Galaxee's unnecessary brake replacement adventures

Hey guys! Sorry we haven't been around much. It's for a good reason- things are going well and we're just really busy with life. Also, we're preparing for a little one due to arrive in the spring.

Anyway, I posted a while back showing our brake pads at 108k miles compared to a brand new set. I promised I'd share the rest of the story once I'd sorted things out some more. So here I am!

The story starts with me minding my own business and a large piece of tree debris attacking my car- it tore up a lot of suspension and took out two tires. Fortunately I was going slowly and had the right of way in the intersection I was entering, as I was left with little steering or brake power! Nobody was hurt. After a flagrantly unacceptable amount of time/screwing around on Progressive's part, we wound up with a comprehensive claim and two new tires, a strut, control arm, and various plastic undercar pieces. No frame or body damage, fortunately.

But that wasn't the end of it. Soon there were other noises. Rather than take it all back to the body shop and have them argue it out with Progressive, DH diagnosed a bent axle and consequently the bearing was toast. That was pretty straightforward once we pointed it all out, and after the hell I raised at Progressive's offices they got it taken care of for us pretty quickly. We did have to pay about $300 for an OEM axle, they wanted to put an aftermarket one in there.

But, still we hadn't found the end of it. There was a leftover wobble noise after all of this was said and done. I once again called Progressive, spent entirely too much time dealing with my (jerk) claim rep, managers, regional people, and FINALLY got a new adjuster who was much better. We decided to take it to the dealership, as we didn't know if there was a drivetrain issue involved.

That dealership is Jim Coleman Toyota in Bethesda, MD. You might guess I'm calling them out- you'd be right.

Their first guess (I say guess for a reason) was that the very minor rust tracking on the brake rotors was causing the wobble noise- a maintenance issue, not an insurance issue. They would not consider other diagnoses until the brakes were done at their low low price of OMG Wth. After the steam stopped coming out of DH's ears, we realized we had to comply so we bought their overly-marked-up brake pads and had them turn the rotors to the tune of ARE YOU #$*&^ KIDDING ME. But we thought we'd give them the business in good faith.

Mistake. First, of course the brakes were not the problem, any idiot would know this. (They just wanted the gravy job sans putting in diagnostic time, and were happy to take advantage of someone stuck in the insurance process.) Second, things only got worse from there when we discovered they had warped our rotors on the lathe.

DH was less than happy with having wasted our time and money on what were perfectly good brakes. He spent entirely too much time over there trying to get the car in the hands of someone who could diagnose his way out of a paper bag. The result? We got a brand new bearing to replace the brand new bearing we got a few weeks prior and they said there was nothing wrong with the rotors. Yeah, that helped. Or not.

Meanwhile, the rotor thing was making the car that much worse, so we ordered new rotors (and a second set of new pads, sigh) from a place that doesn't mark up +100% or more. I took the car back and said, damnit, these are warped rotors. On the test drive, the master tech condescendingly insisted all the racket the car made was not warped rotors, it was due to improperly done brake work and oh, they're happy to fix that right up for me for the low low price of OMG Wth. They're only warped if the pedal shakes- riiiiiight. By the way, still never heard the original noise we were taking the car in for.

I sensed a pattern, and I was pissed off. Narrowly avoiding lighting off a scorched-earth verbal tirade in front of everyone, I said we'd fix our own $%^@ brakes and left. (Like I'm going to reward them for screwing us over and lying to us by handing them more business. Nice try.)

New rotors and pads got done yesterday- tada, now the car is back to normal except the original noise we are trying to nail down. Rotors not warped- my nice person, Jim Coleman.

So these clowns and their failed three-ring circus of trying to get us to do unnecessary gravy-work as a gateway to actually fixing the car? They got about $250 of our cash, and another dealership parts department got another $200. For brakes that were perfectly fine. And we've gotten nowhere on the reason we went there.

Fools. Little do they know what a loud voice I have, and that I don't handle being talked down to, lied to, and cheated very well.

So I think we're heading back to the original model of DH diagnosing the problem before taking the car in. It's hard, because we have a lot less free time and still fewer daylight hours than we'd like, but next weekend is a 3-day weekend and he's got a few ideas to chase down. Sucks to do all this without a lift, but nobody else is gonna figure this thing out.

I give Progressive a total fail on the first adjuster (and the body shop, well, they did their best despite this dude), the second adjuster gets an A+ from us so far.
Jim Coleman? They no longer exist as far as I'm concerned.

Further updates when we track the other noise down...

 

It rolled off the hill on the side of the road as I drove by. I did not hit it- it jammed itself in the wheel well as I passed by! There was no opportunity for me to have done anything.

 

i have no more time to waste at the dealership. they denied time and time again that the rotors were warped, and they said instead that DH did the pads wrong. (LOL, yeah, sure.) of course he did it the exact same way the second time, and with new rotors it's perfect again. with all the other bull i have to deal with in my life right now, Coleman is best written off and warned against to others.

 

second opinion... LOL... yeah, we know. DH is a former diagnostic prius tech who initiated several of the early TSBs and repair manual corrections/clarifications on the 2nd gen prius. he was the second opinion, he knew it was a load of crap designed to make them some free money, but we didn't really have a choice but cater to their demands because we're stuck going through insurance. insurance doesn't pay for you to fix your car in your parking lot, no matter how much more competent you are. DH was, however, the party who actually replaced the brakes (the right way) initially, and then again (with new rotors) after the dealership warped my rotors. he knew early on, before he got out of dealer service work, that eventually people "working on" hybrids would have no idea how to actually fix them. consequently, this stupid insurance issue is the one and only reason that ANYONE other than DH has so much as touched the car. it's terribly frustrating to not be able to do this ourselves. argh. hill... i know, i know... were i younger/less exhausted/not a professional/etc and if my car didn't have a direct (parking sticker) indication of where i worked and therefore what organization i indirectly represented... let me tell you.

 

i'm back, for a quick update anyway. somehow all my time keeps on disappearing on me.

after a discussion with my claims adjuster following this last three-ring-circus dealer experience, he was alright with me trying a different dealership for another shot at fixing this issue. kudos to my adjuster for sticking with me here.

i just walked into the next dealership and asked them to please check out the strange noise my car was making. their tech heard it right away, and identified it as transmission damage. they got a move on, worked with my adjuster, and are installing a replacement- approved by us and paid by insurance (used, but very low miles and with lifetime warranty backed by the insurance company) right now. we should have it back in a few days.

few things would make me happier right now than for this to all be fixed BEFORE our little one arrives. (until now i have felt very pessimistic about this.) i am duly impressed so far but i'll laud the dealership by name when i test drive the fixed up car myself. i reserve the right to make my final judgment then.