Check your front discs - don't expect your Renault garage to

[Johnnytheboy]

Dudes, I am fuming.

My Trophy went in for its third (i.e. north of £500) service a month ago at AKS Renault in Yeovil.

Today it went for its first MOT at my trusted independent garage, local to work, who service my van fleet.

It failed, as the rear pads are worn down to almost nothing, and the front discs are basically corroding to a state where they are almost falling apart. Quite apart from the fact that neither of these faults were detected a month ago, my local garage is of the opinion that the discs have failed because they are of poor quality, not through wear and tear.

One livid phone call to the Dealer and the car is in on Monday - its last day of warranty - for an assessment. The lame excuse from the person on the front desk was that she "wasn't sure that the brakes were checked as part of a 3-year service". Given that I asked them to check the front dampers, they must have struggled to miss it.

Needless to say, I better get results on Monday or I will (a) never use the dealer again and (b) never buy another Renault.

So I strongly recommend you check the condition of your front discs, cos mine are shagged!

Despite my antipathy to modding the Trophy, I may put aftermarket stuff on if I'm footing the bill....

 

[g40steve]

I replaced my fronts at 7K due to rusting on the inside edges.

You obviously don't drive yours hard enough :wink: as standard brakes are crap!

Good luck with stealers, it's a wear & tear item (thats what i got told), get the yozzasport kit for £220

At 18k my rears were hardly worn??

 

[Cue]

it just doesn't surprise me at all, i'm amazed as paying customers we can't sue dealers for being shit. it's only a matter of time before there's a death by incompetence or something...

 

[TrophyDan]

Lol, i completely agree!
My front disks where heavily corrodded at 19K - looked ok on the outside but appauling on the inside.
Upgraded to Min1144 and brembo disks - a vast improvement (not overly expensive either).

My rear disks got an advisory on the MOT - still ok, the pads are fine tho.
Am willing to bet reno will class it all as wear and tear - if they help in any way be plesantly suprised.

 

[BenG]

Renault dealers = USELESS !

When mine went in to get a temperature sensor replaced they did a check on the car and told me my rear pads needed replacing, so i bought some new ones, went to replace them and they were like new !! :evil:

 

[Johnnytheboy]

Written the following note to dealer (as I won't be going in myself):

Renault Clio brake faults

Despite having brought my Clio to you for a 3-year service (approx) a month ago, since which it has driven less than 500 miles, it failed its MOT on Friday on the following grounds:

1. Rear brake pads worn almost to nothing.
2. Front brake discs in state of advanced deterioration, caused apparently by component failure, rather than wear and tear (they are not worn thin, they are falling apart after 20k!).

I am returning my car to you on two grounds:

1. That I paid £550 for a service that in my opinion wasn’t completed (can I trust that you did at least change the oil?)
2. That you failed to address a component failure inside the warranty period. As I specifically asked that the front dampers be checked, I’d be amazed if this hadn’t been spotted.

If you feel obligated to complete any of this work under warranty, please proceed, however, please do not undertake any chargeable work. I would prefer to have this carried out by my work garage in due course.

Many thanks

Johnnytheboy

 

[Streetfighter]

How annoying! My mates front brakes on his Trophy were wrecked for the same reason and the dealer never noticed, it was only when it came to MOT that it was picked up.

Put this over on renaultsport.co.uk see what response you get

 

[Johnnytheboy]

Ok, so she's back from AKS Renault.

Good news:

They've replaced the front discs and pads for free as a "goodwill gesture". Rear pads are down to me, not unreasonably.

Bad news:

They've actually done what the claimed to have done in August and inspected the dampers.....

One is "providing no damping at all". From this they have concluded that I ned two replacements (apparently they should be done in pairs...) and that I should pay them £2,750 to do so, as they are empahatically not a warranty item (his words).

:lol:

However, he has contacted Renault on my behalf and they 'may cut me a deal'. However, I will be sounding out the firm in the damper sticky I think... As the damper LOOKS ok, but isn't working, I would guess that it has merely pissed all its oil out and is basically saveable?

I'm not having a great week here guys....

Still at least we have my GF's car to fall back on... oh yeah its clutch has gone.

 

[Cue]

the good news is that the dampers are repairable and it's a lot cheaper than replacing them.

 

[Alexei]

Ok, so she's back from AKS Renault.

Good news:

They've replaced the front discs and pads for free as a "goodwill gesture". Rear pads are down to me, not unreasonably.

Bad news:

They've actually done what the claimed to have done in August and inspected the dampers.....

One is "providing no damping at all". From this they have concluded that I ned two replacements (apparently they should be done in pairs...) and that I should pay them £2,750 to do so, as they are empahatically not a warranty item (his words).

:lol:

However, he has contacted Renault on my behalf and they 'may cut me a deal'. However, I will be sounding out the firm in the damper sticky I think... As the damper LOOKS ok, but isn't working, I would guess that it has merely pissed all its oil out and is basically saveable?

I'm not having a great week here guys....

Still at least we have my GF's car to fall back on... oh yeah its clutch has gone.

The Renault dealers are really frustrating to deal with, largly due to inconsistency. My first MOT highlighted that my front pads and disks both needed replacing. The disks had corroded due possibly to the pad sticking. Wear and tear according to the dealer. The dealer said that if I brought it in to be looked at and they found that the falure was not covered under warranty then they would have to charge me for having a look. The car has only covered 10k miles. The car had its first service at 6k miles last October by its previous owner. Am I right in thinking that another service is not due until next october/18000 miles?(whichever is first). I've since ordered a Brembo/Pagid/Goodridge set up which is going to cost me around £400 to have fitted. Renault said they would charge £270 for standard replacements. Good for you for having them replaced as a good will gesture but frustrating that they seemed unwilling to help me. I'm sure the new uprated set up will be an improvment but now I'm wondering if I should have fought my corner a little more with the dealers. I really don't think brakes should need replacing at 10k miles.

 

[Hozcat]

Same thing happend to me.

3000 miles after a service my car has failed it's MOT on excessivly corroded front discs (inside surface area). I wasn't advised on the condition of the discs after the service. I was, however, advised that my rear pads had a 1/4 of their life left whereas the fronts were only 50% worn (boths sets were the originals???).

After the car failed it's MOT I was quoted £220 + vat for them to swap the discs / pads. I've never been overly impressed by the standard set up so I took it as an opportunity to swap them for some uprated items. It cost me £160 for a set of Brembo max discs and redstuff pads, and an hour and a half of my time to fit. Although they're still bedding in I can tell that they're far superior than the standard rubbish.

 

[Johnnytheboy]

I was contemplating upgrading the brakes until Renault put standard stuff on for free. This corroding front discs thing is obviously quite common.

Just had a very encouraging email from BG Motorsport, so looks like dampers are saveable.

[-o<

 

[Cue]

seems like reno have themselves a nice little earner going here....

Alexei - yours should be oct next year or 12k from your last service - whichever is soonest.

 

[Alexei]

seems like reno have themselves a nice little earner going here....

Alexei - yours should be oct next year or 12k from your last service - whichever is soonest.

Cheers for that. Thought as much from reading the manuals but lots of people were mentioning 3 year services (must have done more miles than me). Warranty expires today so gonna give up on the replacement brakes and look forward to the uprated set-up. Johnnytheboy - pleased you've had some positive feedback on your dampers. Good luck with that. It really seems a shame that the RenaultSport engineers in Dieppe produced such an amazing car when the dealers don't really seem to want to help or even understand this particular model. At least there are some specialists who can help with most things. Bought my girlfriends' Sportka from A Renault dealer too - gonna be fun trying to get the niggles sorted under the 2 year warranty. At the end of the day though both cars are still really good fun

 

[hoolio]

Alexei - yours should be oct next year or 12k from your last service - whichever is soonest.

I thought the consensus on this was to go ahead with the 3yr/aux belt service regardless of mileage :?

 

[Cue]

Sorry i misread the post, i thought you meant meant this oct, not last ( already planning for Jan so oct '08 is in the past for me already lol) - the next service should be on 24k or this oct whichever is soonest ( probably the Oct time scale) and yes to be safe get the aux belt and pulleys etc done.

 

[Alexei]

Sorry i misread the post, i thought you meant meant this oct, not last ( already planning for Jan so oct '08 is in the past for me already lol) - the next service should be on 24k or this oct whichever is soonest ( probably the Oct time scale) and yes to be safe get the aux belt and pulleys etc done.

Had another look through the Renault Maintenance Service Booklet which came with the car which says that the next service is not due until October 2009. Service intervals for the car are 2 years/12k miles (whichever is first). If the car was registered in October 2005 and serviced in October 2007 with 6,220 miles then by my reckoning the next service should be due in October 2009/18,220 miles (whichever is first). The Timing belt and pulleys should be replaced every 5 years/72,000 miles and the accesories belt and pulleys every 36,000 miles/5 years (Again, according to the booklet). So with my car only having 10k on the clock it seems unlikely that I will reach 36k in 5 years meaning that the belts will not need changing until October 2010. Please correct me if I'm wrong and I'm all for taking care of my car so maybe an interim oil change this year and having the belts/pulleys changed next year when the car is serviced is the way to go in my case. Just don't want to spend money unnecessarilly when the car has such a low mileage and has been garaged from new (especially with the costly brake impovements on the way). Sorry again If I'm missing something but whats happening in Jan? (or is that none of my business?)

 

[hoolio]

Alexei i'm in the same boat as you with the car on just under 10k, check out the link below and it should answer some questions, i started a thread on this myself but i can't find it. I think the crucial part is not the mileage it's done but the fact that the belts are three years old.
I think as you are stumping up for the brake upgrade it's probably safe to leave a little while with that mileage but not too long.

viewtopic.php?f=16&t=4693&p=53969#p53969

 

[Johnnytheboy]

Any, so please see the Sachs Damper Rebuilds sticky

BG Motorsport have repaired/serviced both of mine, one was basically empty, having sprung a leak (cause unknown).

Dampers hopefully will be refitted on Friday and this sorry saga is at an end....

 

[Ajr]

Let me know how the dampers feel please mate, i'm thinking of getting mine rebuilt as they are going to be on over 50k soon so i'm guessing i will see a good improvement having them redone! Rather fix stuff before it goes totally tits up