well i took my 8 in last week for the recalls, inspection, and the ugraded pads which were covered under warranty. so when i get the car back, everything is fine and the new pads are great. no squeal and stop great. well today, i noticed that i was getting a slight grinding noise from my left front wheel. well, it quickly got worse so i parked to check out what was wrong. turns out the upper slider pin for the caliper was missing!!! the caliper was cocked upwards and the top of the caliper was grinding away at the inside of the wheel. now i'm pretty pissed about this cause one, with all the stress on that one slider pin it could broke at any time and MAY have caused an accident for whatever reason. second, my freakin wheel is all messed up now and the top of the caliper is scratched. i know that it prob didn't damage the caliper, but i'm pretty anal bout anything that's messed up on the car. well, i called john kennedy mazda at conshocken, pa but the service dept was closed. now i'm not trying to knock kennedy mazda but because of their incompetent technician, i'm left with a damaged wheel and without a car to drive. i'm going to call again first thing in the morning and tell them to replace my wheel, slider pins, and caliper. caliper may be a long shot but considering what could have happened if the other slider pin failed, i'd say that it would be the least of their concern. any suggestions from anyone about this situation? am i asking for too much? not enough???

things like this make me hate warranty guidelines. I usually do all the work on my car except for warranty work. if i had an option, i would have just taken the upgraded the pads and installed them myself. ok, i'm done venting. any advice is appreciated.

You seem much calmer than most people would be. You could have gotten into a real bad accident, which could have hidden the dealership incompetence. It will take more than a day to fix this (parts). So if you can go to the dealership in person and speak with the Owner / GM or service department Mgr. Underscore how badly this could have been and how lucky the dealership is to only be on the hook for a rental car, wheel, & brake parts. If they offer you anything less leave and call Mazda USA. Be sure to also re-check every part the first tech could have touched.

well has anyone else experienced this prob?? i DOUBT it would be a common prob or it would have been a recall already. i dunno why but i've been having terrible luck with the 8. i mean i love the car and i never had any major problems but it's just stupid stuff like this that piss me off. dealerships suck...just my 2 cents. I know the ins and out of it since i worked at one for a while.