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Rant About Paint And Brake Disks


WarrenB
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I have just brought my mark 2 back from it's 30000 mile service. I have a nasty squeak at low speeds coming from the rear drivers side wheel. I asked them to look at this and they have come back and said I need new disks as the old ones are scored and corroded. A nice cost of £303 because you can only buy them in pairs apparently.

Now how can that happen within 30000 miles on a car that hardly uses it's brakes. This is the first time I have ever had this problem on any of my cars. Also why does my wheel squeak only when moving and not braking. I have a feeling a calliper is getting partially stuck and the pad is still slightly rubbing the wheel. On both occasions I have asked them to look at this problem they have not even taken the wheel off.

My second rant, is about a paint bubble I have on the bonnet. The dealership say it has been caused by a stone chip going through the lacquer and then moisture getting under the lacquer and making it bubble so is not covered my warranty.

Now there is no mark on this bubble at all, after leaving the dealers I took the car to 2 nearby body-shops who both said it is a rust bubble. So I took the car back to the dealer and explained what the body-shops had said. They then continued to say it was caused by a stone chip, until after about 20 minutes of arguing they agreed to take photos and send to Toyota. I have a funny feeling those photos will never go near Toyota and I will just get a phone call to say sorry but it is a stone chip.

Why is there so much trouble trying to get warranty work done, and how can I need replace disks on a car that has only actually done 28000 miles.

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I have just taken the offending wheel off, and checked the calliper. When I rotate the wheel the pad rubs against the disc. Something that surely would have been spotted within 30 seconds of the dealer actually taking the wheel off.

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We had the same squealing, but from the drivers side front wheel, on SWBO's Gen II when she bought it with 20k mile on. It had been stood around for a while on the dealers forecourt and there was some surface rust on the discs. The dealer said to see if it wore off after a couple of days.

The rust disappeared ok but the squeal at low speed didn't, so I took off the wheel, stripped the pads out, to find that the inner pad was stuck in the carrier and worn down about 2mm thinner than the outer. I cleaned the carrier, pads and shims, put a thin smear of copper grease on the moving parts and hey presto, silence. SWBO had stern words with the dealer, as the car had supposedly just had a service and MOT with them upon purchase. They then took it in and checked and cleaned the rest of the brakes for her.

Tell tale signs of a sticking pad/caliper are: more brake dust on that wheel/trim than the others and (when you take off the wheel) one pad thinner than the other.

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In my opinion the key is in 'hardly uses the brakes'....Got to use them a bit more if you want them to keep working well....Mechanical things like being used, it is good for them...

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So if I use my car efficiently so don't need the brakes that much, I will need to replace my discs after 28000 miles, or brake heavily often and not need to.

Well what a choice.

In my opinion the key is in 'hardly uses the brakes'....Got to use them a bit more if you want them to keep working well....Mechanical things like being used, it is good for them...

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No, sadly, I think it is just another example of how poor some (most?) of the dealers are at inspection and maintenance and also their willingness to ripoff.

The regenerative braking is only on the front wheels, so the back wheel brakes are presumably being exercised each time they are applied?

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So if I use my car efficiently so don't need the brakes that much, I will need to replace my discs after 28000 miles, or brake heavily often and not need to.

Well what a choice.

In my opinion the key is in 'hardly uses the brakes'....Got to use them a bit more if you want them to keep working well....Mechanical things like being used, it is good for them...

I appreciate that, however brake pads do generate dust, and when driving dirt does build up. Under 'normal' prius use with the light touch on the pedal the transmission is used for braking and regenerate. However by doing that the dust and dirt doesn't get removed. I'm not quite certain what the expectation was that Toyota does about that? If you just once or twice a month clean the brakes, or as I would do definitely following each wash, by just once or twice braking hard you keep them in good condition.

A scorned disc could be a number of things, vie had a hard pebble in mine once which was not good. Corroded so badly they need replacing I find hard to believe. I do think the dealer is taking the Michael but without seeing them who knows. When you don't use the brakes regularly they do get a rusted look. But hey a cowpoke of good brakes and that should be gone.

I wonder whether they really need changing. Then again if they are scorned they probably would need changing, and yes always in pairs. The price seems extraordinary though! I would get a second opinion from a local independent brake specialist.

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I prefer a gentler approach to scrubbing the rust off the discs. Regenerative braking doesn't operate when the Prius is in Neutral.

Find a quiet road, get up to 30 mph, hold the stick in Neutral for a second or two, and then brake moderately to a stop. Do that once or twice.

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We have 12 Prius on our fleet. a mix of gen 2/3. Everyone of them has had new discs and pad with the majority not covering much more than 20,000 miles. Discs are normally classed as wear and tear items and as such are not normally covered under warranty. Thats not to say we haven't had some done in this manner.

Out of the 400 vehicles on the fleet i would probably say that 80% have had disc and pads replaced within the first 3 years. Manufacturers must be making them from inferior materials that are more prone to rust and pitting.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well it has been 2 weeks since I had the paint query and not a peep from the dealership, I shall make a follow up call tomorrow to see what is happening.

Took the car to a brake specialist who had one listen to the sound and said stuck caliper or problem with the wheel as the disc looked new.

We have 12 Prius on our fleet. a mix of gen 2/3. Everyone of them has had new discs and pad with the majority not covering much more than 20,000 miles. Discs are normally classed as wear and tear items and as such are not normally covered under warranty. Thats not to say we haven't had some done in this manner.

Out of the 400 vehicles on the fleet i would probably say that 80% have had disc and pads replaced within the first 3 years. Manufacturers must be making them from inferior materials that are more prone to rust and pitting.

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Well after all the arguing it appears that Toyota agree with me, and say it isn't a stone chip and it is covered by warranty, I am just waiting for the Dealers bodyshop to supply them with a quote to give to Toyota to start the work.

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Hello,

I have just come across your post and thank you.

I have had the same nasty squeak, mainly at low speed, from the front wheels.

I asked the dealer to look at it, and they claimed the same cause - build up of rust, however, I have tried burning it off and the squeak reliably returns.

I explained that the squeak does not start straight away, but usually when warm and the brakes are first applied, as if the caliper is not returning open. I also suggested they look at a misaligned brake pad which could be scrapping on the disc, but they suggested I needed new brake discs. How would that help if it is corrosion, as they would corrode too ?!! They wanted about several hundred £ for the work.

I wrote to Toyota who said it wasn't a design issue or a warranty claim fault.

Looks like the fault is a simple one. Meanwhile I have been driving around noise polluting the local district. My wife knows when I am back home, as she can hear me squeaking in to the drive.

Lost faith in Toyota Customer Service, and the Toyota Dealer (Tollhouse Toyota at Crawley).

Hope this can help others too.

Regards,

Stephen.

I have just brought my mark 2 back from it's 30000 mile service. I have a nasty squeak at low speeds coming from the rear drivers side wheel. I asked them to look at this and they have come back and said I need new disks as the old ones are scored and corroded. A nice cost of £303 because you can only buy them in pairs apparently.

Now how can that happen within 30000 miles on a car that hardly uses it's brakes. This is the first time I have ever had this problem on any of my cars. Also why does my wheel squeak only when moving and not braking. I have a feeling a calliper is getting partially stuck and the pad is still slightly rubbing the wheel. On both occasions I have asked them to look at this problem they have not even taken the wheel off.

My second rant, is about a paint bubble I have on the bonnet. The dealership say it has been caused by a stone chip going through the lacquer and then moisture getting under the lacquer and making it bubble so is not covered my warranty.

Now there is no mark on this bubble at all, after leaving the dealers I took the car to 2 nearby body-shops who both said it is a rust bubble. So I took the car back to the dealer and explained what the body-shops had said. They then continued to say it was caused by a stone chip, until after about 20 minutes of arguing they agreed to take photos and send to Toyota. I have a funny feeling those photos will never go near Toyota and I will just get a phone call to say sorry but it is a stone chip.

Why is there so much trouble trying to get warranty work done, and how can I need replace disks on a car that has only actually done 28000 miles.

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Well after all the arguing it appears that Toyota agree with me, and say it isn't a stone chip and it is covered by warranty, I am just waiting for the Dealers bodyshop to supply them with a quote to give to Toyota to start the work.

The bird lime "excuse" (blame the customer) was used on me by a Honda dealer with a new Civic. I complained to Honda HQ, they arranged for two HQ men to inspect the paint defect and photograph it, they agreed with me. I feel sorry for all customers with genuine paint defects who are deceived by all the so called experts that claim every single fault is bird lime. The question is do they do it because they are not properly trained or to purposely deceive the customer?

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well I thought I would keep you all up to date on what has happened about the paint warranty claim.

Nothing, the dealers haven't got back to me at all, so I called today, and they are now saying they have no record of the claim. So a blast down the phone and they are going to call me back.

Just got my call back, they are saying that they are waiting for there Warranty manager to get back to them to approve the work. How many loops does this have to jump through to get done, it has been in the process now for over a month.

I suspect they are trying to drag it out as my warranty expires in a month and half.

Even better, just called Toyota Customer Care and they have no record of a claim being made.

I am slightly annoyed at this, as it seems the dealership have just been playing games to drag this out.

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Well I thought I would keep you all up to date on what has happened about the paint warranty claim.

Nothing, the dealers haven't got back to me at all, so I called today, and they are now saying they have no record of the claim. So a blast down the phone and they are going to call me back.

Just got my call back, they are saying that they are waiting for there Warranty manager to get back to them to approve the work. How many loops does this have to jump through to get done, it has been in the process now for over a month.

I suspect they are trying to drag it out as my warranty expires in a month and half.

Even better, just called Toyota Customer Care and they have no record of a claim being made.

I am slightly annoyed at this, as it seems the dealership have just been playing games to drag this out.

Isn't it strange, the differece between dealers.

My gen 2 started to suffer with the squealy brake problem exactly two days before the warrenty ran out.

I went to the dealer the next day, they knew exactly what the problem was and got the car booked in to repair for 5 days later.

The service manager, confirmed that the job was a warranty one even though completed outside the warrenty period. Also it would have not been a problem if I had come in a few weeks later.

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Can I ask what the dealer actually said the problem was ?

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Can I ask what the dealer actually said the problem was ?

Not sure off the top of my head, it was about 18 months ago.

However, they skimmed the disks and replaced both front sets of brake pads.

I'll see if I still have the service sheet that they provided and let you know over the weekend.

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Can I ask what the dealer actually said the problem was ?

Not sure off the top of my head, it was about 18 months ago.

However, they skimmed the disks and replaced both front sets of brake pads.

I'll see if I still have the service sheet that they provided and let you know over the weekend.

sorry, no joy.

The paperwork just says "identified noise from front right, cleaned front disks, replaced brake pads, tested - Under Warranty"

The problem never re-occured.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well here is the good news.

Car booked in for the 20th September for a new bonnet to be fitted. Took exactly 2 months to sort out.

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Well the squeak seems to have sorted itself out. Just get the occasional squeak now and not the constant noise it was.

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