Need tech help w/ 2007 Ram 1500 fr brakes(long read)

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Kidd

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OK, so I had my 60,000 service on my truck,my wife dropped it off while I was at work.She got a call that it needed front brakes, and that the rear end sure grip was broken.The rear is a warrenty, so no worries there, she asked about the cost of the brakes, and they say $144. She told them to do it.
I pick the truck up on Friday, payday, and all seems well.I do the around town driving as normal....fine, I take the truck to have the tires rotated( the tire shop does it for free when you buy the tires there) as I pull in, I sort of feel a brake pedal pulse. I look at the roters, and they are NOT turned!! So, I am agrovated.Getting irritated(remember I just payed for the service and all.) Anyhow,its close to 5 pm, and I need to run an errand out of town, at highway speed when you step on the brakes the steering wheel shakes, and you feel the chatter!! I was way beyond pissed at this point, Saturday morning I call, and tell them of my displeasure, and they say to bring it in Monday, and they would look at it.Well, after stooing on it for a few hours, I was just to mad to wait...I drove down there.The service manager and me when for a drive, like a 1/2 hour w/ him an and off the brakes....when I asked him what he was doing after 9 times of the truck shaking and slowing down....he said he thought the brakes needed to be "seated in" WTF!!!
he said they would turn the roters for me Monday if they needed it for $113, but the roters may need to be replaced.My buddy works at Oreily, so I went and asked questions.Their book says the roters are NON SERVICEABLE!!! The computer says they can be turned!!!
ANYONE know what is correct? I have NEVER just did shoes w/o cleaning up the drum or roter when I have done brakes....I need to know WTF I need to do/say.I AM NOT paying them to turn the roters, my buddy can do them for $25!! If they are non serviceable, is there a liability issue here?
 
IMO i would take your friend up on his discount and just replace the rotors. For $144 I'm not surprised they didn't turn the rotors, thats really cheap. I would expect closer to $200 for a proper brake job. I would stay away from the stealership unless warranty work is needed.
 
badass71 said:
imo i would take your friend up on his discount and just replace the rotors. For $144 i'm not surprised they didn't turn the rotors, thats really cheap. I would expect closer to $200 for a proper brake job. I would stay away from the stealership unless warranty work is needed.
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i think all rotor are able to be cut some, but if they are "knock-off" (meaning they do not use a spindle with a bearing, washer and nut on the outside), it may just be just as cheap to replace them
 
Thanks for the ideas.
I got ahold of a friend who used to work at a dealership, and he told me to talk to the main manager, and stand my ground.I will do that, and if they will turn the rotors(he said they were servicable) for what I can get them done for say $50, I will let them do it.Otherwise, I will have it done.
I have a full powertrain warranty on my truck, for the lifetime we own it.But the brakes were a suprise, otherwise I would have done it all bymyself.Could have taken the day off, and still saved money at this point!LOL
Still mad at them for this.....paperwork says they test drove it, who in their right mind thinks the wheel should giggle w/ you hit the brakes??
 
when you talk of stealerships you are referring to all dealerships and techs as one and the same. Iwork at a dealership and am proud to say I have never and repeat never stolen anything from anyone as a matter of fact sometimes I will do a repair for free if its not a big hassle and a simple repair. not all "stealership" techs are the same. The service manager should suck it up and resurface the rotors if needed and are not below the specs or be below after the turning. which should have been checked before any work was done to verify rotor thickness.
 
It seems to me that they charged you for a test drive and to install a set of pads. Are the bearings going to be repacked? I cannot see any self respecting tradesman installing new pads on used rotors - it just doesn't make sense, because what happened to you, will happen to anyone else every single time. As an after thought, I'd venture to say those new pads are buggared now too, so you might want to have them replace them too.
 
Me, I am talking of the Lithia Dealership here.I dont know whay they would just do the pads....and not turn the rotors.OR call me, and say, "Hey, we think we should turn the roters w/ the new pads", I would have said, ya!!
I keep thinking about the pads.....that have been on the unturned rotors....I want to see them off the truck, if they are not flat, or close to it, I dont want them back on.I have a sick feeling that tomorrow I am going to not be a happy good natured customer.I hope they do the right thing, and make it right......never wanted anything free, just right!!
 
Maybe they are not serviceable by oreilly because of the seperate hub issue. Wont fit their lathe.For the dealership turning price you can probably buy new from oreilly. My 02 ram rotors were less than a hundred a piece
 
rsherw3 said:
when you talk of stealerships you are referring to all dealerships and techs as one and the same. Iwork at a dealership and am proud to say I have never and repeat never stolen anything from anyone as a matter of fact sometimes I will do a repair for free if its not a big hassle and a simple repair. not all "stealership" techs are the same. The service manager should suck it up and resurface the rotors if needed and are not below the specs or be below after the turning. which should have been checked before any work was done to verify rotor thickness.
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I agree with you 100%. I have been a mechanic for over fifteen years and have worked at five different dealerships over the course of that time and I know how they operate. I have worked as a tech and as a service advisor so I know both sides of the game. It sounds like what happened was the service advisor and or tech didn't have the brains enough to add additional time for the machining of the rotors, or the lathe was broken down. Either way there was a whole bunch of miss communication and you slipped through the cracks. It also sounds like the service manager who test drove the truck is a complete tool bag. He should have manned up and admitted the repair was not done right and he would take care of it. Because of all the political bull **** that surrounds working for the stealership I refuse to work for another one.
 
rotors are serviceable on an 07 ram 1500, hubs are sealed , there is no repacking, typical brake job in a dealership will run 90 to 140 without refacing and closer to 200.00 or slightly above with......
those are not unrealistic prices, keep avoiding your dealership and when you really need them they will not be there

most Chrysler dealers if there any good will be a dsa or super dsa dealer, which mean they have te ability to overide warranty within certain guidelines, in other words extend and perform out or warranty repairs....however if you choose not to support your local dealer, good luck at getting help when you really need it.....rules of the game are changing, good dealers are propesring, bad ones are disappearing....you dont support us, not a regular customers, all you want is warranty.....sorry, when you need help we choose not too, and telling us your were about to buy a new vehicle from us doesnt work anymore, if i had a nickle for everytime have heard that, i would be filthy rich....

what most people dont understand is everytime we choose to help a customer the dealership pays a portion of the repair, guess what didnt buy it from us, dont support us, not likely your going to get help......thats the way it is

parts & service director
large Chrysler, Dodge, Ram and Jeep dealer

Dodge29
 
dodge29 said:
rotors are serviceable on an 07 ram 1500, hubs are sealed , there is no repacking, typical brake job in a dealership will run 90 to 140 without refacing and closer to 200.00 or slightly above with......
those are not unrealistic prices, keep avoiding your dealership and when you really need them they will not be there

most Chrysler dealers if there any good will be a dsa or super dsa dealer, which mean they have te ability to overide warranty within certain guidelines, in other words extend and perform out or warranty repairs....however if you choose not to support your local dealer, good luck at getting help when you really need it.....rules of the game are changing, good dealers are propesring, bad ones are disappearing....you dont support us, not a regular customers, all you want is warranty.....sorry, when you need help we choose not too, and telling us your were about to buy a new vehicle from us doesnt work anymore, if i had a nickle for everytime have heard that, i would be filthy rich....

what most people dont understand is everytime we choose to help a customer the dealership pays a portion of the repair, guess what didnt buy it from us, dont support us, not likely your going to get help......thats the way it is

parts & service director
large Chrysler, Dodge, Ram and Jeep dealer

Dodge29
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This ^^^ should be printed out and displayed in every service drive around the country. Helping people is how you get a customer for life. Just because they didn't buy their car from your place doesn't mean they should be treated any differently.
 
we dont treat customer differently, we treat everyone well, the proof is in how successful we are, however, as our profit margins continue to skrink, the factory continues to cut our warranty time, customers hammer us with cost of everything and everybody is a mechanic, how we spent our service policy monies and after warranty policy monies is now spent much more wisely, if your our customer, then we choose to help, when your not, im sorry......we still treat your well, however you pay the bill

Dodge29
 
by the way customers who think there getting a better deal taking their cars to a local small garage, think again, with increasing technology, most small garages cant afford the equipment, any given day of the week, we have 4 to 5 cars subleted to us from local garages, no deals here, we charge them and they marked it up to you.....

Dodge29
 
I have never had a problem w/ this dealership before.....ever.Our 99 Durango always went there.....for all its repairs.The Ram has never been anywhere.....so I am let down by this whole situation.Lets see how it goes in the morning.
 
go to the service manager and express your concerns, if he's any good at all, he'll make it right, if hes a jerk go above him, keep your cool and express your concern, a good manager will resolve the issue immediatelly....
Dodge29
 
dodge29 said:
by the way customers who think there getting a better deal taking their cars to a local small garage, think again, with increasing technology, most small garages cant afford the equipment, any given day of the week, we have 4 to 5 cars subleted to us from local garages, no deals here, we charge them and they marked it up to you.....

Dodge29
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The only time we sublet a vehicle to the dealer is for ecm updates. That's it. No other option really. Sounds like the independent shops around there need to find some better trained techs.
dodge29 said:
go to the service manager and express your concerns, if he's any good at all, he'll make it right, if hes a jerk go above him, keep your cool and express your concern, a good manager will resolve the issue immediatelly....
Dodge29
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Exactly. Instead of the guy blowing smoke up his *** telling him the pads need to be seated in he should have taken care of the problem right then and there.
 
Exactly. Instead of the guy blowing smoke up his *** telling him the pads need to be seated in he should have taken care of the problem right then and there.[/QUOTE]
I agree, I would have had a better day today!.....I want to thank you all for the thoughts and ideas.I told the service manager I had never had to "seat" pads like that....and he said"really?"
 
How were the brakes BEFORE it went in....any pulsations in the pedal or steering ????

Discs don't develop 'out of round' just because you put new pads on.
They don't 'know' the difference.
 
No problems before it went in....I will be going there in just a bit, will tell what happens after work.
 
All rotors I have encountered can be turned, However there is a certain thickness specification that must not be exceeded. Look up the minimum thickness and use a micrometer with the wheel off to see how thick they are. Being warped they will need one fast cut and a slow cut to turn them out if they have enough thickness on them.
 
That service manager just showed you that he knows veyr little about cars and just pushes paperwork and answers phone. I mean seating the pads?!?!?!?!? give me a break!
 
i agree very few rotors that cannot be reface......some application like Sprinters, the rotors should never be machined, but replace if need be, also seating of brake pads is required in certain applications, Charger police cars require a seating procedures....certain ceramic brake pads etc, but for the most parts, typical cars & trucks do not require a special seating procedure.....
Dodge29
 
dodge29,
All new brakes have a certain break-in procedure, just like anything new.
I sure would not go out in my Mustang with brand new ceramic pads and blast around like I usually do.
 
I would agree that they should have probably done a better job, but I would also say that you probably got what you paid for.

As far as defending dealerships, some are good, and some are horrible. I've had to actually yell at service managers and raise a big stink to get obvious warranty work done before. I will never go back to that dealership. Last winter I paid $360 for the dealer to replace a faulty wiper motor in my 2004 Ram. When I got the truck back, it had two big scratches down the hood that look like someone laid a blanket on the hood to protect it, and then dragged it off with something under it. I showed it to the service manager, and he denied that they did it, and even if they did, it should buff out and I should use some cleaner wax on it. _I_ should use some cleaner wax? Why should I buff out scratches that they put on my hood?

I also have had dealers do recall and warranty work I didn't even know about. New rotors on my 115,000 mile Grand Cherokee for free? I can handle that. I'll go back to that one.
 
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