All of my previous cars have been old enough to not have a manufacturers warranty - so I just used local mechanics to do the servicing/repairs. I took my DS4 to the local DS service centre (Arnold Clark in Glasgow, Scotland) and was prepared for some higher pricing, but wow - £440 to replace rear brake discs and pads - which are obviously not under the extended warranty that I have.
[There was some grinding/rubbing noise on the rear wheels which was there whether or not I was braking - and the rear discs were badly scored so I already expected they needed replacing.]
However, on the plus side the experience has been ok - online check-in to provide details of fault, SMS updates telling me the car is now being looked at and then a video report of the inspection and recommended work and parts options, and approval to do the work. I guess that may be fairly standard for most manufacturers - but certainly different from my previous mechanic in the the village.
I did also ask them to check the aircon as it seems a bit weak and inconsistent in the cabin, and they did say that the air con compressor was noisy and possibly faulty (which I had heard, but wasn’t really sure if normal or not). A replacement part for that was ££££ (but also not available to do immediately), so I am now waiting to hear if that is covered under the warranty. They also spotted that a pollen air filter cover in drivers footwell was missing - I wondered what that bit of plastic was that I found - so they did a pretty thorough job of looking.
I’ve had a few DS 4 courtesy cars over the last 12 months as my DS4 E Tense has visited the service department countless times, almost every one of the courtesy cars has had a grinding/rubbing noise from the rear discs.
At £440 to replace the pads & discs I just hope thats not next to go on my car.
In my opinion the A/C on the DS is probably the weakest (in regards to getting cold) out of all the cars I’ve owned over the years, and theres been a lot.
Little tip, I think its relevant.
I may be right*, the rear brakes are possibly load sensitive**, so my theory is that you have not been carrying heavy loads in the back, two rear passengers is classed as heavy.
Please tell me I’m right again, would like to show the wife!
*According to the wife I have been once or twice in 35+ years.
** Early front wheel drive cars had load sensitive rear brakes to be to stop the backend skidding this making the car spin, when empty under hard braking.
Thanks - so the rubbing sound may in fact be normal, I could only hear it with the windows down. Never heard of load sensitive brakes, which I presume means there is some slight braking applied to rear when there is no weight in rear (which is normal for me). I’ll see if my wife is ok with sitting in the back in future.
The discs were fairly well scored, so definitely needing changed at some point. Tyres and brakes are what keep you safe - so I won’t cut corners on those.
The air con, yes I read that it is pretty weak, but we had periods where it would change from blowing cooled air into cabin to the air not having any cooling (and in manual, temp set to Low), so suspected some fault - but not that much of a problem especially this time of year. When I used pre-conditioning for the first time a few weeks ago, there was quite a lot of noise from the engine bay when it was on (and engine off).
My DS definitely does NOT have this rubbing sound from the brakes, if it did I would be having it looked at.
I very rarely have rear passengers, I can only think of two occasions in the last 12 months where some has sat in the rear.
Before I bought my car new, I had a demo for 5 days, there was no brake noise, if it did have any noise and I was told it was “normal” I certainly wouldn’t of ordered a new DS4 at almost £46000 .
The noise I’ve heard on the courtesy cars that I’ve driven since, are always the same cars each time, I think there’s either 2 or 3 that I’ve heard it on.
My neighbour has a DS4 also, but no noise when they drive past the house.
Just an update, the replacement of the rear discs and pads has fixed the rubbing sound that was coming from both rear wheels, and more importantly the braking feels like it is improved (even though rear brakes don’t do as much as the front brakes).
