Ya know, why does a trip to dealer ALWAYS have to be such a crap-shoot? I mean, sometimes it goes well, but more often, it's like going into battle. Such is usually the case for me since I'm a repair shop's worst nightmare. I'm an ASE-certified auto tech (retired) with over 25 years of experience in the business. It never ceases to amaze me how these shops try to get away with doing such lousy work. I have TONS of stories but this is the one that prompts this post:

My daughter has a 2002 Sonata. Very nice car. I bought it for her in 2005 as I recall. She's done some customizing to it, and it really looks sweet, see it at:

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/1894923

Ok, back to the story, she was home from college last weekend and on Sunday she showed me that the car was making a noise. Checked it out and found that the R/R caliper was dragging and therefore was heating up the brakes etc. This caused a bit of a squeaking noise when she stopped. Used my IR thermometer on it and found that three rotors were approx. 190 degrees while the R/R was over 500 degrees. I told her to get it to her local dealer ASAP. The following day (Monday) she headed back to school, called the dealership (Lehigh Valley Hyundai in Emmaus, PA) and made an appointment for Tuesday. She took it to them on Tuesday, and explained to the service writer that we had found the R/R brake dragging and told him about the IR temp readings. She even pointed out to them that the car had just been washed and all the wheels were clean and shiney except the R/R which was covered with brake dust. Now you'd THINK that this would be a pretty straight-forward repair, wouldn't you? Think again.

They went over the car and claimed they couldn't find anything wrong other than that it needed rear brakes badly. Actually, I'd checked the pads myself before letting my daughter leave with the car, and found them to to be about 50%.

I told them that I found it hard to believe that it needed brakes, and furthermore, that low pads would have caused the dragging R/R issue but since I'm 100 miles away....I told them to go ahead. $330 later, my daughter picks up the car and heads back to school on Tuesday late afternoon. She called me within about 20 minutes to tell me that the car was doing the same thing again. She then called the dealership and told them that the car was NOT fixed. They wanted it right back but she told them she couldn't get it back to them until Wednesday. She took it back the next day and this time had two service people verify that the R/R wheel was extremely hot indicating that the R/R brakes were dragging, and left the car with them.

The following day, Thursday, I get a call from the dealership saying that although they DID verify that the R/R brakes were dragging, they were unsure why. Later in the day, I got a call from the dealership stating that they had found the problem. The caliper hose was bad. Repair cost, $550 which would include replacing the hose and the R/R caliper. I asked about being credited for the $330 brake job and was told "no way". Me and the service writer went round and round. Finally, when she tried telling me that they had never been told that the problem was a dragging R/R brake, I told her that I obviously wasn't getting anywhere and requested that her service manager call me. Talk about an outright lie!

The service manager called back and reiterated what the service writer had told me. The next 20 minutes was filled with totally ridiculous statements by him which included him really digging himself into a hole with respect to both the material condition of the rear brakes when they first saw the car, as well as why they had done what they did, and finally what he could do for me on the repair costs. It's REALLY fun listening to somebody trying to pull the wool over the eyes of someone like this, especially when I know more about the car than he does. Finally, he told me he would take another look at the bill and call me back. A few minutes later, I got a call from him and the $550 bill was now down to approx. $20. AMAZING!!!

Now, I'm waiting for them to call and say the car is done (parts not in stock).

Like I said, why does it have to be like this?

This post has been edited by Katshot: Apr 25 2008, 07:20 AM