Help with X Trail please

Col - this sounds like faulty goods to me. Hopefully she is in your state motoring organisation. If she is, I reckon she / you ought to enlist their help in sorting the blighters out. Might pay to get an in warranty inspection to see what else they are glossing over.

Dealers have a way of treating women as idiots, but they can't do it with the NRMA etc.

Max

SWMBO(little old lady) has a 2003 Xtrail Auto which has now done 52,000km without a problem. Brake pads are original and just over half worn. The vehicle is driven in a country town and also used for long trips to the Big Smoke etc.

Cheers

I had a 2002 Holden Frontera that developed a clutch shudder almost from new, but the local Holden dealer couldn't find fault with it and said it was the way that I drove it , until I took a print out from this forum to them, of several other owners who had the same problem, and suddenly they owned up that there was a fault with the Frontera's and Jackeroo's . As a gesture of goodwill, they replaced it at 50,000km.
Like most dealers, they are all too happy to take your hard earned cash, but you have to back them into a corner when something goes wrong and it ends up costing them!

something you could try which I find works in a lot of cases is to take the wheels off and give the rotors a REAL GOOD spray of pressure pack brake cleaner. Make sure you spray both sides and turn the disc while spraying to get it evenly around

Bob

Everyone

I purchased a new JEEP Cherokee in 05 and was infgrmed that they 'chew' disc pads and rotors which need to be changed around the 25,000 - 30,000km mark. (food for thought.

Made a few more enquiries and ascertained that the 02 models did this as they only had discs on the front.

So I whipped down to the Brake service shop I have been using for years and have a chat to the owner about this.

He just shook his head and pointed to a Peugoet (think thats how you spell it) in the back of the work shop and informed that it was 15mths old, just over 20,000kms on the clock and all pads and front rotors had to be replaced.

WHY????????????????

Firstly - Due to the demise of asbestos in brake components (pads) the replacement material is excellent but ferocious on the rotors.

Secondly - The ABS, ECS and 'higher tech' four wheel disc braking is just fantastic and safe but comes at a price. ie rotors and pads.

Now! he said: you don't have to be a hard driver, mad driver, etc etc for this to happen.

It depends on a heap of factors such as geographical area ( city, country) Terrain (hilly, flat) Type of roads ( Bitumen, dirt) gross weight (self explanatory) weather conditions, tyres. Type of material used by manufacturers brake setup ( Ratio differential in force from front to back) etc etc. Basically your name it and factor it into the equation.

OUTCOME:

Brake pedal shudder due to hard spots (O/heating)

Chewed out pads and rotors, with fronts much more prevelent to rears.

I have since heard of this happening on a new Ford sedan belonging to guy I know reasonably well. Lived at the time on the Eastern Melbourne rural/urban interface in hilly terrain and dirt roads. Wife was predominant driver and drove 'carefully'.

Also checked the above out at a aftermarket JEEP speciallist I frequent. Same story - just a modern vehicle/life experience that may or may not happen to YOU.

OUTLOOK:

New materials are being developed all the time and the aftermarket products available here in Australia seem to be of a much better standard than OEM

JEEP dealership/ service manager told me personally that he offers DBA replacements over OEM when necessary as they are a superior item .

In conclusion it would appear to be a reasonable wear and tear item on new vehicles.

Now just as an aside. Willems vehicle with 52,000kms on it and long distance driving for a lot of those Kms on flat bitument( there are no hills in your area Willem) with substantially less braking than a similar vehicle driven in a city every day of the week through peak hour traffic, rain and other chit (ie Melbourne)
will have a vastly different ration of wear and tear.

Have a good one

have had the same problem in three cruisers...an 80 series and 2 x 100 series.

I narrowed the fault down to drivers...me once ( no not really) and swmbo ( god bless her gorgeous ass) ...
it goes like this

leave the hand brake on and the rotors overheat Warp..........this ends up giving pulstations in the brake lines compounding the factor to all rotors. Machining helps for in the short term, but back it comes after awhile as the rotors now have soft and hard spots due to the overheating.( this is my theory on why it returns)

Remedy:...(for the above)
replace rotors and PULL The Bloody Hand Brake ON so you cant drive away...not without some very noticable restriction at least

Another cause is incorrect wheel fitting .. see here

One thing to remember, particularly if you tow; if you stop your vehicle immediately after very heavy braking, the part of the disk that is under the caliper cannot cool at the same rate as the rest of the disk. Just moving forward a smidge now and then until the disk cools a bit can prevent a disk from warping.

Cheers Frank.

After speaking to Nissan head office, the dealer service manager got the S..TS and has asked the area service guy to check the car.

Service Manager states that Nissan warranty does not cover brake problems after 40,000 kms.

No wonder, particulairly since they fix ed the problems they thought at 20,000 kms
what is the Nissan warranty worth.

Thanks guys for all your feedback.

Regards

Col
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