Brake Problem

GasHog369 · July 1, 2009

So a little bit of info leading up to the initial problem...

Back in november last year i had my brake pads / rotors changed because the factory ones were squeeling and leaving tons of brake dust. I went to autozone, got duralast rotors and duralast gold ceramic pads... best ones they sell...

Had my mechanic who i have been going to 9 years , and parents been going to for 30, put them on... month of so later i notice tons of brake dust , both sides (this is front brakes only) and the rotor started scarring... fast forward jan / feb / march / april...... the pads have now cut into the rotos leaving gouges going around and brake dust to the extreme! The pads were worn fast. (keep in mind i only have 23k miles at this point or so...) So after fighting with autozone, i got them to give me $ back and i figured i'd buy good parts... '

Ordered power slot rotors , that have cryo coating... and hawk performance ceramic pads. Had my mechanic put them on and all was good for a month / half approx....

Fast forward to earlier this week, (i now have apporx 27k miles) I was driving on thruway going to work and notice my pass side front smoking , and strong brake pad smell, i get to work , and sure enough , the pad has a stream of smoke coming from it. So i call my mechanic right away , he says sounds like caliper hung up , gets me in on tue.. Yesterday they look at it and cant duplicate prob. took it out for ride , all good, broguth it back in , wheel off , checked out , took back out , braking , good , not pulling , brought it in... checked, claimed that grease prob fell on rotor from the caliper and thats the prob... so it was cleaned off, and now all good... i picked it up, brought home, its warm but not smoking or hot... so i fig, all good....

This morn, i drive to work, its fine , no smoking , no xtreme heat! Now this afternoon , driving and i can smell it again! So i got home , and rotor was so hot to point that you could stand a foot away and feel the heat like a halogen bulb was next to your skin! and a stream of smoke again! So now im lost... truck is just out of warranty as of may 12 , only has 27k on it tho....

They cant duplicate prob. but still sounds like caliper is hanging up! Any help greatly appreciated!

Alljackedup408 · July 2, 2009

my advice is to flush the fluid.. its probably boiled now... and to put a new caliper on it and go from there.

GasHog369 · July 2, 2009

do u think it would be best to replace both front calipers since i did have somewhat of a similar problem at first with both rotors grinding a groove?

superjim · July 2, 2009

The calipers may be hanging up on the sliders.

You could try this before replacing them...

Remove the calioers...clean the sliders REALLY, REALLY good and lubricate with the PROPER high temperature grease.

If that doesn't help, maybe the calipers do need replacing.

Even if you do replace them...make sure that they can slide freely back and forth, otherwise you will still have the same problem.

GasHog369 · July 2, 2009

when i took it back to them other day , they said they took it apart, inspected, drove it , took apart again , inspected , cleaned real well, regreased , made sure none was by caliper , and drove it and its wasnt hanging up.... it only happens sometimes....

Now one of the things i forgot to mention which makes me definately think its the caliper was today while driving the truck was pulling to the pass side... i know my alignment is good to, so its gotta be the caliper.

I think im jsut gonna have to have them re inspect lines / make sure fluid isnt boiled , (syrup) and if so , replace them... i dont want to go thru this anymore. ... thanx for your help all...

superjim · July 2, 2009

One more thing...it is kinda odd, but the rubber part of the brake line, that connects to the back of the caliper, can go bad.

I had one do that...many years ago.

I replaced darn near everything on the front brake system.

One day it just flat LOCKED UP the passenger side wheel when I got on the brakes.

I had to loosen the bleeder screw before I could drive it.

A little piece of rubber on the INSIDE of the line had came loose and was hanging down, inside the line, and acting like a one way check valve.

Replaced the rubber lines, bled the system and all was ok.

Alljackedup408 · July 2, 2009

yeah pulling indicates a stickin caliper if alignment is all good and the road is a decent road.

GasHog369 · July 10, 2009

Well the good news , to make it short.. they replaced the caliper , replaced fluid... Everything seems to work good now!

The bad news... (heres where my lengthy rant will be..)

They were supposed to do this on tue.. Which turned into thurs (today)... so i was down for this whole week pretty much from using my truck but from short stops.. didnt want to travel and heat it up...

anyway, I drop it off at 7:45 am The service writer goes to write it up and i contact the guy that talked to the ex owner guy of the other shop that got me in... i wanted to make sure this was indeed going to be covered as warranty work.. It was he said ,and they asked me if i was going to stay and wait , or come back later.. i said i would go get b-fast and do some running around w/ my mom, and i'd like to have it back by 12 if possible... (Didnt think it would take more than 4 hours..) so the service writer agrees.

Fast forward to about 10:30... i'm at home, got a automated call from dealership that my truck is done, i can p/u anytime.. So i was estatic!! I called my mom up, she picked me up again, and dropped me off.. I wait for couple min to talk w/ cashier / signout person... She directs me towards my service writer which says your "car" is not done yet...

Im like first of all its a fullsize truck...Second i just received a phone call that it was complete! She goes ok, no problem, we can book you for a diff appt.! Im like **** no, it needs to be done today! im on vacation this week and it has been ruined because of this damn caliper! so she says i will call you when it is complete...

so 12:00 rolls around, no call... 1pm no call! so i call her ask wtf is up , and she says they had to go to another dealer and p/u the caliper! I'm liek WTF they had since mon., when they knew i was coming in to get that caliper here, but no, wait till the last ****ing min. to get it ...

So fast forward 2:00 - 2:30 , i passed by , my truck still in same ****ing spot as thin am... Finally at 4:30, they call me and tell me its done!

So i go pick it up, and what do i first notice .... My truck sitting outside in parking lot unlocked! Then i get inside and the air was left on... (i did no have air on at 7:30 am when i dropped it off) , Then i notice radio was left on, and cd player was on.... (i was listening to radio this am, not cd...) So whichever jackass took my truck for a test drive to make sure caliper was good, was ****ing around more with stuff in my truck than driving it! And to top it all off , the train horn i got on there, the air gauge read @ 120psi.. when i dropped it off it was 132psi... so the jackass also was using that !

I was going to go inside , but thought if i do i will get taken out by police.... and they did do this for free (after warranty expired) so i am somewhat grateful ...

Finally i got home then, wanted to spend rest of day cleaning my truck real good, wash / clay bar / etc... Well as im washing the tires / wheels... i notice rub marks all over the tires , yes my couple month old BFG TA KO's! AND there are scratch marks on my center cap on wheels front and back, so the ****ing **** does not know how to drive and scrapped the wheel / tire on the lift ! I really want to go back and complain, but i dont know how long i can w/o yelling madshoot.gif

I guess i'll wait for the "satisfactory form" to arrive and i will copy and paste this rant to it...

BEWARE OF GILLOGLY CHEVROLET IN WEST SENECA NY! Sure they saved me $2-300 on caliper... etc... but prob cost me a couple years off my life with stress!

GasHog369 · August 3, 2009

The problem is back again... this time moved to the Driver side front caliper!

It seems like it only happens when i iam in a lot of stop / go traffic on the thruway .... Today it was just those conditions and i got home and the front drv caliper was hot along with the wheel, and the passenger side (the one the dealership replaced ) was the normal warm...

Other thing is now , the dealership that just replaced that one is getting shutdown by gm... for sales reasons... they are still continuing as a used car dealership but no new...

I am so fed up with the brakes on this truck! I got the truck just how i want it pretty much and it seems like the brakes keep f-ing with me!

bill190 · August 4, 2009

I started working on my own vehicles years ago when I took my new car to the dealer 3 times in a row for the same problem and they could not fix it. So I got myself a factory service manual and started reading... Fixed the problem in 30 minutes.

Also you have an advantage over a mechanic if you understand how everything works on your vehicle and are always driving it. You can take the time to read about how particular things work and *totally* understand what is going on. Then fix the problem.

I can spend hours reading the factory books on how this or that works. (Description of operation.)

One thing on your brake problem you may want to investigate/learn more about is some new vehicles have electronic "gizmos" which apply the brakes automatically!

This would be traction control gizmos or stability or auto-leveling gizmos. Basically if you are not getting traction on one tire, the computer might brake the opposite tire. Or if the vehicle is leaning one direction, a bit of quick braking on certain tires can level the vehicle. And of course ABS.

Then these things have computers which go by wheel speed. So tire size can come into play. And the size of the tires installed on the vehicle are what is programmed into these computers.

So if the above sticking caliper thing does not solve the problem, this would be something else to check into.

nathan60 · August 4, 2009

should have replaced calipers in sets my 2cts

GasHog369 · August 5, 2009

thats what i originally wanted done , both... they said only one can go bad and they change one all the time... so of course im the other 1% of times it dosent work out..

today on my way home it didnt heat up at all..... both wheels got warm but no where near the untouchable the drv side front was yesterday! so this only happens when im in stop and go traffic...