Hi I purchase a 2007 Honda Civic and have had some problems with it. I bought the car in April 2007. In November 2007 I had to have the right tie rod replaced. In april 2008 I had new tires and front brakes put on the car. In August 2008 I had to have the left tie rod replaced. The car has not been wrecked and I dont ride the brakes or rest my foot on the brake pedal. I bought the honda because I had always heard such good things about them and thought it would be a wise choice. Now Im wondering. I heard a squealing noise from the front left side. Upon calling the dealer I was told that they did not have a warrenty on the brakes and that they would need to charge 85.00 to pull the wheel and sand the brake pad down where it might have crystalized. To have the pads replaced would be 147.00. It seems like all I do is put money in this.
The car has 50,000 highway miles on it.
Any help?
Were the tie rods replaced under warranty? Tires and brakes wear out, that’s life. My original tires on an '03 Civic were shot after 23K miles, so you can expect to replace the tires by 30K miles. Depending on where you live (lots of hills, city vs country) brake pads can wear out anywhere from 20K to 50K miles.
Just because you bought a Honda dosen’t mean you’ll never have to pay for any repairs and upkeep. If you drive the car you are going to wear out stuff, especially tires and brakes.
Yes the tie rods were replaced under warrenty. I have never had a car that required brakes or tires in the first 2 years and I drive less now than I did.
My main concern is the I have a lemon. Im not expecting not to put any money into a car, that would be unrealistic. I just think its odd to have to replace both tie rods within the first year of ownership.
Thanks for your reply.
Find a reputable alignment/tire shop or two that offer free inspections and estimates (90% do, this website has a section devoted to rating shops). Explain the situation and history but don’t talk about how much money the dealership was asking. Your goal is to find the source of the problem, not a quick fix that will treat the symptom.
Keep in mind that brakes do wear, typically 30K miles front and 50K rear, and when they squeal it is a warning that it is time.
Crystallization of brake pads occurs under continuous extreme heat, either from the pads dragging on the rotors under normal operation or from hard driving (your dealer will blame the latter). Sanding usually does not solve this. If one or more wheels are continually dragging, the stress could wear tie rod ends and other parts prematurely. Does the brake pedal pulse or does the steering wheel jerk side to side when you brake?
Because your brakes are so important to the safety of your vehicle, I would employ the most helpful shop to do a brake job ASAP ($147 + $85 seems steep, but I always do my own so I have no idea what the going rate is).
The tie rod ends should not have failed, but your brakes being due seems on the early side of reasonable.
Tie rods could have been defective or someone driving your car hit something pretty hard to damage your suspension.
50k for brakes is decent life and $150 to replace reasonable.
I don’t think you have a lemon. Expectations of Honda brand products is perhaps too high, even Honda’s have problems. If you were replacing your 3rd transmission, now that would be a lemon. A couple of tie rods ends isn’t good, but not the stuff of “lemons”.
If you have lost confidence in either the car or Honda you can vote with your wallet and trade it in for another car. At least the Civic retains its value well and you should do ok in trading it or selling it.