How Long Do Brakes last

ryan632 · February 20, 2004

i have a 99 silverado new body style ext cab z71 was woundering how many miles i can expect out of them vehicle has 89,600 miles on it bought it used

99silveradoz71 · February 20, 2004

Rear pads/rotors at 38 or 39k. The fronts were just done at 59k...though they probably had a little life left. Gotta love salt and our fine NE Ohio roads.

airbalancer · February 20, 2004

I had 145000km on my 2000 ls ext when I trade it in . Bought it new and never had a brake job.

I guess it depends on how and where you drive.

ness5575 · February 20, 2004

i got 82k out of my rear pads, still on the original fronts @ 93k. i drive in a lot of stop and go traffic too, so I would imagine that I would run thru pads a little quicker.

gmcjoe · February 20, 2004

I'm heavy on my brakes.

My OBS trucks, I had to replace front pads by 30K easy.

My 2000 GMC went 85K before I had to replace the pads. Great improvements on longevity and how easy the pads are to change.

Thanks GM

varmint2506 · February 20, 2004

72,000 on the GMC and I just put front pads on. The back looked like new.

sgiangregorio · February 20, 2004

Depends on how you drive. I have 33,000 miles on my initial set, and they still look new. I do 80 miles/day on the highway, so that has a lot to do with it.

Sierra54 · February 20, 2004

Went 90k on the front pads and rotors and 110k on the rear.

With milage like this it was easy to justify replacing them with AC Delco.

gmcjoe · February 21, 2004

Went 90k on the front pads and rotors and 110k on the rear.

With milage like this it was easy to justify replacing them with AC Delco.

I agree - I went with the best available bendix pads and have a squealing problem.

I have heard raybestos is good too.

dubbs · February 25, 2004

did the rear at 80k, the rotors were all rusted and the pads were about 25-30% left. The front i have not replaced yet, but i did turn the front rotors because they were all rusty to but the pads are at 75-80% left, just make sure you service both and you should be OK.

Nick99Chevy · February 25, 2004

I did the rears at 85K, the fronts are still good at 108K.

ness5575 · February 25, 2004

does anyone have any thoughts on why some of us are wearing the fronts out first and others the rears? it seems almost 50/50 from the few responses here...

silverado4800 · February 25, 2004

I was forced to replace the back pads at 65,000. On one of them the material ripped of the pad, i guess all that powerbraking, just to much chevy power. Well at 65,000 they had over half of the material left, im sure they could have gone to over 150,000. The fronts all almost exactly the same, i would think they would wear a little more. Plus ive notice i never get brake dust, much better than my friends ford, his stock pads suck. I love these pads. To anyone who wants to know, i got some wagner thermoquiets to replace them, and i love them too, they seem just like stock.

JayMan · February 25, 2004

Rear pads/rotors at 38 or 39k. The fronts were just done at 59k...though they probably had a little life left. Gotta love salt and our fine NE Ohio roads.

If you read the Helm shop manual, you will discover that Ohio is part of the "rust belt" and more frequent disk brake servicing is required. Otherwise your caliper could stick and wear out the brake pucks.

At least once a year, you're supposed to pull the brake caliper and remove the caliper slide pins. If they're rusted and stuck in, you have a problem.

If you can get them out, GM cautions you can't clean heavily corroded caliper slide pins, but must replace them.

I also live in an area with heavy winter road salt application. Here is what I do: twice a year (Fall and Spring) I jack up the truck outside and take the wheels off. On safety stands, I then use water to rinse off the rotors and calipers good. Especially in Spring, you want all that salt off pronto.

Then use brake parts cleaner to clean them, this also assists in speeding the drying time of the brake assembly. I then take my calipers off and pull out the caliper slide pins.

You can carefully use a piece of heavy wire to suspend the caliper, you sure don't want the caliper to dangle from the brake hose. That's asking for trouble.

I clean the caliper slide pins in a parts washer and inspect them for corrosion, wear, etc. I then lube the caliper slide pin before putting everything back together.

I've had the best luck with LocTite Nickle Grade Anti Seize, and this is a product I use all the time in my shop to prevent rusting/seizing of fasteners. The recommended product just for disk brakes is Kleen Flo Ezy Slide, which is a silicone product.

Both are available at industrial and specialty supply houses.

My rear brakes were half worn at 62,000km / 37,000mi. The GM dealer wanted $50 for the set of rear axle pucks, so I thought that was a good price and replaced my rear pucks. My front pucks are still in pretty good shape, may have to change them next year.

Note: if you have problems with the front rotors rusting, GM does have a TSB that recommends a higher friction front puck. This puck is factory-installed on +2003 and fits all +1999 NBS trucks.