New Here...question About Warranty On Rotors?

[ridetuner]

Hi,

We recently purchased a used 2002 ES300 that is still under warranty. There is a pretty bad brake shimmy due to warped rotors. Are warped rotors covered under the Lexus warranty or is it considered normal maintenance? The local Lexus dealership told us that warped rotors are not covered under warranty.

Thanks for your help and sorry if this question has been asked before already.

[Toysrme]

*edit* Typo. I wouldn't take it under warranty.

There might be, but I highly doubt it. If I were a dealer I wouldn't accept it.

Minus some defect in manufacturing for a gazillion parts (it did happen those couple of years with brake pads on the camry paltform in the mid 90's), brakes are a 98% end-user affair. They wear & die at the user's disgression.

Kinda like a radio button. If you snap it off, I doubt the dealer is going to consider that a warr item.

You can try it. For god's sake don't let them replace your brakes tho.

I'll striaght up tell you, Hawk HPS track pads up front, Akebone ProACT pads on the back, brembo blanks all around.

Brake work is easy. :) Take the plunge come on!

[ridetuner]

Thanks for the quick reply.

How are RTP blanks and PBR Delux pads? Anybody have an experience with these?

[camlex]

In my minivan due to bad caliper, Rotor was gone, yes, they did cover one side only. Not the pads.(Bacause minivan have 99,000. I don't had time to show that brake job was done before.)

One caliper, one rotor. and second side i end up paying.

Service rep. is key guy. Good luck.

Hope that helps.

[steviej]

Hi,

We recently purchased a used 2002 ES300 that is still under warranty. There is a pretty bad brake shimmy due to warped rotors. Are warped rotors covered under the Lexus warranty or is it considered normal maintenance? The local Lexus dealership told us that warped rotors are not covered under warranty.

Thanks for your help and sorry if this question has been asked before already.

Routinely they are not covered under any warranty because they are viewed as a wear item.

HOWEVER, there was a TSB (technical service bulletin) BR002-02 that came out in 2002 or early 2003 covering the 2002/2003 ES front brake pads and rotors. The originally shipped rotors and pads had a material mismatch that allowed for easy warping of the rotors expecially when cooled quickly (ie, hard braking then go through a puddle). I had to have mine done at 24,000 miles.

Now, if the previous owner had the TSB work done, then the dealer is not going to do it again on the same car. This information would be in the Lexus computer database. If they did not have it done, the dealership should honor the warranty and TSB, thus charge you nothing. When a car is out of warrantly, some TSBs are a charge item. If it has not been done and the dealership still refuses to honor the TSB, then speak directly to the service manager or call 1-800-25-LEXUS and have customer service have a conversation with the service manager.

On the down side that the TSB has been done and the rotors are warped again, take the car any brake shop that "turns" or "cuts" brake rotors. Have them measure the thickness remaining on the rotor and see if you still have enough to turn or cut and still remain within factory specifications. This should resolve the vibration. If they can't cut them, then the rotors should be replaced. I just got a set of four OEM rotors and front/rear pads for less then $400 via an online Lexus parts distributor. From the dealership it would have been over $600. I am sure that aftermarket pads and rotors may have been cheaper.

hope this helps.

steviej

PS, all Lexus dealerships have access to the TSBs, so have yours pull up TSB BR002-02.