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Service question about my 2002 Nissan Maxima


PETEW

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Guys,

Sorry to put a non Z related question on the forum but I know there are guys on here that are techs for other brands of vehicles so I'm guessing that they could give me some insight.

I have a 2002 Nissan Maxima that had warped its rotors before 12K miles had even occured. I took it to the dealership to have the warranty work done to it. Instead of replacing said rotors they shaved the fronts and rears and gave me the car back. I found it odd that they didn't replace the rotors under warranty but said nothing.

Here I am less than 12 months and 12K miles later and the rotors are warped again (22K miles total). I took it to the dealership to have them fix it and they are telling me they want to shave the rotors again and that it will cost me $140 of my money. I said forget it (who the heck would shave the rotors again, they would just warp that much quicker?), give me my car back I'll deal with this another day.

I tried to contact the Assisitant service manager by email and phone but he never contacted me. I tried this 3 weeks ago and tried again today only to get voice mail (I left him one). What should I do, and do I have a leg to stand on? Is this going to be a oh well, looks like I am buying and changing rotors weekend, or are they reasponsible? I thought any work done to car under warranty was then warranteed for 12 months or 12K miles. I don't know, it just pisses me off paying that much for a car and having to pay to repair something that shouldn't be wrong with a car. I have had plenty of vehicles with 60K miles and no rotor problems. I was thinking of contacting Nissan North America and filing a complaint against the delearship, for not repairing the car correctly the first time. What do guys think. Thanks for the help.

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Guest BigWhyteDude

what might be causing the warpage is how you or whom ever is driving the car brakes. The harder you brake espeacialy in wet conditions cano ften cause rotors to warp. I just turned the rotors on my dodge truck yesterday actualy for the same thing.

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I know why the rotors warp (excessive heat causing hot and cold spots that then warp the metal) but I why should I accept that as normal when I never had it happen with any of my other cars. I do mostly highway driving and I purposely brake easy and early so I don't have the pads sitting in one spot after a high speed braking scenerio. I am just amazed that they would warp in less than 12K miles and that the dealer would shave the rotors, not replace them, under warantee. :?: Looks like I may call Nissan North America, the manger never called me back today either. I really hate how you have to revert to threats and overall ugliness to get anything done at a dealership. :evil:

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You know i had some brake work done recently and had the same scenario you had. The main question i asked them is why are the warping so quickly and i insisted that they check both calipers instead of shaving them, i told them youre only covering up a symptom. It turned out the calipers were sticking or slow just enough where they built up enough heat to warp the rotors. The problem was not the rotors but the calipers. I only know of one car that had rotor problems and that was due to the supplier supplying chepo thin rotors, the car was the 97-2000 Chevrolet Malibus and some Cavaliers. They probably just wanted to shave your rotors because some of the techs i know said they only get paid half because it's warranty work. Why waste time looking for a big problem at half price when they can get a car out of warranty and sell them the same job at full price.

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Well I work at a Dodge dealer ship as a service Tech and we have been having problems with the new 1500 Rams warping rotors. When its under 12K miles we dont even think about "cutting" the rotors because its under warrenty so why should we waste time cutting rotors when Chrystler will pay for new ones? Besides Chrystler wants the rotors back so that they can figure out how to correct the problem. We do not replace the pads however, we just scuff them up and reuse them as long as they are still in good condition.

 

Now about being in warrenty or not in warrenty.....If you come in with under 12K miles with a pulsation in the pedal and the tech determines that the front rotors are the cause...they should automatically replace the rotors for sure!. Then they should make sure that the caliper bolts are good and lubricated and move nice and smooth. This is what we do at my dealership and it should be done at every other dealership with out a question! Now if it comes back in after 12K then yes you will have to pay for the rotors to be cut(however if they've been cut once before I really doubt that they will be able to cut them again. I would ask to see some specs and then ask them to measure the rotors with you watching).

 

Now as far as the technican is concerned, he would much rather put new rotors on because he will get paid the same for "cutting" the rotors or just putting new ones on, atleast at the shop I work at(we get 1.2 hours @ a reduced maintanece rate for doing front brakes on all vehicles other than the 2500 and 3500 series trucks and vans). So for the technican it doesnt benfit him to cut the rotors because he cant make any money on the job if hes "flat rate".

 

I think you deffinetly have a valid complant for them not replacing the rotors when it was in under 12K.

 

 

Hope that helps!

 

Guy :D

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The Assistant manager finally called me today. He appoligized for taking so long to get back, he is working in another dept right now, yadda, yadda, yadda. He agreed that thee must be something else wrong and that I shouldn't be having these problems with my rotors. He is making the appointment and having the Service Director (who actually drove my car before I owned it) involved so we can resolve this. We shall see how they take care of me, I'll let you guys know afterwards. I found out on Nissans sight that my car has two recalls (Tranverse Link and Accelerator stop) as well as doing a change to my headlights for a better theft control. :roll: Thanks for the help guys, as I said, I let you know what they do.

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