You could go one step further and try to stop the binding issue before it happens. Just clean up the system, lubricate the slide pins/pad slides, put it all back together and you should be good to go. As for the grooving there's nothing you can do it will inevitably happen but at least you can take care of one problem .

 

I got my 09 TC 4K miles ago (had 8600 when I got it). I did notice the rears looked *grooved* and that caught my eye. I decided to really *get on the brakes* hard..making sure I did so several times a day. This pretty much cleaned them up...both the INSIDES and outsides. I did lube the pins a while back, but I really think that getting on them hard a couple times a day really helps with these rear brakes. I have stock rotors and pads. No noise at all...dead quiet. I really don't know what the *problem* is with the grooving though. I still have very small grooves, but they don't pose a problem. I will swap out to HPS or EBC Red on the rears when I replace the pads. So far I have 12500 Mi on the stockers and they should last another 10K. On another note, I saw a post about *no protective boot on pins*. Not true, the pins are completley covered on my car.

 

almost 28,000 miles on my car.
Had the wheels off last weekend cleaning and rotating the tires.
Small amount of groving, about the same as I had at 17,000 and the pads still look like they have a lot of life left in them.

On a side note it looks like I will be traiding in the SS on a GMC Terrain.
Just need more room then what I have in the Cobalt.

 

I just got back from the dealer after getting my oil changed and they said my rotors and brake pads need replaced becasue of the wear. They wanted $150 to do it. I told them about the problem 2 previous oil changes and they said it was all normal and they were accusing me of hot roding it and causing this issue. Called GM to complain didnt get very far so i filled out the safety complaint so hopefull this will help out. Does any one have any suggestions on After market Calapers and brakes pads for the rear? Oh also they put reguar oil in instead of Synthetic but i got it switched out before i drove off and they also filled one of my front tires to 48 PSI and should have been at 33. Im just thinking out changing my own oil and rotating the tires.

 

I'd start by not going back to that dealer. If you lube the slide pins when you get your brakes done the problem wont come back.

 

Odd, mine definitely aren't. I actually considered looking for a junked Sky and taking the pin boot off their caliper and making it work with ours. Can you take a pic of the rear caliper assembly showing the cover by chance?

 

How many miles on your car, my dealer replaced my rotors under warranty below 36,000.
Buy hawk pads and have them lube your slide pins. (or do it yourself)

 

Long time lurker, first time poster here.

21,000 miles on my 2008 and I'm finally getting my pads and rotors replaced under warranty after my third trip to the dealer. I can only hope the new brakes don't have the same issues as the factory brakes did. One dealer milled my rotors at 10,000 then agreed they needed replacing at 16,000, but later refused to replace them. I went to a different dealer this time.

FWIW, my brakes had very similar wearing and grooving as many other posters' on here. Fortunately, I found a dealer that realized my driving habits (I don't drive my car hard since it's my daily driver) didn't contribute to the grooving.

 

On a random note, I was outside having a smoke and I noticed that the front caliper on a Passat 2.0T looks eerily similar (if not identical) to our rears as well.

 

Thats probably because its an ATE caliper.

VW uses a lot of ATE parts for their brake systems.

As its been said a million times, the defect is not the caliper. Its the fact that the pins are not sufficiently lubricated from the factory and the pads are hard on the rotors.

 

Yep. Basically posted that to show the caliper was used on another vehicle since the list to this point was SS/TC and Mazda 3. Now we can toss the VW on there as well .

 

just had my car in the shop. told gm that my rotors were torn to ..... asked them to look at it and they replied that my brake pad were worn. the inside was the worst and i asked why the out side brake pad weren't worn. they couldn't explain it. he asked the mechanic to look at the caliper. later he came back and said that the caliper piston wasn't working correctly. gm is now replacing my rotor, pads, and caliper as we speak. no charge what so ever. covered by warranty. crazy. good look guys.

 

Must be a bunch of idiots there. At least you're getting it fixed for free under warranty though.

Excessive inner pad wear does not indicate a caliper piston problem. It indicates that the caliper is not sliding properly, meaning the sliders are not properly lubricated or are stuck.

Even if the caliper piston was stuck, both sides would still wear evenly.

 

What's best to use to lube them?

 

that problem is old, just change the pads to something aftermarket and problem solved. stock pads stop good but suck for wear

 

/thread...

 

Done, I've noticed the grooving ever since I bought the car and it had ~750 miles

 

Went into gm Monday evenin because of my rear brakes. I said this is covered under warranty so how long till it gets done. They replied te total cost to fix it was 456.89 . So I replied with this ....(dialing a phone number for a good family friend of mine (gm rep) and had him talked with the dealership. Retards. About 10 mins on the phone the dealership replied with this( I am sorry sir we will get ure pads and rotors ordered sorry for the hassle. Car has 27k on her and they said the pads were
normal Wear and tear .... Yeah maybe if the pads were
completly gone and rotors were grinder on both see due to bad driver / owner

 

Permatex Extreme Ceramic Brake Lubricant

 

I know general consensus is "lube the sliders, replace the pads, problem solved". In my case I have had a constant problem with the rotors as well. They are junk. It is not any kind of driver error--I am 49 have had dozens of vehicles, and never had these issues. In fact I traded in a 91 Nissan Hardbody with 101k and still had original pads on it that had just passed inspection.

I am ordering after market rotors now, hopefully that will be the end of this....but I never thought my 2 year old car would fail inspection, not for tires or brake linings, but for mechanical issues!!
Here is my service history. I think some may find it interesting.

Cobalt Service History
2009 Coblat SS v.i.n.--*******************
Purchased 10/16/2009


8085 miles---
Both rear inner pads metal to metal.
Rotor resurfaced, pads replaced (warranty)
4 day car rental as parts were ordered

9184 miles---
Check engine light on.
Fuel tank pressure sensor inoperable.
Replaced (warranty)

11,818 miles---
Inner rear pads worn out (after 3800 miles)
rear piston calipers found to be tight.
Resurfaced rotors AGAIN, replaced calipers and pads. (warranty)

19,734 miles---
Brakes making a clunking noise.
Rear rotors have a "hot spot". Was told they were safe, but replacing the rotors was the
only fix since they had been resurfaced twice (under warranty)

26,482 miles---
During tire rotation and scheduled maintenance tech noted rear pads at 3/32 (14,000 miles)

26,886 miles---
Had rear pads replaced with Hawk pads (not warranty)

28,618 miles---
Service traction light and ABS light on.
Left front wheel speed sensor and left front wheel bearing replaced (warranty)

32,101 miles---
Both front Brembo calipers found to have a frozen piston. Calipers replaced, front rotors resurfaced,
hawk front pads installed (my cost). Rear rotors warped, replaced under warranty (could not
be resurfaced, at discard thickness)

This leads up to 10/21/2010:

42,400 MILES
Car fails State inspection. All 4 rotors need resurfaced. End links loose. Found brake line leak at rear
caliper. Dealer will only repair at full cost, car out of warranty.

Did not include Power Steering recall--not done yet "parts unavailable"
Charge pipe recall they won't do since I'm out of warranty, what BS is that!

 

My ss/tc sedan is in the dealers hands right now for the pwr str recall and oil leak at my water pump, and
for my e-brake failing and my car poping out of gear and my car at the bottom of the driveway with my front bumber pinned to the curb and now my front bumper has about 1 inch of up and down movement when you grab it and "wiggle" it, am having to file a claim with gm for progressive damage if they find anything wrong my ebrake.....i have only 15,000 miles.... i too have noticed grooves on my rear rotors a weird howling sound in reverse and my brakes squeak all the time due to sooooo much brake dust I have to wash my rims like every other day and blow out the brakes with compressed air.... I'm going to call them and see what they say about about the inner pads on the rear....

 

The front bumper cover is hot held very securely at the top - just plastic push pins through the plastic, which loosen up causing a floppy bumper cover. I'm contemplating installing screws to tighten up my bumper cover.

09 SS - rear rotors resurfaced at 7000 miles, new rear pads & rotors at 12,000 miles, no more issues.

 

ive got a 2010 cobalt ss with 6500 miles. ive had the squeaky brake issue now for at least 2k miles. i brought it in to gm. they test drove with me and heard the same thing as i did. so when i asked if there was an issue they said no. they then added that these brake calipers are high performance and that they will have a squeak to them. i call bullshit, as i am using the car as a daily driver and dont have a lead foot. brand new cars dont just have this issue. i previously had an 05 tiburon gt and never had that issue.

 

This thread has been beat to death, resurrected and killed beat sone more.....
Fact: the rear pads are more aggressive than a normal street pad and have a fairly high amount of metallic content. This along with insuficiantly lubricated slide pins results in noise and grooving.

The fix: Clean and lube your slide pins every 3k miles or so. It's easy, doesn't take too long, and prevents these issues. Very simple. Or change your pads. Stock rotors are excellent quality, going aftermarket rotors won't help anything. The key is keeping everything clean and lubricated.

I've got 19k miles on my car and have none of these problems. It is just part or the basic maintenance of this car, like changing the oil. When it gets colder out the rears are going to make noise no matter what until you get some heat in them. If this bothers you change pads.

Driving the car and beating on the brakes also helps. These pads love to be abused. Do your brakes a favor and auto-x the crap out of it. They really like to get heat in them.

If you can't accept any of this info then maybe the car isn't for you. Think of it as basic maintenance because that's what it is. Stock pads and rotors really can't be beat by aftermarket stuff. Can't deal with the cost/ maintenance get rid of the car.

/thread

 

Stop buying chevy or gm.........that will send them a message loud and clear!!!!