Hi folks! '08 Sport owner

[Black08Sport]

New here, but had some questions. We picked up a used '08 Equinox Sport in October '12 with 39K on it and were pretty happy with it for about a week. It immediately began squealing when turning and I took it in to a local dealer (a different dealer than where I bought it). He called a little later and said that it needed a steering gear but the car was out of warranty. Additionally, he said it needed two new tires, new rotors, and new pads. He said if I'd do the tires, rotors and pads through him he'd lobby GM to cover the steering gear. I agreed and all that was done less than 12 months ago.

Fast forward to today, where it's back at the dealer with 52K on it and with severe shaking in the wheel when braking. I suspected and had Meineke confirm last week that the rotor is warped - they suggested taking it back to the dealer to get them to hopefully handle it under warranty. The dealer is being very coy about taking care of it unless it's defective. I've put 12K miles on these rotors (90% highway) and it's not like I'm autocrossing it to destroy the brakes. Now I'm potentially looking at turning year-old rotors that will probably only survive one to two cuts before needing replacement again.

All this history aside, is this what I should expect from owning this vehicle? My cost of ownership so far has been significant and I wonder if it will continue.

 

[dietz4ibanez]

Sounds like the dealer over torqued the lug nuts. I turned the rotors on my equinox around 60k miles. If someone else touches my lug nuts, I always loosen them and retorque them to spec.

If its warped after 12k milesthe dealer needs to push warped rotors with free replacement or turn down the rotors.

If you have the original invoice of the work done and if it doesn't say that they torques the lugs you can tell them they didn't and blame them for over tightening the lugs. If it doesn't specify the foot pounds and specifics for each wheel, they can't prove otherwise.

 

[mswerb]

Was it NOT a certified used car? With that few miles I wouldn't see why it would not be. Hopefully the dealership that last serviced it will take care of you. As stated above, if you have the original invoice for service, take it back and see if they will be reasonable with you.

 

[Black08Sport]

No luck...they turned them after saying they found nothing defective and charged me $75 + $25 for balancing the tires. I also was supposed to receive a 27 point inspection and free car wash. The car wasn't washed, and my TPMS showed I had a tire 2 lbs low this morning. I'll avoid these guys like the plague going forward.

FYI, it was this dealer that did my last tire rotation less than 4K ago, so they torqued the lugs on it. I guess the torque specs are just a suggestion......

 

[mswerb]

Good thing they didn't wash it. Automatic dealership carwashes will jack up your ride.

 

[dietz4ibanez]

No luck...they turned them after saying they found nothing defective and charged me $75 + $25 for balancing the tires. I also was supposed to receive a 27 point inspection and free car wash. The car wasn't washed, and my TPMS showed I had a tire 2 lbs low this morning. I'll avoid these guys like the plague going forward.

FYI, it was this dealer that did my last tire rotation less than 4K ago, so they torqued the lugs on it. I guess the torque specs are just a suggestion......

That sucks. Just keep in mind that the reason for torquing lug nuts is to ensure that they are evenly tightened. If you have one lug nut that is torqued and the next in order clockwise is over torqued, this can cause rotor warpage.

I hope that helps!