Impressions on SRT Engineers Brake Response

[Rambit]

Just wondering what everyone thought about the answers the SRT team gave us regarding the brake issues. For me, I took it as lip service and found it to be of no use at all. Again they responded with the performance characteristics remarks which does nothing to address this. At least this time the Mopar Wheel Cleaner one wasn't used. What's next for us to do? Back to sending e-mail to who ever that guy was?

Rambit

[mcalbala]

Originally Posted by Rambit

Just wondering what everyone thought about the answers the SRT team gave us regarding the brake issues. For me, I took it as lip service and found it to be of no use at all. Again they responded with the performance characteristics remarks which does nothing to address this. At least this time the Mopar Wheel Cleaner one wasn't used. What's next for us to do? Back to sending e-mail to who ever that guy was?

Rambit

You are absolutely right - that was avoiding the question altogether, they did worse than not answering the question by trying to minimize the issue.

[marnepup]

Look, DCX isn't stupid. They read the forums. They had a pretty good idea what the questions were gonna be, right? I mean, at least the ones that really matter. I'm sure the engineers got briefed to spit out a canned response, verbatim, on the issues relating to the new pads. Why? Well, I remember someone in the forums remarking that DCX can't afford to fix them twice, and that being the reason that they were taking so long to produce a fix in the first place. And if either an engineer screwed up or a bean counter cheaped out, resulting in an "improvement" that covers them legally, but doesn't make us happy...well, they're not going to dump millions into a second fix. And if that's the case, they're going to be unequivocal about it. Whatever the party mantra is regarding the difference between our ideal fix and the fix they've released....well, anyone stepping out of line on their side, and leaving room for the interpretation that more is possible, will be crushed harder than Speckler was.

Here's what I think:

1. Dust: They don't care, never will.

2. Squeal: This new pad is supposed to fix it...right?

3. Premature Rotor Wear:
-Will this new pad reduce the percentage of cars that experience this?
-If the number of people reporting this is small enough, they'll try to call it "abuse" and void the warranty.
-Even if the number of people reporting it is large enough that they can't entirely ignoe it, it would take a class action suit to get a second fix. Good luck with that

[SRT8C]

I dont think they answered that question properly at all.
If they are using high performance and great stopping abilities as a cause of the excessive dust then as you guys say here alot "they are smoking something good".

There are many cars out there that stop way better than the SRT8 and you dont see any dust after many miles of driving. I think they know the problem and they either cant pin point the cause (ie what compund is causing it) or they dont want to spend more money to fix it. Yes there is a TSB but as it mentions its for the squeal(even this isnt garenteed as a fix), but what about the dust or even worse the grooving. The AMG cars dont have this issue, Prosche I think is one of the best stopping cars doesnt have this issue.

I am just trying to blow off some steam here, first time I see a huge auto maker use such a lame excuse.

[ResumeSpeed]

Originally Posted by SRTengineers

...however, there are studies underway with brake pad material suppliers for future improvements. These may be several years away.

Looks like they are right on top of it, they should have the pad issues fixed when the 2009-2010 models come out. Add another year or so to work out any new "dust mites" and all should be good for the 2011 model year...

[CUEBALL]

I thought they sidestepped most if not all questions with standard corporate "talking points". Not that we didn't expect that since they don't own the company, but it would be nice to let them speak and do what they wanted.
I don't think that the brake issue will be fixed by DCX since to them it is not a real issue. Keep fighting the fight.

[glhs837]

Guys, if I were in your shoes, and most likely, I will be come next summer, I would completely blow off the dust and squeal. I would focus exclusively on the grooving issue. It needs to quantified, miles driven, number and depth of grooving measured, etc. Lets face it, the other two are noise and dust. But the grooving is a hard, measuarble fact. And, given a recent case I know of, NOT acceptable in a car with 3000 miles. No combination of pads should cause that.


AS far as many cars stopping better, not true, dust, grooving and all, the braking performance of these cars IS world class.

[marnepup]

There are many cars out there that stop way better than the SRT8 and you dont see any dust after many miles of driving.

Do those cars weigh 4200lbs? I know the porshes don't...

I'm not saying that we can't get similar performance from a less dusty pad...but I am saying that comparing our car to a sports car thaw weighs half as much isn't going to get you very far...better off comparing to a maybach or a bentley.

Or just pony up for the big brake kit

[stevesrt8]

corporate politics being what they are, I am sure the SRT boys had a carefully prepared script, probably from Dan Bodene. Obvious liability issues here, they are scared to death to change anything that isn't truly a problem. And their definition of "problem" is different than ours!

In the low volume world of extremely high performance production cars it is not unusual to experience some glitches in your performance envelope. I am extremely satisfied with the braking performance of my CSRT8, it is truly astounding that a car of this size can stop shorter than many so-called sports cars.

I remain disappointed that DCX is not releasing a ceramic pad for us. But the fact remains that it is not truly a defect but more of an annoyance. The bottom line is the cars stop EXTREMELY well when compared with any car, big or small!


Steve
06 CSRT8
all stock all original
everything but DVD
waiting for...

[DenverSRT8]

Originally Posted by stevesrt8

corporate politics being what they are, I am sure the SRT boys had a carefully prepared script, probably from Dan Bodene. Obvious liability issues here, they are scared to death to change anything that isn't truly a problem. And their definition of "problem" is different than ours!

In the low volume world of extremely high performance production cars it is not unusual to experience some glitches in your performance envelope. I am extremely satisfied with the braking performance of my CSRT8, it is truly astounding that a car of this size can stop shorter than many so-called sports cars.

I remain disappointed that DCX is not releasing a ceramic pad for us. But the fact remains that it is not truly a defect but more of an annoyance. The bottom line is the cars stop EXTREMELY well when compared with any car, big or small!


Steve
06 CSRT8
all stock all original
everything but DVD
waiting for...

They built these cars to perform well. They didn't need to sacrifice reliability and reasonable maintenance costs. They've done a half assed job on the brakes. I agree that they stop the car very well, but none of us have enough miles on our cars to fully appreciate what a pain the rotor grooving is going to be in the intermediate term (30K - 40K miles). I was extremely disappointed that the DCX engineers ignored the grooving problem completely. Given their response -- and the grooving I'm seeing on my front rotors -- I'm going to have to plan to replace them in August or so. It ain't gonna be cheap. This is the only really substantive issue I have with my car. I sure would have been happier with a little more customer satisfaction-focused response.