Took mine into the dealer yesterday they replaced both rear rotors and pads and cleaned and lubricated the calipers.

 

Let us know how they hold up; I'm making the stockers last as long as humanly possible but if the TC R1s are as solid as the SC versions were, I'll be making the switch when it's time . Did you go with the Hawk pads as well?

 

yes sir!

 

I went to the dealer today. They are replacing my rotors at no cost but had to order them, it'll take a few days to get them in. I purchased some Hawk pads that they will install. On a side note, they are replacing my boost gauge with one that reads in psi at no charge, since the factory installed one that reads in kpa. It's a nice dealership, they treat people right. Mileage 18,490.

 

I'm assuming your car was from Canada to have a boost guage in kpa??

Nice dealership. Mine wouldn't even diagnose my evap code under warranty unless I paid a "diagnostic charge" for them to "make sure its covered under the warranty".

 

No, it wasn't from CA., the dealership checked the vin. They said they received the car direct from the factory. The factory installed the wrong gauge. Sorry to here about your dealership, sounds like customer service is pretty bad.

 

Well, add me to the list of "these rear brakes were made in a sweatshop and need replacement far too prematurely." Put my summers back on Sunday, the passenger side is in somewhat decent shape both inbound and outbound, the driver's side the inbound pad has maybe 3mm remaining.

Total KMs on the car when brake service performed: 17,000 (10,500 miles)
Total KMs on the car when inspection revealed no pad: 19,000 (11,800 miles)

I've taken the approach of ordering the R1 slotted rotors and Hawk HPS for front and rear. The second they show up the stock pads and rotors front and rear are going and I'm doing another brake service. GM can say what they want there IS a problem with the stock pads and rotors on far too many TCs for this to be ignored.

Once the R1s are installed I'm taking my old parts into my dealership and ripping them a new one and will then be contacting GM Customer Support with this information as well. People have said after 5,000+ KM the R1s and Hawk HPS show no signs of scoring, uneven wear, squealing, etc. so my fingers are crossed .

 

I have a 2009 SS/TC and I only have 4500 kilometers or 2700 miles and have had a squeal coming from the passenger side rear wheel when braking for a little while now and I have a nice thick groove cut into the rotor on the outside. Looked at pads and both inners and outers look new still. I am 36 and do not race my car or beat on it and drive my 2001 Ford Explorer on bad days. I haven't even had to slam on my brakes yet to avoid anything so this is definitely a design flaw and will probably happen no matter how you drive.

Mine are so new I don't even have any rust starting yet

 

13k miles rear inner pads down to metal. Warrantied with little questioning. Asked if I drove with the Ebrake up and I tol him how as soon as it clicks once warning bells go off. He said "no prblem all covered" even got me an HHR rental car to drive in while I waited. Sunshine Chevrolet Fletcher NC. Good people too!

 

Thats a classic result of the slide pins not being lubricated. As someone else mentioned, it appears perhaps they are not sufficiently greased from the factory, or the boots do not seal in the grease/seal out contaminants well enough.

 

Correct. The problem is once you notice they're binding it's almost too late. In my case the inbound driver's side had taken an ass kicking before I noticed they were bound up so 3000km after being lubricated they're still in poor shape.

When swapping my wheels on the weekend I looked long and hard at the caliper and rotor to try to link the grooves in the rotors to the caliper but as far as I can tell there's no contact there. What I THINK happened is this:

1. The pads are wearing unevenly across the pad. I have more pad left on the trailing edge of the pad than the leading (when the wheels are spinning)
2. When I really pushed the brake in while it was up on jack stands the leading edge of the pad back plate was damned near in contact with the rotor. My guess is under speed and pressure it made contact which lead to the grooves returning almost immediately after being resurfaced. I have no better explanation. This is the case on both the driver and passenger side.

Lubricating the slide pins will definitely resolve a good portion of the problem as far as binding is concerned but you'll still need to keep on top of this. I'll still be lubricating them regularly even after I install my R1 Concept rotors and Hawk HPS pads because I'm sure they're still going to dry up and bind. That said, the stock pads don't wear evenly even across the pad, they hold onto WAY too much road trash and I think they're too agressive for the rotors themselves. All in all I'm severely pissed off at the quality of the pads GM chose for the rear of this car. Having to buy aftermarket rotors/pads at under 20,000km is inexcusable, but all in all it's a good excuse to go with a quality product like the R1s .

 

I'm pretty sure it's not the rotors, it's the pads, by process of elimination.

Me: Changed to Hawk HPS pads and R1Concepts rotors... no more scoring

Friend: Changed to Hawk HPS pads and machined/kept stock rotors... no more scoring

Tofu: Let dealer machine his stock rotors and put new stock pads on... more scoring

The only combo left possible is different rotors and aftermarket pads. It's probably the pads. They're just too aggressive of a compound. A warning comes on Hawk HP+ pads (the more agressive of their line) that they may cause scoring for instance.

 

man you're getting boned... the fact that there is a light at all isnt' good and it shouldn't be there... i'd argue that one... because anything should be covered under warranty up to a point. what's your mileage?

My rears are starting to show grooves in them... they aren't grinding yet but they don't look as good as the front rotors at all... i only have 16,000km on them... i wonder how much longer i can go without them grinding away to nothing and at what point will the dealership no longer replace them free of charge for being crap.

so they use a different compound on the front rotors then they do on the back ones? because my fronts don't score

ya i almost bought an SS/TC with the turbocharged badge on upside down.. i think alot of these cars were built on a friday afternoon...

 

Yes.

 

The car has 44,000 miles, so its out of the basic 3/36. However, its still under the 5/100 powertrain warranty and emissions warranty.

It has nothing to do with the quality of the pads or rotors. Neither is "crap". There is obviously an issue with the slide pins, and perhaps other factors, that are causing the rotors to groove.

 

Slide pins are resulting in the uneven wear and binding. Like I said in my previous post I'm convinced the rotors are too soft for the aggressive pads and there are no breaks in the pad or rotors to clear rocks, etc. so the rotors inevitably are becoming heavily grooved. So I guess I'm seeing two distinct problems:

1. The slide pins are dry from factory and seem to dry out awfully quickly even after being lubricated to hell during a service. Yearly "preventative" maintenance is normal, having to lubricate them heavily every 6 months seems out of the ordinary imo.
2. The rotors are grooving for primarily two reasons. The pads are very agressive and the rotors are not up to the task, a harder form of metal would likely resolve this. Second, the pads are solid as are the rotors so there is no means to dispell road gunk. If a small rock is embedded in the pads this would explain the grooving and with no means to eject it, it stays in there until the pad releases it.
3. The third item is the one I also pointed out in my previous post when inspecting the brakes on the weekend. It had to do with uneven wear from trailing to leading edge of the pad (likely a result of the initial binding I had and a slide pin issue) and the leading edge of the pad backing is likely contacting my rotor under heavy braking (hence why I only got more grooves when I had to stand on the brake) .

 

Good info. My rear brakes have been fine, but I'm going to re-grease the slide pins just to be sure they are sufficiently lubricated.

 

Thanks, hopefully yours hold up .

When the R1 Concepts and Hawk HPS show up I'll be installing them, going through the recommended bedding/break-in and then see how they behave as opposed to the stockers. I've decided to replace the pads on all 4 corners but will be saving my stock front pads which are not even half worn at this point. Only time will tell if these correct the issue with the rears, but my friend is also seeing a 2mm lip on his front rotors where the pads are digging into the rotor and warping it but the pads are holding up exceptionally well.

 

On my third set of pads and rotors on the rear. dealer said they wont replace them again and they are trashed again. 32,895 miles. front still looks great

 

Did they bother to lube the slide pins?

 

I agree i am done with GM till they get their act together. I have a 2007 SS S/C and its nothing but rattles and a huge expense. I hardly drive the car especially in the winder i have 43000kms and my brakes are starting to give a small grinding noise from the rear and i am never hard on my brakes...i downshift..A buddy of mine has a Madza 3 and he replaced his brakes for the first time at 70,000kms. This is upsetting i am giving the car back in a few months anyways i dont wanna pay for fn brakes when dont drive it much and i am giving it back anyways...I am probably gonna get a Mazda 3 the new ones are nice...and way better built too

 

Soooo maybe it's time to try a different pad

 

Make that 45

 

I have 2 of them....at 8000 and 12000 miles.

 

You know whats actually ironic about all that?? The Mazda 3 uses the same rear brake pads as the Cobalt SS T/C.

As for wanting to get rid of your car because the rear brake pads are worn out, that is completely ridiculous.

You aren't going to get a recall because the rear brakes have abnormal wear. There is no safety issue. The brakes do not fail, they simply wear out prematurely, partically due to insufficient lubrication of the slides, which can easily be addressed.

New Honda Accords are going through rear brakes in 15,000 miles due to a change in brake material and rear brake bias. You don't see Honda issueing a recall though, because its not a safety issue.