I picked up my new 02 Protege on Monday, 4/29/02. The car had 129 miles on it at delivery, as my dealer had to trade with another dealer to get the car I wanted. I have no problem with the mileage, but noticed the very next morning on the way to work that at highway speeds, I was having some slight wheel shake when braking in a light to moderate fashion.

I dismissed this at 1st as maybe the pads had not set yet, or that the rotors had some accumulated oxidation that needed some more braking to remove. As I continued to drive the car for the remainder of the week, the problem seemed to get slightly worse.

This past Monday, the wheel shaking under braking seemed much worse, and began to occurr at speeds as low as 40 mph. The odd thing is after braking a few times, and getting the pads and rotors warm, the problem seems to go away. As soon as I drive a couple of miles or more without braking, the next time I apply the brakes, the vibration is back. I called the dealer, and got the story of the oxidation, blah, blah, blah and if it continues for another 2 weeks, call us, we'll take a look at it.

The car now has approximately 500 miles (almost past the break in point yay), but the brakes are still doing this. I'm pretty sure someone either took the car for a "test drive" at the original dealership, or the person driving the car to my dealership decided to see how good the brakes are before they were broken in.

I guess what I'm looking for is opinions, or suggestions. I'm pretty positive my rotors have some warpage...I want the dealer to replace the warped rotors and corresponding pads, not merely cut the rotor, and put the whole thing back together, with me returning 4 weeks later with the same problem. Does this seem unreasonable? After all, I purchased a new car less than 10 days ago, I don't think I should have to settle for shaved rotors, and "cleaned" pads. Any thoughts?

Thanks.

 

how many miles are you planning on putting on it before you take it back to the dealer with this problem? just take it in and have them look at it. if it is the rotors... just simply say "i want new rotors."

 

Yea and dont take any crap they have been making me offly mad lately!!

 

What he said. If they had the wheels off the car and then remounted them, they may have been done improperly. I always torque mine with a good torque wrench to 80 lbs/ft also. The spec is actually 67-87 according to the shop manual. DO NOT let a tire place bang them on with an impact wrench.

As for them fixing the problem, make them give you NEW rotors and pads. It's a new enough car that they are not supposed to use used parts or modify yours (turning the rotors). The lemon laws forbid this. During the warranty period they can only replace with new parts and cannot used reconditioned parts.

Did you ask for a polished set of wheels maybe? If the car came from another dealer, they may have put a set on before they delivered it. It might have come with the painted rims and they swapped which would explain improper torqueing.

 

I'm famiar with the whole routine...always ran dedicated snows in the past, have the torque wrench, floor jack etc. Thanks for the info. I guess what I'm really hoping for is the car doesn't have the usual Ford problems of eating rotors. The car seems to have decent sized brakes, especially in the rear.

I'm going to call the dealer and make the appointment. Just wanted to bounce the idea off some others with previous Mazda experience. I knew I shouldn't have purchased the car from a VW and Mazda dealer. VW dealers are the worst!