So I just got the front rotors and brakes replaced on my 1994 Honda Accord and after driving it home from the shop, my car is a lot louder than it used to be. The new noise is obviously coming from the front of the car so I'm wondering whether or not something was installed incorrectly.

The noise is tough to describe, but gets louder the faster I go. Should I be worried and take it back to the shop, or is this typical with new rotors?

thanks
Brian

 

could be the wheel bearings?

Take it back to the shop, it's possible something happened to the wheel bearings when they were removing/installing the new rotors.

 

It's strange because this was not the case before I took the car in for repairs, the noise was fine.....they had the car for a week and had to replace the front two axles because of their mistakes.

Frustrating.

 

a week! ...what "mistakes"?

Depending on how they did the job, it is possible to mess up the wheel bearings.

 

Yeah, an entire week.....said that they stripped bolts on the axles and needed to replace both of them....at no cost to me, but still a pain. Now I have this problem....what a headache.

I had a Jetta long ago that had problems with the wheel bearings and thinking back, this sound is similar. I'll see what they have to say tonight when I do a test drive with one of their mechanics and let you know.

Thanks for the input.

 

Like TouringAccord said, those bearings are probably toast. Assuming they used the slidehammer method to remove the rotors, those bearings will separate. If they are old and shitty, they will NOT go back together correctly, or if they do, they probably forgot to properly lube them.

On another note, I don't understand how people strip axles so much when reinstalling the nut. So strange, it's so damn big and hard to...f-uck up.

A proper shop, knowing how Accord brakes are, would have reccomended wheel bearings to you prior to doing the job, especially if they've never been replaced.

 

Thanks for the insight, teamlegacy....I guess this is what I get for trying to get a good deal on car repairs.

Either way, they'll be fixing it at no cost to me. I'll let you guys know how it turns out...

 

No problem, I'm a service manager at Midas here in Richmond, so I do have a bit of insight when it comes to repair orders and how things should be done. Good luck with how it pans out. They should replace the faulty part[s] with no question.

 

I don't mean to sound rude, but if I were you, I would stop going for the "good deals", because most of those deals are ripoffs...The term "You get what you pay for" applies to all pieces of technology, even a car.

 

OK, just got off the phone with the shop and it was the wheel bearings....they fixed it free of charge.

When I took the car back yesterday, the guy at the counter started to give me a lecture on how the wheel bearings were enclosed structures and they couldn't tell beforehand if they were bad or not. That's when I asked if they used the slidehammer method to fix the rotors, and he became a bit more receptive to the idea that their shop may have made yet ANOTHER mistake.

Thanks again for the help, this time it saved me a huge headache.

 

Good job, next time take it to someone who knows a bit more about that style of hub design.

 

Glad to hear everything worked out for you and that the shop didn't give you big problems about replacing the bearings.

Isn't it funny how some people change their tone when you show you know what your talking about.

or next time, if you have the time and a little extra money, you could just convert from the hub-over-rotor design to rotor-over-hub. Thats what I plan to do on my next Accord when it needs rotors.

 

Yeah, it is funny how people change their tone....especially since I DIDN'T know what I was talking about.....I'm glad he didn't call my bluff. I doubt I'll sink much more cash into this Honda (160K+), but may have to upgrade soon...thanks for the idea though, I'll keep that in mind.

Also, last time..thanks again to everyone for their helpful responses...I know where to come with my next Honda issue.