Rear brake rotors and pads, shot and in need of replacing with under 25K.

joseywales · June 14, 2022

I was stunned to find out, after bringing my 2019 AT4 into the shop due to shaking under braking, that I was going to need brand new rotors and brake pads. My vehicle has less than 25,000 miles on it, I've never once towed anything and it's all highway miles with no aggressive driving.

Having avoided domestic (U.S.) vehicles for just such reasons for decades I have to ask, is this a common occurrence? Do any other Sierra owners have this same issue?

Having migrated from a Toyota 4Runner over to my Sierra, I can say that I never ONCE had any issues with the Toyota. It just flat out did its thing, day in and day out, without issue. Having my Sierra now for 3 years I cannot say the same. Granted, the issues haven't been huge, but the quantity speaks volumes to me. This latest one, with the rotors and pads is truly a headscratcher. I'd love to hear if any other 2019 Sierra owners have had the same fate.

Regards,

joseywales

1997SierraSLT · June 14, 2022

That’s quite a downgrade. My condolences. Welcome to the life of GM ownership.

swathdiver · June 14, 2022

Highly unusual Josey. It is not unheard of to get over 100K on a set of pads. My rears went 121K and the fronts went 75K.

Edited July 1, 2022 by swathdiver

eppieguy · June 14, 2022

Yeah, something seems odd there, I'm lifted running bigger E Tires so a lot of extra weight there and my fronts and rears have tons of pad left. I've got 33k of a lot of stop and go traffic on my way to work, highway speeds but with a lot of traffic lights so I'm using my brakes a lot.

Gangly · June 14, 2022

Something isn't right for sure. I have 60K on mine and I have somewhere between 70-80% life left on my rear pads, but then again I do A LOT of highway miles so my brakes don't see heavy usage..

joseywales · June 14, 2022

It is certainly evident that my experience is an anomaly (just my luck!). And GM would likely balk at this being a warranty item due to it being a wearable, consumable item (despite it having under 25,000 miles with no history of towing and 95% highway miles). I know that it's not a high dollar repair, but it's the principle of it all!

ChrisR2021 · June 15, 2022

I had a similar thing happen on a 2002 Sierria. My problem was caused from road salt corroding away the rivites that held the pads to the backing plates.

SVG · June 15, 2022

I'd bring the issue up the next time your in the dealership. If you don't ask the answer is always no.

Z45 · June 15, 2022

Brake wear can almost always be the results of how the vehicle is driven. We had 6 trucks on our region DOT GPS team. One guy always had brake problems no matter the brand of truck he got assigned, be it a Furd or Dudge, he needed brakes within a year and 25,000 miles. No one else had those issues. My truck went to auction after 4 yrs and 125,000 miles and only had one brake job at 80,000 miles. His truck was a carbon copy of mine and his needed brakes 4 times and they always had to replace everything. I rode with him one time, one foot on the gas and the other foot on the brake. Of course he blame the vehicle.

joseywales · June 15, 2022

For what it's worth, I've never towed anything, never driven aggressively (on either acceleration or braking) so the driving style must be ruled out. The infotainment display still shows 96% Front and 97% Rear brake pad health.

I'm stumped. I'll be curious to hear what the mechanic has to say upon pulling things apart. Maybe it's just the rotors? The rear rotors are all grooved and clearly not right. I do live in northeastern Wisconsin, so perhaps road salt played a role (but I did routinely take it through the carwash ever since I got it in June 2019), not sure.

At the end of the day it just sucks. I posted this originally not because I was knocking GMC but rather to see if this problem was a known condition. Apparently it is not, so thank you all very much for the replies.

Kindest Regards,

joseywales

GMCustomerService · June 17, 2022

On 6/13/2022 at 11:41 PM, joseywales said:

I was stunned to find out, after bringing my 2019 AT4 into the shop due to shaking under braking, that I was going to need brand new rotors and brake pads. My vehicle has less than 25,000 miles on it, I've never once towed anything and it's all highway miles with no aggressive driving.

Having avoided domestic (U.S.) vehicles for just such reasons for decades I have to ask, is this a common occurrence? Do any other Sierra owners have this same issue?

Having migrated from a Toyota 4Runner over to my Sierra, I can say that I never ONCE had any issues with the Toyota. It just flat out did its thing, day in and day out, without issue. Having my Sierra now for 3 years I cannot say the same. Granted, the issues haven't been huge, but the quantity speaks volumes to me. This latest one, with the rotors and pads is truly a headscratcher. I'd love to hear if any other 2019 Sierra owners have had the same fate.

Regards,

joseywales

This is certainly not what we like to hear, joseywales. Please know, customer satisfaction is extremely important to us. Our team would be more than happy to take a closer look into the concerns with your 2019 AT4. To do so, please send an email to [email protected] with ATTN: joseywales/GM Trucks in the subject line.

Please include your contact information, VIN, a brief description of your concern, and the name of your preferred dealership. We look forward to hearing from you. To learn more about GM’s privacy policy, please visit https://www.gm.com/privacy-statement.html.

Privacy Statement | General Motors
Your privacy is important to General Motors. This Privacy Statement addresses the personal information GM collects and how GM handles that personal information.
www.gm.com

joseywales · June 18, 2022

How great to hear from GM! Message sent with the requested info, thank you for such awesome customer service!

joseywales · June 21, 2022

@GMCustomerService Sent, for the second time, the requested information. Still awaiting a response. Time is of the essence as I had already made arrangements to have the brake rotor and pad service done, so if you're going to step up and cover this expense I need to know.

Please advise. Thank you again for the initial reply.

Kindest Regards,

joseywales

Edited June 21, 2022 by joseywales

eppieguy · June 21, 2022

11 hours ago, joseywales said:

@GMCustomerService Sent, for the second time, the requested information. Still awaiting a response. Time is of the essence as I had already made arrangements to have the brake rotor and pad service done, so if you're going to step up and cover this expense I need to know.

Please advise. Thank you again for the initial reply.

Kindest Regards,

joseywales

Don't waste your time, they post on all of the GM sites and 9 times out of 10 do nothing for you.

BIGDOGx · June 21, 2022

5 hours ago, eppieguy said:

Don't waste your time, they post on all of the GM sites and 9 times out of 10 do nothing for you.

Yeah i wouldn't hold my breath waiting for reply. The best they can probably do is maybe help you schedule an appointment for your dealer to look at it. As for covering the pads, if your past your 3 years and 36k i can almost no doubt tell you you will be on your own, brakes are a wear and tear item and unless it is obvious they prematurally failed, you will likely be on the hook.

I will say my brakes went over 7 years and 50,000 miles before my mechanic had me replace the fronts, back pads are still original. So you either have an issue or you drive with a heavy gas and braking foot. Hard stops will cause rotors to warp imo or prolonged foot on the pedal type use.