8th Generation Honda Civic Forum banner
1 - 2 of 2 Posts

· Registered
Joined
·
1 Posts
Discussion Starter · #1 ·
Hi:
Newbie here. I have been a long-time Honda owner since I had a 1993 Civic (which I loved).
I am in Canada.
I just purchased a 2009 LX-S, used, from an Acura dealer in my town (August 2011). Appx 38K, nice looking, clean and drove okay up until last week.
Last Thursday (now have about 48k on the car) I started hearing a clunking sound in the rear. It sounded like, perhaps, the shocks were bad or something, but I did notice that the noise only happened when I was turning and went away when I applied the brakes.
I drove home, mostly on expressways and, when I was about 2km from home, I heard a big clunking noise in the rear and... I was without brakes... completely. As there was very little traffic, I inched myself home, got out of the car and noticed a pool of brake fluid around the right rear tire.
I had the car towed to where I bought it and they inspected it and told me that the 2 bolts on the Caliper Assy were nowhere to be seen (came off, not broken or sheared off), the caliper assembly, pads and rotor were damaged and that would be $500 to repair.
Since buying the car I had the car in a shop only once, for 30 minutes (I waited) to have my all-season tires removed and my winter tires (already on rims and balanced) installed.
Now the Acura Dealer is accusing the Tire Shop of leaving the bolts on the caliper assembly un-torqued. (They never had time to look at the brakes... I waited only 30 minutes... and they are a reputable establishment with many locations around Ontario).
Acura Dealer asked me why I went back to them. He is of the opinion that if the bolts were not torqued properly the issue would have appeared much sooner. (He blames the Tire Shop). After speaking to a number of mechanics and engineers over the weekend, I have to disagree... I believe bolts could take some time to come loose.
Car had a "B" servicing in Jun/2011 (at 34454Km). They would have removed the pads, front and back, to clean and service them. My opinion... they did not torque them properly at that time.
Acura dealer maintains that they did not see anything unusual in Aug/2011 when they did a safety check on the car for my purchase.
Honda Canada is siding with the Acura dealer.
I also know that there was a "Brake Repair" on this car at 9763km and the front pads were changed at 12478km. Is this another Honda lemon with regards to brakes? I have not had any grinding or squealing issues to this point.

Anyone have any comments, suggestions, advice going forward?
Thanks very much.
regards,
Kevin.
 

· Registered
Joined
·
3 Posts
being that im in the automotive service industry (apprentice mechanic) i would put my money 100% of it towards the fact that the dealership that worked on your brakes did not torque them properly or use any sort of Locktight product on the bolts to keep them torqued. Them blaming the tire shop is there way of trying to cover there asses and get out of paying for the parts and the liability. I personally would contact your local ministry of transportation and see what they have to say about it. Hope this helps
 
1 - 2 of 2 Posts
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top