2015 DB9 bought it new … whenever I drive on rough road (even minor), I can hear clanking noise coming from brakes. I bought the car new and this noise started after annual service. AM service say they don’t hear anything that is not normal and give some sort of explanation which is hard to accept. I keep telling them that this started only after they worked on my car. After going back and forth, I had to contact AM and they sent their regional aftersales manager (who is no longer with them now). He acknowledged this noise and told me that he will work with the tech and have it taken care of. He did. But it came back. So I was suspecting their work. This time I went for a test drive with the tech and he did say that he can hear clanking noise coming from the brakes. He mentioned that they put some ‘TAPE’ last time and it has worn out and will replace that ‘TAPE’ (of all things for such an expensive car). It didn’t work out this time anyway and I had to drop off the car again. Now I was told that it is “same as any other DB9, noticeable but not intrusive”. For me this is not acceptable. I am waiting to talk with after sales director. That clanking noise is very annoying and can hear it even with radio on. Any thoughts or solutions for this?

I have to say this - the reason I am posting is to find a fix for the issues. I received a text message from the dealership saying I am making negative posts on them and it seems reading my posts everybody is against me at the dealership. I challenged him to point one post which is incorrect and I am only trying to find a solution for the issues. He didn’t have any and it seems he’s crazy busy but has lots of time to read my posts. I tried to buy DB9 from this dealership. It didn't go thru and I bought this from another dealership. I was talking with him about buying DB11 AMR or DBS or Tag Heuer Edition DBS. But expressed my concerns on their service. After receiving that text message, I decided not to buy from him and buy from another dealership or even get Ferrari.

 

I have never heard of brakes clanking on any car period. If a Honda doesn't do it, the for dam sure a exotic high end vehicle shouldn't.

Excuse me sir, but that clanking you hear coming from your brakes, well that is totally normal, its just metal parts shifting around and making noises as you move along. We can apply some duct tape to help prevent them from clanking, does that sound ok?

My issue is what happens with warranty runs out ---- will they still apply the tape whenever needed for free. Bet not, and then would charge 2-3 hours at $200+ to re-tape. If the brakes have an issue, then replace all calipers and pads and rotors. Issue solved. Let Brembo or AM NA warranty figure out what happened.

Dealerships and Aston themselves should be wary of forums or even put a representative on the forum to help mitigate bad publicity. Most of the time people speak only part of what is actually the truth and the one-sided posts can ruin reputations. They should show thier side when things happen.

I hope you saved that text message. The dealer is likely highly concerned at this point due the pressure of these threads, and AM NA being involved knowing the problems. I know for a fact the AM NA guys read these threads on this forum. Gaydon does also. I have known car guys who have had issues with other brands on 100k plus vehicles where even after 2 months after purchase the vehicle was in the shop 5 of the 8 weeks. Taken back 3 times for same issue, guy gives dealer a 3 out of 5 on a survey (Dealers have to have 5's or they get massively dinged). The Dealer actually called him and said dont come back, you gave us a bad survey, we wont work on your car under warranty any more. Things get ugly from there. Not a fun situation to deal with.

More later......

 

Maybe I shouldn't have taken my car to this dealership for service when I bought it from another dealership. The sales manager did make some objectionable comments when I first went there for service. Once they fix all the issues they created (brakes, seat covers, parcel area panels, window trim panel), I will never go there. They replaced obsidian black seat covers with graphite color seat covers with a huge hole ... how can they? They replaced window trim panel. It keeps popping out. Now they are saying they replaced clip and secured the panel 'best possible' ... 'best possible' ??? I told them it needs to be firm and not 'best possible'. I have to really appreciate help from after sales director. When he saw the seat covers he said they are not black, they are graphite. Parcel area panel - they keep BS'ing that it is hand made and stitching won't align (!!!!). But after sales director noticed that AM sent replacement parcel area panel with a totally different stitching pattern. Hats off to him for finding out these issues by just looking at them the very first time.

 

Sorry you are dealing with this. For high end vehicles when work is done especially under warranty it should be done right, and done right the first time. Tech should have immediately noticed the leather not matching and they should have never installed it. Same for the seat where the hole was poked for the setback button. Not lining up, well send AM pictures and have redone. 200k plus vehicle, I would have lost it on the service center. If I were paying $200 plus an hour for labor, they would have refunded all of my money for that kind of work. Unacceptable hands down no question. Any reasonable person would totally agree with that statement.

Not buying from them, and they make some type of comment or suggestion when you first bring it in for service? What kind of business is this? They should have gone the extra mile for you and treated like any other customer and hoped your next car would be purchased through them. AM NA should not allow customers to be treated like this no matter what. AMs are really great cars. Please dont let this one dealer ruin the experience. See what AM NA will do to keep you in the brand, I know you want a new DBS. Several members live 300+ miles from a dealer. Maybe post a thread asking "Who lives 250+ miles from a AM dealer". Then ask what they do for service, or warranty issues. See what others have been doing and then see what works for you. DImmit in Tampa and the AM in Atlanta are or seem to be fairly well talked about. So about 250 miles away or so for each.

 

Any chance a stone is stuck in the caliper or disc area?? I had that happen to me once. It sounded like metal clanking for sure. Got it out ... sound gone. Scary sound for sure! Hope you get it resolved!

 

No stones for sure. I can hear noise coming from all four. Never had this issue until annual service was done. There is another issue where we heard metal squeaking noise. See this thread https://www.6speedonline.com/forums/...e-driving.html

 

Is this more of a chatter noise or metallic rattle? If you have the 2015 DB9, it should be CCM brakes. The coupes don't hear brake noise as much but Volante versions do with top open. Your discs are 2 pieces, a center hat/hub and the carbon outer ring. The hat/hub is known to make a chatter/rattle and it's not a Aston known thing, it's a Carbon discs known thing. Meaning switching to Ferrari or even Porsche with the same style brakes will net the same noise from the braking system. Reason for the noise is the tension springs clamping the hat and outer ring together, they cannot solid fix both pieces together due to properties of heat..aka heat expansion. When these discs are cold/warm, they make chatter/rattle noises, when hot the chatter reduces.

There's a few ways to know where the noise is coming from. Drive the car till you hear the noise and can duplicate on demand.

Once you can trigger the noise on demand, these steps below are my usual diagnostics to see where the noise is coming from without the ability to install chassis ears.

• keep on the throttle and apply the brakes (double foot driving), do you still here the noise?
• If noise is still present, press the button on the parking brake and pull up on lever till you feel the throttle needing to be applied to maintain speed(keeping button pressed fully). Do you still hear the noise?
• If you still hear the noise, find an area that you can do near full lock turns that's a little bumpy. Do "near" full lock turn at a low speed, mainly fast as you can without wheels slipping, go 4-5 times in left direction then in right direction, did you hear the noise solo'd to 1 side?
• If noise is still present and not solo'd out in any of the above steps, the car will need to be fitted with a with set of chassis ears to pin-point the noise.

 

You are correct. My DB9 has Carbon Ceramic Brakes. Car is still with service. So I can't check now. I will not pick up the car until and unless after sales director tells me all issues have been taken care of. I am not buying 'this is a hand made car' excuse. My attorney is aware of the issues. I am hoping to resolve all the issues without going for a trial. Noise started off as a metallic rubbing noise. This started after annual service and windows adjustment was done. I felt that some shield is vibrating. Service found front torque tube heat shield contacting front engine undertray and repositioned heat shield for better clearance. But it didn’t stop. To my surprise, I found some screws in dummy seats in the rear. I had my suspicions if they left anything like that in hood and found a wrench on one of bolts in the hood. They claim to have best rated techs in the country. You can search threads started by me and can find pics of the same. Metallic rubbing noise can be heard loud and clear when driving on minor rough roads. They even had a person in the trunk and sent on drive to figure out from where the noise is coming. They removed muffler, exhaust, checked gas tank, welds and moldings. So they were taking apart the car. I suggested they contact AM. But they didn’t. When they put the parts back, the panels didn’t align. I have been complaining about this and they pretend they didn’t hear. After listening to them that all DB9s have this issue and other BS, I contacted AM. After few email exchanges and phone calls, AM Regional Aftersales Manager flew to the dealership and during test drive, he confirmed that noise is caused by brakes and he will work with the tech and fix it. He also confirmed wind noise coming from bottom of windshield on driver side. They worked on the car and when I picked up, I noticed the noise some times and not always. The rest is in this thread. My observation is metallic rubbing noise transformed into clanking noise. They claim this is normal with any other DB9. But my DB9 didn’t have this issue until they worked on my car. They pretend not to hear me. This makes me suspicious if I am not told the actual reason. The text message I received from their sales manager only strengthened my suspicions and making me think that I shouldn’t go to the dealership alone and should take security with me. Any issue, I report, they say this is a hand made car. They use the sentence ‘this is a hand made car’ as an excuse to not fix the issue. I keep telling them I expect perfection from an individually hand made car. They replaced parcel area twice. Now the parcel area doesn’t align with other panels. They have been BS’ing me that the panels are hand made and they won’t align. BUT, their after sale director found that stitching pattern on the replacement panel and other panels are totally different. So they won’t align. Out of respect, I don’t want to talk about the look on face of the person who ordered the panel and BS’ing that ‘this is a hand made car’. I was told that they ordered seat covers, cushions and parcel area panels again. Once they fix all these issues, I am not going there again … ever. Lastly I have to say that if not for SheriffDep, I wouldn’t be thinking about getting another AM. My concern remains ... if I get a new AM, who will service the car?

 

Sounds like the CCB system is causing the issues. However, @IRISH07@Velocityap not sure how its not there one day, then shows up after a service that possibly didn't even have anything to do with the brakes. Now, the dealer put TAPE on something, and it quietened down a bit or alot, then started back.

The "after sales director" Cuddapah keeps mentioning is the AM NA guy, not a dealer representative.

AM's are solid cars. Yes Ferrari and Lambo are making some major strides in getting thier cars reliable and easier to maintain, but AMs on the whole seem really good. Few wiggles here and there but nothing like ongoing return to dealership shops to repair same issue over and over. Largest issue is finding a factory authorized shop that can work on the new car if or when it may need warranty work. Plenty around without warranty, but obviously certain things should go to dealer and why pay for things out of warranty when AM should. So well see what AM NA suggests on this issue. They have to have something of a plan.

 

No, the "after sales director" is from the dealership.
"sales manager" who texted me that nobody like me at the dealership is also from the dealership.
"AM Regional Aftersales Manager" is the AM NA guy who is no longer with AM.

 

I know the men that retired as AM Regional ASM for east and also west coast, J.A for east and G.H for west. Either of those gentlemen would of likely had the dealer tech install iso shims to your pads (aka the tape you mention). The shims just stop the harmonic vibration from transferring between the pads and caliper pistons, which avoid transferring the noise further onward. I totally understand the frustration, I had been the middle man for 15 years. Keep us updated on when you receive the car back, if all has been resolved.

 

In my case it is G.H, who is no longer with AM. I bought this car new and didn't have this issue before. Is there any fix?

 

Depends on the actual noise and route of cause. The shims might of resolved the issue but might not of been the route cause, this fault returns. Are you able to get a good sound recording by slapping on a GoPro or similar near concerned area and duplicate noise?

 

I recorded the sound and sent to SA. He said he didn't hear anything / sounds like any other DB9. This noise wasn't there before.
I heard back from the dealership today. They test drove the car and didn't notice any brake noise. The tech has the car in air and trying to get the brakes make noise. But so far he couldn't. They will test drive again tomorrow. All these tests have been done before and it is when I contacted GH.

 

If you can send me the clip, I don't mind giving a 2nd opinion..