2003 Sierra Brakes

[sc4808]

My 03 Sierra RCSB 4x4 has a tad over 160,000 miles on the original front brakes, and they still have some more life left in them, I have never had a set of front brake pads last so long in my life.

 

Now a couple of disclaimers:

 

The truck has a lot of "interstate miles" which is the best case scenerio for brake longevity but it also has spent a huge amount of time in the swamps (MUD) of SC as well so that kinda evens things out. Not to mention a huge amout of towing.

 

Before anyone makes a comment about the brakes being changed without my knowledge, I bought the truck new and I am the only one that has ever worked on it, Period.

 

I did replace the rear disc pads at 120,000 miles.

 

These trucks have the best brakes of any vehicle that I have ever owned, Kudos to GM.

 

Has anyone else had this kind of service from the brakes on a GM truck, or any vehicle for that matter?

 

[MS3DALE]

The last time my old '99 K1500 was in the shop here the guy had almost 160,000 miles on it,and it also still had the original front brake pads on it!!!

I had to put new rear pads and rotors on it around 65,000 miles,the right-rear inner pad was wore down to nothing,the other three still had plenty of meat on them!!

I also had to put new front rotors on it around 75,000 miles.

Never had to do anything to my '04,but it only had 29,000 miles on it when I traded it for my current '07.

[sonjaab]

I haven't put a set of pads/shoes on any of my vehicles in a long time.

Even my trucks that I use to snowplow or tow never needed any brake

attention in the 30k miles I put on them till I traded them.....................

 

Now my dad on the other hand had 4 sets of pads/rotors in his 02 s-10

in 20k miles !!!!!!!!!!!! His 05 Dakota has had 2 sets and needs another

set at 32k miles! Hes smoked several sets out of moms Cadillac too!

But to be fair.......He does ride the brakes and swears he is just "resting"

his foot on the brake pedal and NOT pressing on it !

 

He claims GM and Mopar use cheap pads and rotors! LOL!!!!!!!!!!!

[KMGZ400]

the front and rear rotors on my 2003 suburban lasted 120k miles and the front pads lasted 90k... gmt800 trucks have awesome brakes stock imo

[c4cruiser]

Whatever the GM engineers came up with in terms of pad material and design, they all deserve medals! I traded my '99 Silverado when it had 77K on the clock and the front pads still had 50% left and the rotors looked like new. The rear pads and rotors looked even better.

 

If this level of quality was carried on to the GMT900 trucks, some brake parts manufacturers are going to have trouble with their profit margins.

[jro909]

ac delco parts rock man, plain and simple

[stormrider]

Whatever the GM engineers came up with in terms of pad material and design, they all deserve medals! I traded my '99 Silverado when it had 77K on the clock and the front pads still had 50% left and the rotors looked like new. The rear pads and rotors looked even better.

 

If this level of quality was carried on to the GMT900 trucks, some brake parts manufacturers are going to have trouble with their profit margins.

 

I can tell you from my experience the "level of quality" has not carried over to the GMT900/

I just replaced my front, and rear pads and front rotors.

The pads fell apart in pieces when removed and the rotors were "moderately pitted" (words of the mechanic).

My 08 has 18,000 miles on it and mostly highway driving. My 04 Colorado had 72,000 and the pads / rotors were in great shape when I traded it in on this one.

Mechanic says he was not surprised as he is doing this to a lot of GM trucks anywhere from 17,000 up to 25,000 miles

 

I did not put OEM stuff on as a replacement

[KMGZ400]

ac delco parts rock man, plain and simple

 

 

haha true except for the alternators

[sc4808]

Whatever the GM engineers came up with in terms of pad material and design, they all deserve medals! I traded my '99 Silverado when it had 77K on the clock and the front pads still had 50% left and the rotors looked like new. The rear pads and rotors looked even better.

 

If this level of quality was carried on to the GMT900 trucks, some brake parts manufacturers are going to have trouble with their profit margins.

 

I can tell you from my experience the "level of quality" has not carried over to the GMT900/

I just replaced my front, and rear pads and front rotors.

The pads fell apart in pieces when removed and the rotors were "moderately pitted" (words of the mechanic).

My 08 has 18,000 miles on it and mostly highway driving. My 04 Colorado had 72,000 and the pads / rotors were in great shape when I traded it in on this one.

Mechanic says he was not surprised as he is doing this to a lot of GM trucks anywhere from 17,000 up to 25,000 miles

 

I did not put OEM stuff on as a replacement

 

 

My 08 has 45,000 miles on it so and I have not even looked at the brakes, I guess I need to do so before too long.

[C. Charles Hahn]

ac delco parts rock man, plain and simple

 

 

haha true except for the alternators

 

 

Alternators are Delphi parts anyway

[c4cruiser]

Whatever the GM engineers came up with in terms of pad material and design, they all deserve medals! I traded my '99 Silverado when it had 77K on the clock and the front pads still had 50% left and the rotors looked like new. The rear pads and rotors looked even better.

 

If this level of quality was carried on to the GMT900 trucks, some brake parts manufacturers are going to have trouble with their profit margins.

 

I can tell you from my experience the "level of quality" has not carried over to the GMT900/

I just replaced my front, and rear pads and front rotors.

The pads fell apart in pieces when removed and the rotors were "moderately pitted" (words of the mechanic).

My 08 has 18,000 miles on it and mostly highway driving. My 04 Colorado had 72,000 and the pads / rotors were in great shape when I traded it in on this one.

Mechanic says he was not surprised as he is doing this to a lot of GM trucks anywhere from 17,000 up to 25,000 miles

 

I did not put OEM stuff on as a replacement

 

 

My 08 only has 13K on it but I have done some towing since I bought it and sometimes I'm pretty hard on the brakes in street driving. The rotors still look like new and there doesn't appear to be any more than 10% pad wear so far on either the front or rear pads.

[jblakeney]

My 03 Sierra RCSB 4x4 has a tad over 160,000 miles on the original front brakes, and they still have some more life left in them, I have never had a set of front brake pads last so long in my life.

 

Now a couple of disclaimers:

 

The truck has a lot of "interstate miles" which is the best case scenerio for brake longevity but it also has spent a huge amount of time in the swamps (MUD) of SC as well so that kinda evens things out. Not to mention a huge amout of towing.

 

Before anyone makes a comment about the brakes being changed without my knowledge, I bought the truck new and I am the only one that has ever worked on it, Period.

 

I did replace the rear disc pads at 120,000 miles.

 

These trucks have the best brakes of any vehicle that I have ever owned, Kudos to GM.

 

Has anyone else had this kind of service from the brakes on a GM truck, or any vehicle for that matter?

 

 

The last time my old '99 K1500 was in the shop here the guy had almost 160,000 miles on it,and it also still had the original front brake pads on it!!!

I had to put new rear pads and rotors on it around 65,000 miles,the right-rear inner pad was wore down to nothing,the other three still had plenty of meat on them!!

I also had to put new front rotors on it around 75,000 miles.

Never had to do anything to my '04,but it only had 29,000 miles on it when I traded it for my current '07.

 

 

the front and rear rotors on my 2003 suburban lasted 120k miles and the front pads lasted 90k... gmt800 trucks have awesome brakes stock imo

 

I have 177k on my 01 2500 4wd. Never has had the pads changed. I bought the truck in 05. Truck was serviced at the local Chevy dealer. I sell parts to the service and parts department at that dealership. The service manager hooked me up with the records on the truck after I bought it. The bulk of the stuff on the records the receipt was gave to me when I bought the truck. I use this truck to; tow hay with in the summer and pull tractors from place to place. Now, I do say I have 2x 10k axles with brakes on the trailer. I have been amazed that they are still hanging in their. Last Time I had it apart and sanded the rotors and pads the fronts had like 4 or 5mm of pad left and the rear was just a bit worse but not to the wear squealers.

 

I had the brakes changed on my 1999 when I purchased it in 2001 at the same dealership (got it kicked in the deal with the purchase) all the way around. Rotors were warped pretty bad and the E-brake did not work. The guy that had the truck before me likes to pat the brakes.... That was at 31k, I changed the fronts again at 75k due to squealing and rears about 100k squealing, then again at 16xk when I changed all the brake hoses. Pads were never that bad I changed them anyways as well as either turned or replaced the rotors.

 

Jbo

 

Edit: The GM edge code is still on the pads on the 01 2500..... Providing somebody else on here knows about edge codes.

[stormrider]

Whatever the GM engineers came up with in terms of pad material and design, they all deserve medals! I traded my '99 Silverado when it had 77K on the clock and the front pads still had 50% left and the rotors looked like new. The rear pads and rotors looked even better.

 

If this level of quality was carried on to the GMT900 trucks, some brake parts manufacturers are going to have trouble with their profit margins.

 

I can tell you from my experience the "level of quality" has not carried over to the GMT900/

I just replaced my front, and rear pads and front rotors.

The pads fell apart in pieces when removed and the rotors were "moderately pitted" (words of the mechanic).

My 08 has 18,000 miles on it and mostly highway driving. My 04 Colorado had 72,000 and the pads / rotors were in great shape when I traded it in on this one.

Mechanic says he was not surprised as he is doing this to a lot of GM trucks anywhere from 17,000 up to 25,000 miles

 

I did not put OEM stuff on as a replacement

 

 

My 08 only has 13K on it but I have done some towing since I bought it and sometimes I'm pretty hard on the brakes in street driving. The rotors still look like new and there doesn't appear to be any more than 10% pad wear so far on either the front or rear pads.

 

 

mine "just" passed inspection back in November. The dealer told me to bring it in in six months for a check because he was almost certian I would have to have new shoes put on. It was my first annual inspection after buying the truck. And yes I bought it new.

[TOTALRECALL]

 

From previous brake discussions I think it really depends on where your truck is located - somewhat real winter or no snow easy. See the picture of my 2002 at about 30,000 miles for the front brakes. Rear locked up at 44,000 miles due to rotted calipers.

 

As they say, your milage may vary - oh yes the rear backing plates for the discs that attach to the axle flange are also well rusted away on my truck - but still holding. Truck spent a year or two in NH before I bought it down in the DC area - mild winters until this year. Rest of the truck looks good, but the brakes are the worst.

 

Mike

[MarkD]

My 03 went 107k miles before I smoked all of my brakes trying to stop a "too-heavy" load.