Good morning,

I bought a used Cobalt SS back in January with 27k miles on the car. Now that the weather is warming up my driving has changed a little and I feel this car doesnt want to stop for anything! I was think with the Brembos the car would stop better than my old 2002 GTI. I now have about 33k miles on the car. The pads seems ok. What can I do to the car that wont void the warranty?

What are the sizes of the front and rear rotors on the Cobalt SS? The GTI was 11.3 and 9.1 solid in the rear. I upgraded the lines, fluid and upgraded the brakes to the Audi TT 225 HP Brakes. Those were 12.3 up front, the rears went up to 10.1 vented with Brembo Rotors and Hawk Pads all around.

Any help or suggestions?

Thank you,

 

get the pads and rotors replaced... unless you really want aftermarket brakes for some reason... and i think youd feel it if the brakes were shot.. youd feel grinding when you hit the brakes and ****... unless your feeling that its something related but probobly not the pads and rotors.

 

R1Concept rotors + Hawk Pads. your welcome.

Stock brakes are good, except for the wearing characteristic.. did you check the rear INSIDE pad and rear INSide part of the rotor for scoring?

 

o wait uve gotta tc? idk the problems with them. i know that they hav some sortof brake issue but idk wat it is. my b

 

Just for reference when do most people change the brakes on these cars? On the GTI, the rears were changed every 40k or so. and the fronts were every 70k. I know that doesnt make sense but the brake bias was to the rear on the GTI.

I did NOT check the inside pads in the rear. Is this some type of knonw issue?

 

If your brakes aren't actually worn out, they may just be glazed over. Try doing a few VERY hard stops to clear off the pads.

 

read up on the tc brake problems. there was some sort of problem with them which i said already but idk wat he's talking about, check the INSIDE of the pads.. wat else would u be judging them looking ok from?.. the caliper? watever ha. but one thing he said that i would do it lay down behind ur car and infront and try to see the insides of the rotors. when i bought my car i took it home and the brakes felt like **** and the car had a warranty from the dealer so i brought it back and told em the rotors were pretty shot and the pads were to but the only way i noticed the rotors were was because the inside of the rotors were shot. but ive gotta sc. and like i said idk wat the issues were with the tc just know there was one.

 

yes, the rear brakes are known to stick due to not being lubed from the factory, causing only the inside pads to hit the rotor most of the time, causing the inner pads to wear out very quickly. When I changed my brakes at 21k miles, my outer pads had over 50% pad life left, and the inners were down to bare metal.

 

wow interesting at only 21k miles? I will schedule a service I guess and have them check everything.

 

Doing some hard stops once in awhile really helps the brake problems. The original rears lasted about 22k for me and they wore even. It just trashed the inside of both rotors. Still had about 50% left. I've got 48k now and the rears still look fine.

 

I got 17K out of the front pads, and 9K out of the rear pads/rotors. Replaced them with HPS pads, lasting much longer, but the factory pads (front) were much better than the HPS IMO.

 

Agreed, the factory pads are noticibly stronger than the HPS pads, both front and rear. The rear brakes are perfectly fine as long as they are properly lubed. Aftermarket rotors aren't a bad idea, at least in the rear, but if you want maximum stopping power and reliability, stick with smooth rotors. I've got drilled and slotted, and I wish I had gotten smooth rotors, I always worry about them cracking if I decide to do a track day. And wow, I can't believe your stock fronts only lasted 19k miles, you must have either been doing a lot of racing, or really been stomping on the brakes.

 

Just did my brakes all the way around this week. 39,000 miles.

Pads still had at least 50% life in them, all the way around, but my front rotors were glazed really bad, my brembo slide pins were heat seized, and my drivers rear caliper had a seized piston and torn boot.

I bought 4 rotors, 4 pads, 1 rear caliper, and 1 set of slide pins. Everything works flawlessly now, and my e-brake works on 4 clicks now, instead of the 8-10 it was at.

I don't normally drive my car hard, but twice a year I go to a charity run where we run sorta spirited. I got cut off in a no passing zone when I was going about 75 and had to stand on my brakes. The fronts were SMOKING, and that's when I glazed the rotors and probably heated up the pins too much too.

 

Yea look under the car OP, see if the in-board side of the rotor looks and feels like a vinyl record... thats scoring. Happens on all TC's that I know of. I had to replace my brakes at 17k, the rears were grinding with no pad life on the inner pads. Front brakes were fine but the rear brakes do some major part of the braking on our cars.

 

Too many people confuse initial bite with braking power. It's unfortunate really. Stock front pads and stock rotors are an excellent combo. The stock rear pads are meh. I swapped to HPS in back.

You'll not find any braking improvements from going to R1 rotors or swapping to HPS.

 

I think it was actually 16K. Way under 20k, no doubt. Can't remember. 1 track day, 2 road course time trials, and two autocrosses. I really wish I would've bought factory fronts, they were great on track. The HPS's suck. Fine for the rear though.

 

this x's10000

the stock pads up front are ferodo hp1000s...hawks are a downgrade. the only nice thing about the hawks is they are cleaner. the backs on the car like said meh. hawks would be better there. stock rotors are mine unless you want to buy colemans which is really the only upgrade. my buddies has the r1 concepts rotors for 1 season and they are warped.

 

Let's talk about My Brakes!

14" 8 Piston!

 

Front: stock pads w/ power floating 2-piece rotors.
Rear: stock but lube so they don't f up

Powell SS brake lines

 

How long has it been since the brake fluid has been changed/bled?

May have an impact.

 

Just thought I'd maybe chime in here...

I had never read, or known the rear brakes to be a problem on these cars. After 6000kms, I could still see cross-hatch on my rear rotors from the factory, hah. "Wow, those Brembos are doing all the work" I thought. I pulled 'em apart out of boredom and discovered this problem. Geez, and all I had to do was do a bit of reading on here.

I find the OEM calipers, pads and rotors on the front of this car to be incredible. I won't ever be changing to anything but... although in my short time owning the car I have had to 'deglaze' the front pads twice now, due to low speed braking squeal. From hell. Seriously. It makes babies cry 6 blocks away.

I scored up the rotors the first time, at like 3000kms, and sanded the pads down lightly. That lasted for quite some time... then the weather become a bit on the moist side, and in combination with early morning frost, the problem came back.

If it continues to happen, I may think about going to a Hawks pad for the front, just to see if the glazing is as often.

And I'm sorry if I come across as a know it all, but I'm a Journeyman technician with plenty of automotive experience, lots being 'tuner' related, and hammering on your brakes to clear a glazing problem isn't going to do ****. The only thing that's going to accomplish is warping your rotors, which is why the 'glazing' sound or problem goes away when you do it. You've changed the mating surface of pad to rotor. You haven't cured anything. If anything, you would want to attempt this in a parking lot, and in reverse. You're then forcing your pads to bite down hard on your rotor in the reverse direction they see from day to day.

And brake fluid upgrades, flushes and fancy lines are also very... um... whimsical. Brake fluid flushes are a great idea, when you're paying me to do them, of course. I'll never turn down a job that only requires 10 minutes of my time, and allows me to smoke while making fat cash.

 

Daaayyuummnnnn!