Defective Brakes on my 2023 Premium Mach-E?

[bwunder]

I brought my 2023 Mach-E to the Local Dealership because my wife was concerned about the brakes grinding. At 11,100 miles the Service Tech said I needed new brakes and rotors! I was stunned. I said hell no and went to pick up my car and the Service manager said that the rotors looked fine and that it was just noise because of the regen braking.
Now 8 months later at 19.000 miles, on my left rear rotor, I see it being scored. I need at least one new rotor. I was quoted $750 bucks for the rear brake job. Insane!

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[noway]

Find some very quiet road, preferably a downhill road. Get some speed, put shifter in N and brake to near zero without trying to lock any wheels. Do a few times. If brakes works fine after that then its no problem. The shift to N part is important as it completely disables regen.

There is no need to replace rotors because they dont look new. If it is within spec and its working its fine. Scratches and uneven surface in the rotor will just result in the oposite in the pads.

All my brakes are original with 220 000km/140 000 miles, and I can't understand why someone would need to replace rotors with 1/10 of that. My brakes was recently checked by ford deaker and all that needs to be replaced soon, but not yet, is the rear pads meaning the rotors should last another 140 000 miles

 

[Mach-Lee]

How bad is the score rotor? It’s not really a concern unless it’s a deep groove that catches a ball point pen.

I also recommend you do the neutral brake scrub method described above.

 

[ChrisO]

I'm sort of curious of what can cause such scoring? I mean small scoring I can understand and it shouldn't be of any real concern, but if it is deep scoring, the only way I know that can happen is if the pads are worn down to the point where you have the metal "wear indicator" on the pad housing is scraping the rotor (don't ask me how I know that can happen, my foolish younger self would be embarrassed )

 

[tbrumleve]

I'm sort of curious of what can cause such scoring? I mean small scoring I can understand and it shouldn't be of any real concern, but if it is deep scoring, the only way I know that can happen is if the pads are worn down to the point where you have the metal "wear indicator" on the pad housing is scraping the rotor (don't ask me how I know that can happen, my foolish younger self would be embarrassed )

Or you get a rock / debris between the pad and the rotor.

 

[ChrisO]

Or you get a rock / debris between the pad and the rotor.

Yes, that makes sense, maybe like from driving on dirt roads for instance.

 

[rhougey]

Or you get a rock / debris between the pad and the rotor.

I’ve had a number of vehicles that I’ve driven off-road quite a bit, but I’ve never had a rock get in between a pad and the rotor. Honestly, it’s hard for me to imagine how that could happen. But I have heard of such a thing. If it was the case however, it would seem that you could simply slide the offending pad out of the caliper, dig the little rock out (should be easy to find), and then slide the pad back into the caliper and secure it, and drive another 200,000-300,000 miles before needing a brake job.

Actual scoring of your rotor seems unlikely, but if you truly believe you are looking at scoring of the rotor, I would get an opinion from a braking professional regarding the condition of the rotor (but not the service dept at your dealership) before you consider letting the service department do a brake job at this point.

 

[Tomm]

With the miles you have on the car this would be warranty, unless you bought in 22

 

[jav_eee]

I can hear my brakes grinding. That’s what happens when there’s no engine making noise to mask it.

show us the scoring you’re seeing

 

[RodHower]

How bad is the score rotor? It’s not really a concern unless it’s a deep groove that catches a ball point pen.

I also recommend you do the neutral brake scrub method described above.

I do the neutral brake scrub once every day on a decent hill towards a traffic light on the way to work. I never did this on my 2014 Chevy Volt that used regen most of the time for stopping. The calipers eventually froze on the slide pins from lack of use and eventually wore the inner brake pads to metal even though the outer pads looked like new at 100k miles. You need to exercise the manual brakes occasionally!

 

[ChrisO]

I do the neutral brake scrub once every day on a decent hill towards a traffic light on the way to work. I never did this on my 2014 Chevy Volt that used regen most of the time for stopping. The calipers eventually froze on the slide pins from lack of use and eventually wore the inner brake pads to metal even though the outer pads looked like new at 100k miles. You need to exercise the manual brakes occasionally!

What you need is more rude drivers, so you have to slam on your brakes more.

 

[bwunder]

Thanks everyone for the replies. My Mach-E only goes on the Highway and City streets. I can definitely Hear them grinding I will take a pic of the Score this evening. I will also try the Neutral Brake Scrub as well.
I bought it 8/2024, it is definitely still under warranty.

 

[CuttingEdgeMedia]

Hi All, I had the same thing on my 2021 SR, they didn't say anything about this when I traded it in and now the same thing in my 2023 ER... etched rotors on the rear... (42,000km). I drive to and from a ski hill with lots of sand, gravel, slush, etc. and looks like some must have gotten between the pad and the rotor... Before I start doing some serious brake scrubs (didn't know about this), is there a way to try and remove some of the debris first or should I just scrub away and hope it disintegrates the debris? Thoughts would be appreciated...

 

[Teslaeata]

Find some very quiet road, preferably a downhill road. Get some speed, put shifter in N and brake to near zero without trying to lock any wheels. Do a few times. If brakes works fine after that then its no problem. The shift to N part is important as it completely disables regen.

There is no need to replace rotors because they dont look new. If it is within spec and its working its fine. Scratches and uneven surface in the rotor will just result in the oposite in the pads.

All my brakes are original with 220 000km/140 000 miles, and I can't understand why someone would need to replace rotors with 1/10 of that. My brakes was recently checked by ford deaker and all that needs to be replaced soon, but not yet, is the rear pads meaning the rotors should last another 140 000 miles

Noway’s advice is bang on

The “grinding” sound is usually due to a slight build up of corrosion on braking surface which builds up whilst car’s stood idle especially after washing.

That the disc/rotors don’t look new, and scoring is visible is not necessarily detrimental, and if brakes are still efficient, no need to go changing parts wholesale.

Mine’s had a score since early days, for last c80,000 miles dealer’s been telling me
Rear pads wearing and I’m at 124,000 miles now so on that basis should last 200,000 miles

Just have car serviced on time and ensure dealer provides measurements of friction linings & discs/rotors to be compared with attached specified minimum limits……

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