Caliper issue...Tell me what you would do

[Buldawg76]

As much as I would love to make their lives a living hell with Ford customer relations, two weeks is as long as I plan to let them keep my car. In the end, I suspect this would only add more inconvenience to my life and some kind of bullshit courtesy credit to my credit card. My significant other and one of our very close friends are veterans in the digital marketing world, I may tap into their resources on how to get the word out about this shiesty dealership, and send Ford customer relations a nicely worded letter about how they should be keeping their eye on this location if they give one shit about Ford's reputation. This is the same dealership whose technician unplugged the power cord on my dash cam before backing it out of the service bay on the last visit.

I do understand your position for sure. I am just not well enough off money wise that I could afford to pay for something that was not needed, but then being a retired tech, I do all my own work also even with my car still under warranty in terms of maintenance. I also have a very good relationship with all upper management at my local dealer so that is a big plus as well. Fortunately, I have not had any issues with my car that I cannot fix without needing to use the warranty or wait a month to even get my car looked at by the dealer. There is a 4 to 6 week wait just to get my car into the service dept at my dealer, so just easier for me to do on my own since i have 45 years of tools in my garage to do so.

If it's a major issue, then I will have no choice but to wait to get it in to dealer.

Good luck with the digital route, you know the old saying "a satisfied customer tell a few people, a dissatisfied customer tells everyone" is a very powerful tool.

BD

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[Ecto1]

Not sure if this is the accurate way to verify a sticking caliper, but I had both fronts off the ground 3 weeks ago and they both spun completely freely. The bang doesn't jar you, it just sounds like a mild thud and you can feel it through the floorboard, and a tiny bit in the steering wheel.

What you describe sounds similar to what I heard/felt when I had a caliper sticking. But ... I knew it was sticking because after I drove the car a few miles the tire on the wheel w/ the sticking caliper was much warmer than the others. I could feel the heat coming off the brake when I went to check the tire. I didn't grab the wheel because I knew it would be hot enough to burn my hand. When I lifted the wheel off the ground it would spin, but NOT freely. It took quite a bit of effort to spin the wheel. I could also hear the brake hissing/grinding against the caliper as I spun the wheel so I knew the caliper was bad. The caliper was also a little discolored from the heat but it's hard for me to spot a bad caliper based on discoloration. At least on the sticking calipers I've encountered. Depending on how long the caliper has been sticking will determine the amount of discoloration that will be present. So far I guess I haven't let one get bad enough to make the discoloration obvious.

If your wheels are still spinning freely I doubt the caliper is sticking.

Hope you get to the bottom of it.

 

[LS1Coupe]

As a Service Writer and a former technician I can see their point. A lot of times there are more than 1 issue with a vehicle - one noise can be louder than the other. You have to repair what you know to be bad and drive it again.

To be certain they are on the up and up you would have to drive the car with them to see if the noise is in fact better before replacing the control arm. That way you would know for sure they are being honest.

 

[K4fxd]

That way you would know for sure they are being honest.

Showing the customer the defect the caliper has would go a long way in this situation. I'm assuming Brembo brakes? Not much to pop and make noise. A worn out piston, tech should be able to show it moving in the bore. A crack in the housing, another easy thing for the customer to see.

Even the 4 pots do not have much of anything that can pop and bang.

This smells like the tales a service writer used to tell customers when the diagnosis was not correct.


Cus. "Why didn't you find the bad coil?"
"Well the module went bad and took out the coil"
Cus. "Why didn't you tell me about the coil the first phone call?"

Couldn't test it till the module worked

 

[Deleted member 35644]

I'm pretty much chalking this up to fk me once, shame on you, fk me twice...there'll be no opportunity for that. This isn't under warranty, so I should have just gone to an independent. And I will in the future, or just buy the big warranty from Granger and let them throw parts at it as much as they like.

 

[Deleted member 35644]

P. S. Stopped by and paid, secured the car for pickup later. Camera power cord dangling. They don't even care if you know they're unplugging them. SMH

 

[Deleted member 35644]

P.P.S. I thought it might be prudent to check my lug nut torque when I got home, but low and behold, the lock socket is not in the car.

 

[Buldawg76]

In 45 plus years of fixing cars for a living I have never seen or had a caliper bind up as the tech states. Caliper pistons sticking, caliper mounting bolts loose allowing caliper to shift when braking, brake pads worn to the point of moving out of the pocket in calipers and wedging against rotor, pad hardware moving in caliper cause squealing noises, ETC but caliper just do not bind up and make a clunk/banging noise.

I actually had a commercial 3/4 ton Curtis Mathis TV repair van come in complaining of it pulling to the left when braking, the driver said he had been telling the owner it was making a growling noise from the front brakes for a long time. I found the left front brake pads metal to metal against the rotor to the point they had cut the rotor completely off the wheel hub, so the left front brakes were not stopping the vehicle at all. That was the worst case of neglect I have ever seem.

Did you get to inspect the old caliper and supposedly loose ball joint they replaced.

I smell rotten fish stinking to high heaven.

BD

 

[K4fxd]

I would not et this go.

Here is an example of a good service dept.
I took my F150 in for no turn signals, and no windshield wipers. Waited for an hour they told me it needed a new turn signal arm. I said fix it. About an hour later they tell me the truck is fixed. I jump in test the signals, all is good. I pull out and hit the windshield washers, no wipers. I pulled back around and told the service writer. He looked at the work order saw wipers were clearly listed. They took the truck back into the shop and found a bad SCCM. They did not have one in stock but told me to return in the AM. After replacing the SCCM they said "NO CHARGE" reason, because they did not fix it when it was listed on the repair order. Saved me about 500 dollars, and bought my trust.

 

[Buldawg76]

I would not et this go.

Here is an example of a good service dept.
I took my F150 in for no turn signals, and no windshield wipers. Waited for an hour they told me it needed a new turn signal arm. I said fix it. About an hour later they tell me the truck is fixed. I jump in test the signals, all is good. I pull out and hit the windshield washers, no wipers. I pulled back around and told the service writer. He looked at the work order saw wipers were clearly listed. They took the truck back into the shop and found a bad SCCM. They did not have one in stock but told me to return in the AM. After replacing the SCCM they said "NO CHARGE" reason, because they did not fix it when it was listed on the repair order. Saved me about 500 dollars, and bought my trust.

Exactly the way it should be done in a reputable dealership service dept.

BD.

 

[Deleted member 35644]

Sorry, no sympathy from me. I got none from you.

 

[StangTime]

Sorry, no sympathy from me. I got none from you.

Oh he gunna get a "great" review.

 

[Buldawg76]

He just lost his paycheck.

BD

 

[larr12]

When I was a service advisor and later service manager, I always took a test ride with the client before any estimate/repair. While on the test ride I would ask: of all the noises I hear the car is making, which is the one that bothers you?

 

[Buldawg76]

When I was a service advisor and later service manager, I always took a test ride with the client before any estimate/repair. While on the test ride I would ask: of all the noises I hear the car is making, which is the one that bothers you?

Sadly, those days are long gone IMO. But should be still taking place in cases such as the OP has experienced.

As a tech in dealerships, I have ridden with many customers myself to insure I was addressing the actual issue they brough their car in for, so it was fixed right the first time.

BD

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