 04-08 TSX. The fronts still are the same. I had actually been trying to figure out how to adapt the 09 rears to my 04 as I wanted the larger rotor size to fill the wheels. This may make me give up that effort.

Shame you are having so much of an issue with the new car.

CCColtsicehockey

fuzzy02CLS

iTrader: (2)

I'm not sure why you would waste your time. Even if they would cover it they are just going to put cheap stuff back on & warp/wear again. You got 9K miles out of their brake job. Time to do your own, with good parts. I wouldn't expect them to do anything once I drove 9K miles unless something broke.

dallison

I will replace the brakes at some point, more or less when it drives me insane.

Will Y.

Yes, I'd expect the dealership to fix pulsing brakes if there are less than 10K miles on the car and no signs of abuse.



My then-new Integra developed brake pulsing somewhere between 5K and 8K miles, IIRC. During an oil change, I mentioned it at a different Acura dealer than where the car was bought. The pulsing was gone when I picked up the car, as the discs had been lightly turned/machined at no charge.
That first set of pads lasted 70K+ miles; the rotors lasted through the second set of pads.

Mr Marco

What BS. You should have gotten the brake inspection for FREE!!!

What dealer was this...Jones?

dallison

rahal

I will ay this, They offered me, because i can't get there until late and the service dept is closed saturdays, to set me up with a loaner car on a saturday and return it the next saturday so i don't have to rush from work to get there.

That i something they normally don't offer. That adds some value to doing business there, but we'll see what i need to have done. I do most things myself. I get state and emission inspections cheaper elsewhere even though they give free state and charge for the emissions and it's much more convenient the way i do it.

I have never used the dealer except for warranty in the past and i don't see that changing.

I was tired of dealing with this and even though they were going to charge $0, 1/2 at this point was fair.

Mr Marco

that's it! I'm prank calling Bobby Rahal tomorrow after I have a couple shots at lunch (717) 790-6000. We'll see how their customer service skills are when I need help getting the hood of my car open and want them to talk me through it.

fuzzy02CLS

iTrader: (2)

Problem is it's a used car to begin with. Brakes that were already turned once & just to get it sold may have been cheaped out on pads & maybe even rotor thickness.

dallison

^ that's what i'm thinking. No big deal though, this is just an inexpensive lesson and i have saved plenty repairing my own cars to not really let it bother me at this point.

Their sales staff and everyone else has been pretty nice including this situation, i didn't agree with it but i am at terms with it.

foreverhonda

I think Honda brakes are great I had a Delsol sold it with 89000kms with original brakes no warping. My current 04 Element with 90000kms still has original brakes all the way around and it will be 8 years old in July. Not sure what you guys are doing but make sure when brakes are hot not to soak your brake components with water. I would defenitely replace my brakes with original equipment again.

dallison

fyi, these are mosly highway miles and they aren't used much.

foreverhonda

No mostly all city driving probably 90% of my kms.

dallison

lol, this morning driving the car i was able to replicate the exact problem every time i get on the brakes. I was hot and i spoke to the advisor about it this morning.
I plan on meeting him in two weeks on a Saturday, since i don't feel like taking another day off of work to do it.

He says he isn't sure even if they feel the vibration if corp would do anything to cover it. He said he doesn't doubt there is a vibration, then why the F did i get the car back?

nj2pa2nc

brings back memories-when living in Pa one of the roads I drove was a very steep hill. I would have to make a sharp turn near the bottom to get on another road. One time I drove thru a puddle of water-instant warping.

dallison

They resurfaced the front rotors and put on new pads. I had to call corp to help it along. When it comes time to replace them, i'll go with brakemotive or get lifetime pads.

I don't agree with having to replace the rears every 9 months using oem. But, i'll buy lifetimes for the rear and keep exchanging them.

I did have an mdx all week, that was suite. I wasn't sure if that was an option when mrs. dallison replaces her 4runner. It drives like a dream, but the rear is too high for them to jump in and out of.

rahal did a good job with taking care of the issue after i had to go back so i am satisfied. I wasn't happy that i had to go back, but that's life.

TLtrigirl

iTrader: (1)

as long as it gets fixed.

NBP04TL4ME

Glad it all worked out for you.

RaviNJCLs

iTrader: (4)

Hopefully it will be OK now.

mrmako

I had an old Volvo with OEM Brembo rotors that were shit. Went through pads in 5K miles and warped rotors twice (had them turned once). Then I went with Powerslot rotors and Akebono pads and after 50K miles, they were still in great shape (and that was a lot of Autobahn driving).

Go aftermarket and you'll do a lot better.