Hey! So I have a 2004 Honda Civic Hybrid (103k miles)… I took it in a few days ago for a routine oil change, and was told I needed to replace my front brake pads, as it was about time for them to be changed, I did so, they said the rotors looked fine (and I think they said they turned them?). I hadn’t driven it much since the service, and when I do drive I tend to brake verrry slowly (to take advantage of the regenerative braking…help with mpg…) so I rarely do any hard braking. Today when doing some slightly hard braking (just a faster braking than I’m used to but still pretty tame, and I was only going about 25mph) I noticed a noise, nothing too obvious as I had to turn the radio off to be certain…it was a slight “thudding” noise (not quite a tick, more soft/muted sounding than a tick… the sound started off faster than slowed down with the car as I was braking, when the car came to a stop the noise stopped too. I don’t hear the noise at all when driving otherwise, and when I slow down using no brakes or only very gently using the brakes I can’t hear it.
They did tell me when they serviced it that the rotors were fine, and the rear drum brakes were fine also.
The car wasn’t making any noises when I took it in…there were no noises from the brakes that got replaced even…to me the logical answer would be that they must have done something that is now making the noise, but is there something else that could be wrong with it?
thanks in advance!
If they installed new brake pads on old rotors they were asking for trouble. Nobody does this anymore. The brake friction surfaces rely that the brake pads and the brake rotors surfaces match during the embedding or break-in period. If these friction surfaces don’t match brake noise can result. I doubt they machined the rotors. Because it’s cheaper to replace the rotors than to have them machined.
Take it back and tell them they messed up. You want new brake pads and rotors.
Tester
“They did tell me when they serviced it that the rotors were fine, and the rear drum brakes were fine also.
The car wasn’t making any noises when I took it in…there were no noises from the brakes that got replaced even…to me the logical answer would be that they must have done something that is now making the noise, but is there something else that could be wrong with it?”
I say go back to the shop that did the work tomorrow and ask them to re-check their work. The noise could be from new pads-some need seating procedure, but I wouldn’t count on that. Chances are something is loose and you don’t want that with your brakes. It is difficult to diagnose these stuff over the net.
I looked over the service report/receipt they gave me after the service and it DOES actually say they machined the rotors…I had missed this before…
If there rotors were to now need replacing, would that be something they should be expected to cover the cost of?
thanks both of you for your comments - I know it’s difficult to diagnose this stuff over the net, but having some better idea of the possibilities makes me feel a bit better about going in with it to the shop!
I guess I would first try breaking in the pads and see what happends. Gentle braking does not generate enough heat to burn the pads in and seat them to the rotors. You need to take the car up to a 30-40 mph and firmly bring the car to a stop, three to four times in a row to heat them up.
thanks all - brought it back in today and they said there were some “notches” sticking out on the rotors so they re-machined them at no charge to me 
thanks again - I actually felt like I had some idea of what to talk to them about!