steezyhigh

YO!

So I bought a 2015 RC350F back in Jly of 2016, It was a demo vehicle, but was driven only by the store manager of the dealership. It had 10,000 miles on it when i made the purchase. now at 14,500. How ever I have been battling the dealership in trying to get my rotors replaced. Unfortunately for me when i made the purchase I did not notice the wear and grooves on the rotors until I brought the car home a couple days later. Now we live in Germany due to active duty, and we purchased the car here, through a military auto dealer which only sells to Americans. This is a legit Lexus Dealer. So my question is, Shouldn't these rotors be covered under my standard warranty? I still have plenty of coverage left. The mechanic at the Lexus dealer tells me that this is normal for the lexus' out here because of the autobahn. But at 10,000 miles? I mean the guy before me must have been riding these brakes pretty hard. They tell me that the brakes pass their inspection and that it is only cosmetic. UGH WHAT? grooved rotors need replaced? Im not crazy am I? What should I do?

lexusrus

What they probably will tell you is that this is a wear and tear item and therefore not a "defect". But you bought the RC as a "CPO", right? How long (time wise) and mileage wise after you drove the car home and discovered this? I mean if it was like a few days and even a couple of hundred miles later you discovered this.........(AND ASSUMING A CPO LEXUS), then you can strongly argue your case. But if it was like a couple of THOUSAND miles and "months" later, they will probably say it is just "wear and tear".

When you brake, are there any vibrations/shaking? If yes, then you probably can say the rotor (s) were defective.

Years ago I had the vibrations and violent shakes on my brand new Volvo (had like 8 miles when I took delivery straight from the car carrier off the semi truck). The vibrations did not happen until some 12k miles later and the Volvo dear replaced both front rotors. So I drove some more only to have the same problem at 30k miles. The dealer replaced the front rotors again at no charge. Believe it or not, same problem at around 38k miles and the dealer replaced at no charge again. But they told me that's it since the warranty is coming to an end. So on my next time I just replaced with aftermarket rotors at a local mom and pop garage. The old Volvo's 960 sedans/wagons are notorious for "eating the brakes" like every 20k miles!!! I'm sure that Volvo dealer really did not have to do anything, but I was nice about it and the fact that the front end shakes when I brake is very noticeable and repeatable.

So I'm guessing based on what you stated, it is really up to the discretion of that Lexus dealer. I think they should play nice and just replace the rotors AND PADS at no charge. This way you will be happy and tell all your friends about it. Of course the opposite can happen if they don't play nice.

Arfboy

iTrader: (2)

Some shallow grooves (like a record) are common and shouldn't be a problem. If you get deeper grooves with noticeable valleys, then you may have an issue. I can't tell how deep the grooves are from the photos but they don't appear too bad. If you don't notice vibrations during braking, it's likely just cosmetic.

steezyhigh

So the car was a Demonstrator, and I assume that it would have been a CPO, but looking through my documents I don't really see anything that indicates it. They do sales a bit different in Europe and the paper work is also different. So I will look into that. but literally brought to their attention not 3 days after pickup of the vehicle. There are no real vibrations or wobbles when braking. they seem to indeed work fine. Im just worried about the long term costs of having to replace rotors, especially if the pads wear out first.