Hello all,
We had our 2004 Mazda 3 serviced by a bad garage down the road a few weeks ago and we now have terrible clanking / rattling. It seems to be from the back even at slow speeds. They had - among other things - replaced all the brake pads.

Yesterday we tried driving over rough ground with the brakes slightly engaged and there was no rattling. My mechanical engineer brother-in-law reckons the retainer clips might be missing from the rear-inside pads - those inside pads have a bit of 'play' in them. They move about, unlike the outside ones which have clips.

What do you reckon?

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The bad garage said it was a busted front shock and bearings. Not trusting them anymore, we got another garage to look at it and they just replaced the front shock - bearings seem fine, but they couldn't find the rattle source!

The crap garage have a track record of forgetting to put things back on the car like air filters! - and just generally forgetting to do lots of stuff.

If you're still reading - they also go ahead and do lots of work without asking first and then present you with a BIG bill.

I'd like to be able to say "look, you seem to have ALSO forgotten to put on the retainer clips when you replaced the pads - please do it". I also don't want them squeezing any more money out of us,

Cheers everyone,
John

 

Hey my friend, sorry for the bad luck with that "bad garage". One thing people can do if they replace things w/o your permission is to ask them, "did you ask me if it was ok to change this"? I have done this in the past and made the mechanic take the part off because I was going to change it myself. I just need diagnosis and it was during a routine inspection. Mechanics are not allowed to change stuff until they get your "ok". My current guy always calls me and says, "this is what is wrong, do you want me to do or you taking care of it yourself".

Now, about those clips on the calipers...you definitely need them on to
eliminate the rattling and noise. That's what they are there for. If you can
retrieve them, it would be a great idea. I am sure you can call agency like the BBB to report these kind of clowns. Don't let them control you because you are the customer and the customer is always right.

Best of luck!

 

Hiya Cy,
Thanks for your reply! Here's what happened:
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They 'fixed' the pads today by 'lengthening' them (squeezing in a vice) and trimming them. All sounds very non-standard if you ask me.

This morning they had said
"If he said it's the bearings - it's the bearings".
I explained about the loose pads.
"Oh, there's a loose tail plate light here" (no there wasn't)
We did a test drive.
"Yep that's the rear bumper"
(so not the bearings anymore then. Glad we didn't let them replace those)
I said, drive over that speed ramp with the brakes on...

No rattle.

Idiots. Got the car back, seems fine following their 'fix' mentioned above. Wonder if they sabotaged anything else?

You know, we - with our child - drove hundreds of miles on Motorways over our 2 week holiday with those brakes.

 

First off, stop dealing with that garage.

Second, they "squeezed them in a vice"? BS. Any alteration to the pads may have currently fixed the rattle, but have ruined the structural integrity of the part itself, which may lead to premature failure.

When a part is ordered for a car, there should be no alteration needed of the sort. Either have another garage do it right, or do it yourself so you don't have unplanned failure of your brakes, which could cost more in the long run.

 

Jesus!