Car is a 2017 Hyundai Elantra.

So a few days ago after quite a lot of research I bought a set of replacement parts for my car’s front brakes. Rotors, pads, and the included hardware. Cleaned everything, checked that pins were lubricated, and proceeded to replace most of it. All of the bolts and wheel lugs were torqued to the middle of their respective torque ranges. Pumped the brakes when I got back in, checked fluid, did some light braking around the neighborhood to ensure they worked, then went down the road a bit faster and tested the brakes a bit more.

After the slightly harder brake test the passenger’s side brake rotor was making some light but nearly constant grinding noises and some of the brake lube was smoking off. I drove less than a mile listening to the car the entire time and braking as little as possible while I got home.

I jacked the car back up and inspected the brakes on both sides again and could not find any visible issues, anything seated incorrectly, etc. Everything matched up with what I referenced it with on various installation videos. (Also I’ve changed brakes on previous cars, just not this one.) I still tore it back down and inspected the parts before putting it back together again.

Anyway, my question is this. I gave up and brought my car to Firestone (they suck, I know) and they said blah blah, the rotor was not seated correctly or was slightly off somehow and they will either take it all back apart, check everything and reassemble it. The guy said he recommended replacing the parts or they can’t warranty anything. I didn’t expect a warranty anyways and these are nearly the most expensive, brand new pads and rotors I could find online for my car, which have been used for less than a mile and have no visible damage in any way upon my second teardown and inspection at home. There’s no grooves or extreme heat marks or anything, the only visual was the small amount of smoke which I assume was from this “uneven/misaligned pressure” and the fresh brake lube that was on there burning off.

They are just trying to upsell me or avoid a warranty, right? There’s literally no way I could’ve damaged anything that much in a mile of driving. I told them to just work with what I had and get it fixed for the MUCH lower amount. I assume this is the more correct decision in my case?