brake sticker shock

jhm · June 28, 2004

Took my '01 with 37k on it for a routine oil change at the dealer. he calls me in to show me the rear brake squealer is getting close to the disc, he says not a lot of pad left. Then comes the shocker, he says usually when they pull the parking brake off it is all corroded inside and the discs they put on the trucks now dont allow for hardly any machining, so I will probably need new discs, pads,parking break shoes and counting labor, the bill will be about $850.00!!!! Just for rear brakes, is this guy out of his mind or what???

ness5575 · June 28, 2004

37k is pretty early for the pads to be worn out. I got 82k out of my rear - at which point I changed just the pads (cost me $150ish to do it myself) as the rotors were still fine. my front are all original at 102k. i looked at the fronts just last week and they have lots of meat left on them.

woyster_00z71 · June 28, 2004

I just did the rear brakes on my 2000 Silverado about 2 weeks ago...83k on the original pads so I can't complain. The passenger rear inside brake pad was worn down to metal against metal. I pulled it all apart, had the rotors turned for $8 a piece, and replaced the brake pads for $50 and now the 'rado stops good as new. As for the e-brake, I don't worry about that anymore since I found a place that doesn't check the e-brake when they do the state inspections. It didn't hold when I bought the truck and even after replacing the e-brake pads it still won't hold. It is a faulty design but GM won't admit to it and do anything about it.

Anyway, $850 is outrageous. You can do it yourself in a couple of hours and less than $100 easy! Just another reason to call 'em the stealer!!!

jhm · June 28, 2004

When he showed me the metal squealer, it did look close to the disc, about .150 away. The pads looked pretty good to me. I use to do all maintanace/repairs myself, since I owned my first vehicle in the early 70's, guess I will start again. I wonder if they can screw with the squeler to make it look worse than it is. I know one thing, they wont be replacing my brakes!

snoman · June 28, 2004

The squealer is tuff to mess with so I doubt they did. You did not mention where you live but rear brakes take the worst beating from the elements and I still personally question the logic of rear disc brakes in salted areas as every thing is exposed. My 2000 K3500 that I use for snow removal has rear drums and I like it that way. While it is true that they ae not immune to the elements, they do tolerate them better in the back of a vehical because they are somewhat enclosed. I can not really comment on the hardware they say is bad but is you are in a salty environment is it possible.

jhm · June 28, 2004

Ilive in New England. They didnt pull the rotors off so they dont know the p brake shoes are shot or not, but he says usuall they are. The p brake holds great, no problem with it yet. I'm wondering if I can just replace the pads and leavt the rotors alone, the side he showed me had a little corrosion type stuff on the edge, but the rotor itself was smooth. Anything special about doing this job?

sonjaab · June 28, 2004

JM.......The parking brake assembly is rivited together. When the

tech tries to take it off it BREAKS !!!!!!!!!!

Esp. in snow and ice country !

Most techs won't even try and ya gotta buy ALL new spendy goodies !

GM is having major problems with rear discs AGAIN ! Remember the

late 80s early 90s Beretta/Corsicas with rear discs ?

Snow, Ice, and rust messing everything up so GM switched back to

drums and retrofitted those cars with drums !

My cousin had one of those...................

I see rumors on some GM truck sites that GM is going back to drums !

.........geo

AlanW · June 28, 2004

jhm....If your parking brake works fine-definitely don't mess with it. Since you say the rotors feel good, just replace the brake pads, it is very, very easy to just replace the pads on the rear. I just did my rear 2000 Sierra pads at 80,000 miles.

You might take some wet/dry sandpaper and wet sand the rotor surface just to remove the glaze that forms on them. The hardest part is jacking up the vehicle and removing the tires, then just remove the two small bolts that hold the caliper assembly on, remove old pads, push the caliper piston back into the housing with a C-clamp, install the new pads, place the caliper back over the rotor and re-install the two bolts.

Be advised the pads only go on one way, there is a definite top & bottom to them, if you get them in the caliper wrong, you can't get the caliper assembly to fit back on the bracket that holds it. Just be sure to remember exactly how the old ones were in there before you remove them.

jhm · June 28, 2004

Yes Alan, everything looks and works fine, the pads are just getting thin, I do lots more local than hiway, like 80/20 so that is probably why they are thin at 37k. Definately does not make sense to start replacing p brake parts when they work fine. Then these dealers wonder why they arent trusted. Thanks for the info!

woyster_00z71 · June 28, 2004

One other thing I noticed when I did mine. The caliper slide bolts were dry and had no lubrication whatsoever. I think this is what caused the one pad on the one side to wear out and the other three still be decent. So while you are in there and have everything apart check the caliper slide bolts and give them some lubrication.

AZ-Z71 · June 28, 2004

107,500 on mine and still kicking. Pads look almost like new. Was getting nervous because I heard so many saying they were changing them around 37,000.

I guess I just don't use the brakes much. Who needs stinking brakes!!!!

At this rate I don't care if I pay a little extra to get factory orininals when it comes to the rotors and the pads. Seems to hold up excellent for me out here. They are expensive, I think like $200 on the rotors and $200 or something for the pads. (Of course this is only for the rear) I had it all written down one day because I just wanted to know and I think the total price for fronts and rears including hubs/rotors and pads was like $800 - $850 for the parts. Labor = D.I.Y. (going off what little memory I have)

snoman · June 28, 2004

Yes Alan, everything looks and works fine, the pads are just getting thin, I do lots more local than hiway, like 80/20 so that is probably why they are thin at 37k. Definately does not make sense to start replacing p brake parts when they work fine. Then these dealers wonder why they arent trusted. Thanks for the info!

Based on what has been said here I would tend to say just replace pads and run it. Uneven pad wear is actually more common than even pad wear most of the time that I have seen anyway.