Rear brakes lasting 22k miles????

[AbzDad]

Anyone else have issues with the factory brake pads and parking brake shoes not lasting?

 

2024 Sierra 2500HD with 22k miles. I was checking my brake life monitor and saw the rear life was 30%, yet the front was 80%. Pulled my rear tires and sure enough, less than 1/8th inch of pad left on the outside pads, both sides. Of course, not covered under warranty....at 22k miles  Parking brake shoes were rusted off the backing plate. I have never seen factory rear pads only last 22k. On my last 2500 both front and rear lasted 80k+ miles.

 

For a $90k+ truck, I would have expected brakes to last at least 80k. Cheap brakes on a 3/4 ton? Come on.

 

 

[davester]

what is the truck doing?  launching boat's into the ocean every day?  those look very rusty for being just 2 years old.

 

I would consider it may be the conditions the vehicle operates in, that rust/corrosion are causing those to fail/wear out so quickly (pads,say because the caliper pins don't slide as easily as they should anymore)...

[AbzDad]

That's the thing. It has never been near the ocean or any boat launch...ever. I don't own a boat. I use it to tow my dump trailer or my camper, but only in the summer. I live in NH, but the truck is rarely driven in the winter and garaged year round.

 

The caliper pins all looked fine. I greased them up and put them back in. Replaced the rotors, pads and parking brake shoes. Both sides.

[newdude]

Looks about right for a salt state.  We do them here in NY all the time. 

 

Gotta open everything up once a year and clean and lubricate everything.  

 

Also something to consider with high rear brake wear on these is your tongue weight and trailer gain settings.  We've seen trucks that drive non stop that eat rear brakes with heavy trailers.  

Edited December 22, 2025 by newdude

[Chuck FB]

That is a horrible mess and I don't like the sounds of that because of being an HD owner and that same part brake setup. I am speculating that whenever that salt water from a winter road did get onto the parking brake, being in a heated garage I presume and what few times you did use it during the winter, the water getting behind the pad bonding rust jacked the friction material right off of the backing shoe assemblies. And the worn pads, what do the inside pads of both sides look like as are they much much thicker ?. By any chance was this truck driven from one dealership to another during the winter as a new dealer trade or a demo truck, something that took place before you even bought the truck.  

 

What puzzles me is that you had a prior truck and it had much better brake life. Is it something different they are spreading on the roads now or your wheel offset different ( non factory wheels ) or for example no running boards that hang down at all times or say extended front mud flaps you may have had on the other truck. Where I am there is salt used everywhere and calcium chloride used in some locations and vehicles rust out but haven't seen that sort of a mess so soon but I know that typically rear disc brakes do not last as long as the older style drum brakes that were a lot more protected from the crap flying back there. 

 

Speaking of brake life I had asked a retired guy from Canada that has his own little youtube channel and drives a 2022 Chev gas 1 ton dually with a full size camper and for the last while an enclosed trailer with a fancy side by side in it and he has close to 60000 miles on the truck and his brake life front and rear is showing 85%. He tries not to drive it on winter roads but its probably been on a bit of wintery roads. The difference is he is driving it consistently as lets say a vehicle that sits for months and had some salt on a rotor, it will rust up the rotor surface and that will cause the rotor to eat at the pad material until the rotor gets down to bare metal again.  

[Pryme]

My front and rear are at like 95% or close to it still on my 2022 but only 17k miles. Easy miles. But I’m also in a salt filled crappy Midwest state. 

[rjgvt]

I have a little over 25k miles and will be 2 years old in January. Brakes are 78% front, 90% rear. Truck is my daily driver and our roads are salted a lot during our VT winters. 

[AbzDad]

Thanks for all the input! I don't drive it much in the winter, I work from home and have a second vehicle. So it rarely, if ever, sees a drive on a wet, salty road. I do drive it on the dry days. Maybe I don't drive it enough? But still doesn't explain why my 2015... driven the same way in the same region...had the origin pads/rotors/shoes at 80k. Same running boards as well. 

 

Inside pads were much thicker. About what I would expect at 22k. Rotors weren't too rusty on the outside, but parking brake side was. I had to hammer one side off because the brake material had come off and was binding up. 

 

I am going to keep a close eye on it and see if they wear fast again. I would think my brakes would last as long as the tires, which have more than 50% left.

[Chuck FB]

Its a bit hard to tell from the photos but does look like the rotor pad surfaces were rusting but then the pads grinding that off but the rust is deep enough that the pitting is left behind and I can see the imprint of the pad on the outer side of the rotor and that always shows up when there is rust happening each time the vehicle gets parked and see that ghosting of the imprint. But like you say the vehicle isn't set up differently then your prior truck and used similarly. Even though you drive it only when the road surface is dry, there is a very good chance that the salt dust is being kicked up and enough of it getting on the components. I wonder if the caliper system is slightly different and even though it seemed free floating, that it reacts a little different then the calipers on the prior truck on the side that was worn. Oh and the other thing, are you using adaptive cruise on this truck where perhaps you never had that on your other truck ?.

 

I was curious where you sourced your new parts, was it from GM or a less pricey aftermarket supplier. Also since I have not had reason to work on my brakes yet, did you go through some procedure to "retract for service" and not sure if one needs a two day diag tool for the parking brake or were you able to pull it apart without going through any procedure like that. 

[Z45]

Just sitting around will allow rust to form especially in the rust belt states, its even exposed to salt in the summer as residual salt is everywhere on the roads.  Problem we have in Michigan as well.  Use to have to R & R rotors/pads on my Mothers Chevy car frequently due to inactivity.  The rotors would form surface rust in a few days and that would eat away the pads and eventually the rotors would wear unevenly.    She put on 7,500 miles in 10 yrs.

Edited December 23, 2025 by Z45

[AbzDad]

I don't use the adaptive cruise control.

 

It seemed odd that both outside pads were normal and both inside pads were thin. Makes me think a caliper issue, but both sides? 

 

I ended up getting the Powerstop Z36 Truck & Tow pads/rotors from Rockauto. Regular coated rotors, not the drilled/slotted rotors. Ceramic pads. Parking brake shoes were OEM. Hoping that they last longer then the OEM pads/rotors.

 

The parking brake shoes were just like any other parking brake. I just used a brake spoon to turn the adjuster back in all the way. No special procedure to change the shoes. There are three springs, two on the top and one on the bottom by the adjuster. The one on the top in the back, is a pain to get on/off. There was no special reset needed on the dash.

 

Pads and rotors were a breeze. The caliper bolts are some crazy torque, needed a breaker bar to get them loose. Other than that, nothing special. After I changed the pads/rotors, I started the truck and pumped up the brakes. The truck recognized it had new rear pads and reset the monitor. There is only one "pad sensor", it is on the driver's side. It clips into the pad (you can see it in my first pic). You have to get a new sensor each time you change the pads. It wears down with the pad. Hope that helps.

Edited December 23, 2025 by AbzDad

[AbzDad]

inner vs outer pads

[Chuck FB]

Sorry I misunderstood which side was worn down more, so its the inside pads that were the most worn and like you mentioned that is the side the sensor is on. I never had looked that up or thought to actually look at my truck and realize there is only one sensor per axle then I assume, but makes sense now that I think about it "front/rear" on the dash and definitely its only a slight guide for what actually is going on at all four corners of the vehicle brake issue wise. 

 

Over the years in working on brakes on vehicles ( all much older than what your working on ), more often then not one pad would wear more than the other and some pads are made to have less sweeping area of pad on one side of the caliper vs the other although it doesn't appear those are designed that way. So then its the back side of the rotor that I assume its hammer hits on to knock it loose where the more worn pads were riding on and it has a more ground in worn surface without what I called that pad ghosting, another words more metal worn away vs the outside rotor surface. This also demonstrates that issue around rotors on axles back from the steering axle that get all the crap flying at them from the front tires, they have a rough life unless its dry clean pavement the vehicle is always on. 

 

I've had it happen a few times with the same truck that on the front axle as it has rear brake drums, that the outer diameter face area of the "inside face" of the rotors would rust in so deeply into the material that chunks of the rotor were falling off of that side. The pad was not reaching right to the very outside edge diameter as brake pads rarely do and the salt and calcium would eat into that area of the rotor and then almost rust jack pieces of rotor fall off and once that happened a portion of the pad would be riding in the air as there was no rotor surface under it. Its all because of the crap spread on the roads, any farm trucks that never get used on the winter road have no issues like that at all and years ago before any salt was used ( before my time as an adult ), people had their rotors turned. Not any more as they are junk due to lack of extra material and the corrosion factor. But on that vehicle and with reman calipers etc a few times over it never failed that the inside pads always wore down sooner that the outside, for one thing more road crap was able to attack that inside face of the rotor. 

 

I wish I could get parts that made sense dollar wise from Rock Auto but that is a dead end as shipping and duty make it cost three times what it originally costs on the site. 

[AbzDad]

so the plot thickens on this one...

 

I replaced the rear brakes and took it out to "bed the brakes", per the instructions. Got back and parked it. Smelled brakes, but I expected that. 

 

Took it out for a 30-35 minute drive this weekend and the driver's side was hot. I checked the temp and it was well over 300 degrees at the rotor, at the caliper and the pads themselves. I checked the other 3 wheels (in the same spots) and all were under a 100 degrees. I jacked up the truck and the driver's side was dragging. 

 

I let it cooled down and tore the driver's side back apart. The only thing I could find was that there are two pistons in the caliper, but they do not extend the same amount. One extended and the other stayed in. I pushed the one that extended back in and put a clamp on it, pumped the brakes and the other piston extended (ok, not seized). Pushed the second piston back in and took the clamp off the first piston and pumped the brakes...only the first piston extended again. I checked the seals and tried swapping clamps 5-6 times with the same results...only one piston extends. I cleaned it all up and put it back together. Took the truck for a ride and checked the temp when I got back. This time all the brakes were right about the same temp.

 

With dual-piston calipers, I assumed that both pistons extend the same when the brakes are pushed. Why would only one piston extend? The piston is not seized. There is no visible issues on the piston or the seal. The line comes into the center of the caliper, so one piston is not closer then the other to the line. Seems odd. 

[davester]

piston can get jammed in the bore, maybe debris in caliper.  Both should extend/press w the same force on the pad when the caliper is working correctly.