rhone182

yes im about to put a 3rd set of breaks on the cobalt ss. its only got 59000 miles

ChevyChase

Just filed the complaint, though I should have done it a long time ago. Bought the car in July 2011. The rear brakes were already grinding. I was so upset. 28,000 miles. Seriously? That's a bit ridiculous.

sponge14

It doesn't matter, GM will tell you to **** off brakes are not their problem even though they designed a defective system. Only way you get something done is to have good luck with a dealership that will be on your side, other than that you're SOL.

ChevyChase

Hahaha I will tell GM to **** themselves also! ***holes

AARON-SS-TC

iTrader: (3)

My car has 40k miles, and last night i heard the brakes grinding like a ****..plus the e-brake never works properly either...

strazdice

iTrader: (1)

Is there a aftermarket rear caliber set out there? Does anyone know? Or different calibers that will work from another vehicle?

mightymouse1975

somewhere in this thread,someone said they did it and fixed the problem. i went on o'reily site and they claim to have rear calipers for roughly $100-$130 a pieace.

mightymouse1975

so if they replace calipers,this will fix it?? i noticed on my right rear,my rotor is pretty bad,but the left is fine. i only had the car for 3 weeks now and put 400 mi on it.

DocSvensk

Howdy,

I went to my local GM garage and asked about the rear brakes. Immediately received a bunch of head about how rotors aren't covered by the GM warranty. The only thing about brakes that I see in the warranty booklet are that brake pads and linings aren't covered. I called the GM Customer Assistance Center and started a case regarding my 2010 Cobalt SS rear brakes grinding.
Mechanics inspected the brakes and, of course, the rear brakes are almost worn to metal to metal. I heard the grinding about 2 weeks after buying the Cobalt SS in late January. The car had less that 17000 miles on it!
I'm waiting to hear back from the Customer Assistance Center about the final decision about warranty coverage. Last news was that the local garage is not going to do any work on the rear brakes under a warranty fee. I'm supposed to drive back to the dealership (> 1 hour away) where I purchased the car and ask them to help out!? I'm a patient man, but I'm starting to understand how Job felt.
I filed a complaint with NHTSA. It does not appear that many of the Cobalt SS owners have filed complaints.
GM warranty is an oxymoron.

Eurasianman

Interesting. They replaced my rear pads and resurfaced my rotors the first time (thinking it would fix my e-brake not working). The second time, they replaced the rear brake calipers and pads I believe (e-brake works great now). All under warranty.

Spuds27

My first set of rear rotors were shot by 20,000 mi. gm did replace them for free but charged me $100 for pads. too bad my e brake hasnt worked since then. still searching for an aftermarket set that isnt a big brake kit

emiller

Why didn't you go back and tell them to do it right?

sponge14

See this is the **** that pissed me off to no end about GM and GM customer service. This whole rear brake mess that they created gets fixed by some dealerships but not at others. Why the hell do I need to shop around dealerships to get something that is CLEARLY a GM defect fixed!?!? Why did I waste my time with GM customer service, only to have them tell me, sorry we can't do **** for you because we have to go by what the dealership said.... You mean you are going on the word of the dealership that just lied about the real issue behind my brakes going bad prematurely????

On top of that, all of us with the EXACT same problem are still not good enough proof that there is a problem with the rear brakes. I mean, what % of owners need to complain about the same damn thing for them to issue a recall!! I mean, I can see why they refuse to do a recall, it's not like the brakes are a possible safety issue or anything... No, it's because they can easily deny that there is even a problem to begin with because "brakes are a wear item." Yeah, they are a wear item, BUT NOT WHEN THEY WEAR UNEVENLY!!! There is no way in hell we should be replacing rear brakes 2, sometimes 3 times BEFORE THE FRONTS NEED TO BE TOUCHED!

emiller

Mine didn't wear unequally.

You really want GM to send a person out to every single dealer to personally inspect the car to decide if they cover or not? There is a reason nobody does it. You would be waiting forever and it would cost them a fortune which means at somepoint its going to cost you a fortune.

sponge14

No I want GM to cover the rear brakes when there are dozens of people on a low production car with the same issue.

victoryredturbalt

i had to fight with my dealer, new calipers, new rotors, new pads. Then they followed with < we will not ever replace again at our cost. I told em to lube the slide pin and i would never b back, guess what i never have been lmao. frickin dealers. im glad i was one of the forefathers so to speak with this issue, now its done. Dealers r douches, for the most part.

victoryredturbalt

pull ur rear cup holder off, under it should b two cables. these two cables attach to the ebrake . I would inspect that first. then if not that i would check where the cables connect to the rear calipers.

Eurasianman

Heh. I'm now dealing with GM on the driver and passenger door rubbing against the frame at the top of the doors. They fixed the driver side, but the passenger side still rubs and they bent the door out and it looks like crap. Talked to 3 different departments of GM and they told me there is nothing they can do, so I called the BBB. I'll let you know what the outcome is, but that's for a different thread.

ipod

I have to adjust my e brake every 5 k miles kinda sucks but I feel that the dealerships make matters worst ill do it my self

geagle01

Mine does the same thing! Thought it was just my car.

DocSvensk

Thanks to all of you who wrote on this thread. You helped me keep pushing GM and their dealerships.
The bottomline is that after 2 months of talking to GM Customer Assistance (ha!), the dealership where I purchased the car, and the dealership where I was trying to get the car serviced, GM told me that there was nothing I could do about getting the rear rotors fixed under warranty. They said that the Chevy dealership in Cicero had diagnosed the problem as normal rotor wear and that all I had left was to take the car to another dealership/garage to have it re-diagnosed. If they diagnosed the rotor wear as excessive, I could resubmit a request to Customer Assistance.
I had finally given up and decided to pay for new rotors instead of driving around and potentially causing further damage to the brake system. I chose to try a dealership close to work and was running a brake pad special (ACDelco Professional DuraStop Ceramic pads). So I set up an appointment with East Syracuse Chevrolet. I dropped the car off and, just for the hell of it, I told them that I thought that rotors should not wear out at less than 18,000 miles. They said that they'd look at the rotors and let me know what needed to be done.
An hour later, they call and tell me that they can turn the rotors and that it's covered under warranty! The other dealership in Cicero wanted $347 for new rotors and installation. To turn the rotors, they wanted $320!! WTF! I won't be going there again. (Another comment on the price-gouging at this service center in the thread "Reliable GM Stage 1 upgrade for LNF in CNY.")
So, East Syracuse Chevrolet turned rear rotors and they are as smooth as a baby's behind. I'm hoping that the ceramic pads won't eat the rotors like the OE pads. Someone on this thread had mentioned that the dealerships vary greatly in being practical and working with their clients.
Thanks to all of you for your insight into dealing with GM and its dealerships. I'm glad I listened to you.

TY8425

Where do I file the complaint ?

SS SCHGD

both of mine were fine, and the one we kept has been fine too. only changed the rears once in 80k miles. thats not to bad with the way the wife brakes.

DocSvensk

The link to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in the first entry of this thread (i.e., page 1). The link is repeated here: https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/ivoq/
There appear to be about 250 complaints about the rear brakes on the 2008-2010 Cobalt SS turbo. Most of the complaints are filed under brake hydraulics due to a limited set of categories to choose from. However, when you read the complaints, they appear to be the old scored rear rotors saga familiar to most of us.
Based on the input from Chevy Cobalt SS blog sites, there are many more owners who
simply gave in and paid for the brake repair by themselves, without filing an
NHTSA complaint. Given the small number of Chevrolet Cobalt SS Turbo coupes and
sedans that were made, it is clear that there is a problem with the particular
rear brake rotors on the 2008-2010 Chevrolet Cobalt SS turbo vehicles. Given the small number of Cobalt SS vehicles made, it is unlikely that the NHTSA
will ever issue a recall on this vehicle nor does GM seem to desire to fix the
brake problem for Cobalt SS Turbo owners.
You have to find a decent, responsible GM garage to get your problems fixed under warranty. Otherwise, you'll need to find a great garage and forget about the warranty.
Good luck.

dragonsprayer

Well add me too, i add my vin at 10,000 miles my car almost rolled in my lake out front after i ran real quick to talk to my neighbor it was running. i was late for work app. started rolling backwards when i hopped out.

I had run back and jump in, one leg - scary! i could not find dam brake half in and out!@

Car has been stored for most of a year only 2000 miles since last winter/fall. 12,000 miles now just from the dealer for the ebrake.

Dealer told me the Ebrake was adjusted wrong from the start and not too worry! haha. I figure the rear inner pad is almost gone - bit?

like i said i own 6 GM's, i am bring it back and having the pads and rotors checked. PERHAPS: mine has better pads or the issue improved as it was made in jan 2010 one of the last. For $20k new after $4k in rebates i had too have it!

we just bough a sonic 2012 for my daugher
i bought regal turbo last sept
i own 6 gms.

I figured i wait and brake (break it in)it in until i install the stage 1 plus a kn and factory tune. Advice needed on this too. Now i feel this issue should be addressed. I bought a 2010 on of the last ones in june 10.

Dealer never told me about the warranty on new stage one is 100k not 12k.

I just did a $1200 brake job on my 150k trail blazer - new bearings/seals on diff and rotor/drum combo, brake backers, shoes and pads. what a chit design the axle is removed too fix it. i did it right and did the diff seals too - i got done for $800-900 lots of mechanics in NWI (indiana near chicago).

2 yrs ago my diff blew up on my 1996 yukon my fault for going 90 in light rain too florida? $3k over heat and blew intake gasket years ago - blew again on the same trp. hey you ever see a wheel stick out 2 feet out of a truck! not pretty - diff exploded.

After 2 decades of all GM's, i thinking of going back to yodas! 2 celics, supra, turbo supra, corolla and crappy 4 runner that rust out doors 2-3 yrs old got in fight with yoda went to gm.

owned 2 caddies - love caddies

now:

1996 yukon since 1998
2002 saturn sport - special car - beat too crap 100k my sons now (traded a 2000 caddy sts they did not believe me) until i showed it too them! blacked out. Good old days making money!
2004 trail blazer - stay away! 150k, bought wiht 100k got my $8k out of it - bought with my cobalt so i got a good deal. until fixing it!
2010 cobalt SS victory red stock and perfect (bald front tires at 12k)
2011 regal got 24k in 9 months blast even with the auto for the wife - detuned LNF
2012 1.8 manual sonic great car for under $15k daugther gets 38 mpg combinrf


excuse my poor grammer and typing your eyes go at 50!

my TB is for sale for my cobalt parts and upgrades stage1, air cleaner, rotors and pads on the front. The rear i am not sure what too due? advice?

The SS gets 25k banging the gears and redlining it - i guess i live with new pads every 12-15k?

NOTE: pre bankruptcy cars are not/ do not have to be serviced by warranty, if GM does they do not have too. july 09 and newer i think are the only ones warrantied. Only cars after they emerfed from obamaizing.
stay away from things line the impala SS with known issues and that trailblazer a lot of issues. Best of luck with your pre 06-09 SS's!

thx for the great site!@

da dragon!