Brakes

[BAD2500HD]

Hi , i have a 2003 GMC 2500HD ext. cab 4x4 , whats up with the brakes on these trucks ? i had to have at 18,000 miles the rear brake rotors and pads replaced . the dealer i take my truck to said he had never seen rotors and pads so bad ! now i don't ride my brakes or jump on them fast etc. but now at just over 22,000 the front are shot ! is this normal ? in all the years i have hardly ever had to replace rotors and pads like this , but what eats at me is the fact that i had a appointment with the dealer to have the brakes up front checked out when they did my oil change now this appointment was made about two weeks earlier . they checked my brakes and came back and said that they really needed to be replaced but that they could not do it under warranty since mine had ran out on the brakes oct.16 and the day that i had my truck in was the 21st . i think that since i had made this appointment two weeks earlier that GM should have done the work i also can not believe that the brakes should have worn this fast. what do you think ? and is it true what i have been hearing that if you get 15,000 to 20,000 on these brakes your doing good . Thank You

[GM-Tech]

We don't see that kind of wear here. I know that there are some issues with the rear (right mostly) if you drive off-road or on dirt roads. We don't have those conditions here in S. Florida, so I don't know what to tell ya.

[lrymal]

My 2003 Z71 extended cab had horrible brakes. HORRIBLE. By design, they were HORRIBLE. So bad were they that the design was scrapped and totally redesigned starting with the '05 model on the 1/2 ton, with an over-sized front disk, and a commercial grade rear drum. Best stopping truck I have ever had---my '05. I have had my '05 for nearly a year and it still STOPS like a truck SHOULD.

 

But, on my '03, I gave up on the dealer and GM's solution of constant rotor and pad replacements. I replaced all four rotors with PowerSlots, and all the pads with Performance Friction. The difference was simply incredible. The truck STOPPED instead of ''oh-my-gawd, PLEASE-stop''.

 

And there are other brands out there which are just as good or better than what I used.

 

Anyway, that was my personal experience with my 2003 Z71.

[willfxp]

I have a 01 Z71. I bought it at 60k miles. It has about 110k miles on it now. I go off roading a lot (atleast once a month for about 50-100 miles). I go through mud a lot. I have never replaced the rotors or pads (knock on wood). Only time I ever have a problem is braking through wet mud. I figure that's normal since they're not drilled or slotted to let the mud out easily.

[H2OG0]

I too had to replace both front/rear rotors. Found out that the rear wear bad, due to the backing plate trapping mud,dirt rocks.

[silverado3500]

If I remember this was an especially bad problem up north with the road salt/grim getting caught up in there.

[ohiok5]

i have a 02 silverado 2wd, at 22000 miles all 4 breaks were grinding. i took it in and under warranty they replaced the pads rotors and calipers. the problem with mine was the calipers were not sliding correctly and only 1 side of each wheel had any breaks at all. talk about scary stopping.