Warped Rotors

[Top Jimmy]

I bought my CX-7 a week and a half ago and it was delivered with 85 miles on it. I currently have 350 miles on it. I have been doing all city driving and everything seemed fine up until today.

I was driving on the freeway at 75 mph and, upon light braking, I noticed that the steering wheel was vibrating and shaking. I immediately knew something wasn't right. I proceeded to the dealership that I bought it from and the service advisor told me the tech would drive it and let me know what they find.

The service advisor informed me that my rotors were warped and that they would "turn" my rotors and rebalance my tires. He was real non chalant about it.

I immediately asked how my rotors could possilby be warped after 350 miles. By the way, I have driven the car real easy for the 600 mile break-in period. No hard braking at all.

The service advisor said he had no idea and that in all of his years in the industry, he had never heard of this. That was really comforting to hear this, by the way.

I proceeded to ask what turning the rotors entailed. Essentially, he said they would spin them to even out the metal. Well, I don't know too much about cars but taking off metal this early in the ownership process didn't seem acceptable to me so I asked why they wouldn't just replace them. He said he would ask. He said the techs were taking measurements and then told me that I was right, that it would be more appropriate to just change the rotors. Shoot, it is real comforting that I had to make that suggestion. Sigh. I asked what could have possibly caused the rotors to warp this early and they said they had no idea. Once again, real comforting. The service advisor said the tech told him something about "heat spots" I think or something like that. I really didn't understand what he was trying to articulate. A red flag did come up in my mind about the brake pads. Since the "hot spots" caused the rotors to warp, wouldn't that also affect the brake pads? I asked him. He assured me that the brake pads were fine. I asked him to double check with the tech and he told me the tech said he would "scuff" them up and that they would be just fine. I'm not sure I am ok with that answer.

Anyway, after spending about 3 hours in the dealership waiting on my vehicle, I was informed that the rotors were in California and they would be "overnighted" and would be here by Monday.

So, I am bringing the vehicle in on Monday to get the rotors replaced and hopefully the brake pads.

Questions: How major is this and what exactly does "changing out the rotors" entail? Is there a chance they are going to mess up something else like my suspension etc. (I am pretty ignorant when it comes to fixing vehicles so I don't know what to look out for once it has been "fixed")? Should I insist they change the brake pads as well?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Oh, yeah, by the way, the service advisor said that I would be getting a phone call from Mazda about if my problem was fixed the first time and to my satisfaction. He essentially asked me to lie and say that I only brought it in for an "inspection" today and that the real appointment will be next week. Sigh

 

[lancekik]

I bought my CX-7 a week and a half ago and it was delivered with 85 miles on it. I currently have 350 miles on it. I have been doing all city driving and everything seemed fine up until today.

I was driving on the freeway at 75 mph and, upon light braking, I noticed that the steering wheel was vibrating and shaking. I immediately knew something wasn't right. I proceeded to the dealership that I bought it from and the service advisor told me the tech would drive it and let me know what they find.

The service advisor informed me that my rotors were warped and that they would "turn" my rotors and rebalance my tires. He was real non chalant about it.

I immediately asked how my rotors could possilby be warped after 350 miles. By the way, I have driven the car real easy for the 600 mile break-in period. No hard braking at all.

The service advisor said he had no idea and that in all of his years in the industry, he had never heard of this. That was really comforting to hear this, by the way.

I proceeded to ask what turning the rotors entailed. Essentially, he said they would spin them to even out the metal. Well, I don't know too much about cars but taking off metal this early in the ownership process didn't seem acceptable to me so I asked why they wouldn't just replace them. He said he would ask. He said the techs were taking measurements and then told me that I was right, that it would be more appropriate to just change the rotors. Shoot, it is real comforting that I had to make that suggestion. Sigh. I asked what could have possibly caused the rotors to warp this early and they said they had no idea. Once again, real comforting. The service advisor said the tech told him something about "heat spots" I think or something like that. I really didn't understand what he was trying to articulate. A red flag did come up in my mind about the brake pads. Since the "hot spots" caused the rotors to warp, wouldn't that also affect the brake pads? I asked him. He assured me that the brake pads were fine. I asked him to double check with the tech and he told me the tech said he would "scuff" them up and that they would be just fine. I'm not sure I am ok with that answer.

Anyway, after spending about 3 hours in the dealership waiting on my vehicle, I was informed that the rotors were in California and they would be "overnighted" and would be here by Monday.

So, I am bringing the vehicle in on Monday to get the rotors replaced and hopefully the brake pads.

Questions: How major is this and what exactly does "changing out the rotors" entail? Is there a chance they are going to mess up something else like my suspension etc. (I am pretty ignorant when it comes to fixing vehicles so I don't know what to look out for once it has been "fixed")? Should I insist they change the brake pads as well?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Oh, yeah, by the way, the service advisor said that I would be getting a phone call from Mazda about if my problem was fixed the first time and to my satisfaction. He essentially asked me to lie and say that I only brought it in for an "inspection" today and that the real appointment will be next week. Sigh

Changing the rotors shouldnt mess any thing up you have to do it after so many years any way, My 2000 chevy malibu had defective rotors, many of them did bit noone died so there was no recal just the hasstle you had to go threw. Hope this isnt going to be wide spread like the gas cap issue. BTW did you hear a poping or boppig sound when you broke ot turned corners.
You dealer sounds like mine allways asking me to lie and make him look good.
Yer warrenty should cover all costs if not call Mazda corporate and complain.

 

[Top Jimmy]

Changing the rotors shouldnt mess any thing up you have to do it after so many years any way, My 2000 chevy malibu had defective rotors, many of them did bit noone died so there was no recal just the hasstle you had to go threw. Hope this isnt going to be wide spread like the gas cap issue. BTW did you hear a poping or boppig sound when you broke ot turned corners.
You dealer sounds like mine allways asking me to lie and make him look good.
Yer warrenty should cover all costs if not call Mazda corporate and complain.

Thank you for your response. No, actually, there were no popping sounds or anything like that when cornering or braking. I would have had no idea anything was wrong until I hit 60 or 70 mph on the freeway and then hit the brakes slightly. No other sounds at all. It appears that mine is a very isolated incident. At least my Mazda dealer is claiming they have never heard of anything like this.

 

[MITZA]

brakes covered first 12-12000
warping many causes- someone did not torque the wheels used a impact
they were hot as hell and water or something splashed on them etc..

Too many conditions again Mazda does not manufacture the rotors they buy them from a supplier. Install is extremely easy remove the caliper pins remove the caliper bracket remove and replace the rotor. Auto 101


Alot of "I love GM techs" that fall into imports hate working on them and the service advisor are bone heads forgive there ignorance. Mazda is offering turbo CUV/cars at way affordable prices lets work with Mazda, not against I don't want them to disappear into a different market back to all V6's like Mitsubishi has become except Evo. Inconviences suck but thats life it will be fixed timely.

 

[Top Jimmy]

brakes covered first 12-12000
warping many causes- someone did not torque the wheels used a impact
they were hot as hell and water or something splashed on them etc..

Too many conditions again Mazda does not manufacture the rotors they buy them from a supplier. Install is extremely easy remove the caliper pins remove the caliper bracket remove and replace the rotor. Auto 101


Alot of "I love GM techs" that fall into imports hate working on them and the service advisor are bone heads forgive there ignorance. Mazda is offering turbo CUV/cars at way affordable prices lets work with Mazda, not against I don't want them to disappear into a different market back to all V6's like Mitsubishi has become except Evo. Inconviences suck but thats life it will be fixed timely.

That's true. I probably need to chill out about this. Maybe I am overreacting. Sounds like it might not be such a big deal. Just an inconvenience.

Update: My service advisor called me tonight and said they were also replacing the brake pads. Sounds like they are trying to work with me.

 

[Alpha Wolf]

Changing brakerotors is a simple job on any car or bike.

Pull wheel.

Unbolt calipers and hang them up out of the way

Unbold spindle nut and remove bearings if they are separate from rotors.

Pull Rotor off.

install bearings if necessary in new rotor

Put new rotor on

bolt on spindle nut

re-bolt calipers back on.

bolt wheel on

Repeat..

You may also need to repack the bearings with grease. Messy not hard.

 

[kailua]

Not a big deal. Just sucks that it is being done so soon after you bought the CX-7. Kind of dampens the excitement of a new vehicle. It's all psychological, if this happened at 40,000 miles then most folks would not be to irate, but at 300 miles. . . Hopefully, it won't be a new trend.

On a side note, the rotors on my 1998 Maxima were warped and brakepads worn out by 15,000 miles. On my 2001 IS300, it when 78,000 miles with no warped rotors or pad. Ended up changing out the rear pads first at 78K.