Well it was bound to happen sooner than later I guess. My car had to go in for service because the stupid coolant light comes on ALL the time now. Keeps saying "Low Coolant" in the drivers information center. It's getting very annoying. The fluid is full and it does it whether the car is doing a cold start or has been running well over an hour.

That was only one of the first few things that has been going on with my SS. The other problems are the front brake rotors are looking to be already showing some crazy wear like i've drove my car on no pads for several months. Now, I am not hard on my car by any means. The rotors look warped? They don't look good at all. I told them that they shouldn't be showing this kind of wear with only 5,000 miles on it.

My other problem I ran into was I parked at my girlfriends overnight and woke up the next morning with three hefty piles of bird **** on my hood. Not a big deal right? I'll take it to the car wash. When I was done washing it and drying off the car with a soft terry cloth towel my red paint turned a bright pink?! WTF! So I took it to the dealership to show them what is going on. Hopefully they can fix this. I haven't had the car long so I am unsure why it is doing this.


That is my beef for the night.

They gave me a rental car though which is a Cobalt Sedan. It's actually not too bad. Real comfy ride and although the 2.2L is gutless compared to my 2.0L S/C its still deceving on the freeway seeing it going 80 and really feels like your only going 45?

After driving it, I am thinking of leasing one for a winter ride and storing my SS for winter. I think that would be a good deal. Hopefully I get my SS back soon. I miss it...

 

Have you had your tires rotated since you got the car? If so the wheels may not have been torqued down correctly. GM's are famous for rotors warping if the wheels aren't torqued correctly.

 

It looks like GM has gone on the cheap side again when it comes to the rotors. They tend to use a metal for the rotors that has a low nickle content which results in premature rusting in between the vents. This rusting can cause vibration due to unbalanced rotors and warpage as well.

I had my '95 Cav rotors replaced twice under warranty within a year because they were so cheap. The wife's 01 GAGT had the same problem - I could not believe how bad the rotors had gotten. The whole car literally shook when the brakes were applied on the highway.

I have since replaced the rotors on the GAGT with Wagner brand rotors. Right out of the box you could tell they weighed a good 5 pounds more then the OEM units. 1 year later and they are still in excellent shpae.

It looks like I'll be doing the same thing on my SS when it gets here

 

I got my wheels rotated for the first time just last week before taking it in for service at Discount Tire. The rotors were already screwed before then.

If these rotors continue to suck anyways I am getting a set of good slotted rotors from a performance web site. Last thing I want to worry about is stopping if I happen to be breaking the sound barrier with this thing.

 

You won't be able to see that they are warped, what you are describing sounds like brake pad issues if they are visibly scratching the rotors.

 

I know what warping is, I've drove a 94 Z24 for the last three years. I know what a pu*#ed up set looks.

 

There was another thread on here about someone who worked for GM who said he saw many flaws in the paint jobs. I beleive it was mentioned to look at it under a UV light and you might see dirt/dust.

Anyone else hear the same thing? maybe I'm wrong.

 

Like our US Government, we go with the LOWEST BID here in America. Unlike an Audi, BMW, Mercedes, Porsche, Ferrari, Lotus, Rolls Royce, and so on - they maintain HIGH Standards, so if we still want to drive really affordable US cars, this is what the result is.

 

GM's standards were actually highly thought of from before hand. Now, I amf upset. You pay $20k+ and get crap.

Anyways, I called the dealership today and they fixed the low coolant problem, turns out on the wiring harness to the sensor the wires were exposed and causing a short. Every time it hit a bump thats when they said it would come on. They have since replaced the whole sending unit.

The rotors and paint are still getting looked. I can't wait to get her back. They said they washed her up good and should be ready for 4:30pm EST.

 

What I failed to mention however, is dollar for dollar - US Domestic Automakers give you a hell of a bang for your buck! No doubt about it! We strongly support US Automakers in our family, have many GM employees and retirees... even if the Unions only care about themselves (sorry, had to speak the truth).

 

well, did you have a vibration on the brakes when slowing? or is it just visible wear. more than likely (if its just visible) you got a rock stuck in there. ive seen it happen alot. and those cars you mentioned cobaltchris are all luxury cars mainly. look at a honda civics brakes...which ive seen this kinda thing happen to, its just like that, it can happen. was it just one rotor or two? might just be the driving style? is there anything mechanically wrong with them that you can tell? just because they might look bad doesnt mean anything is wrong...bad, hard to tell without being able to see them...

 

i jsut dont know why GM cant go for the good stuff in the end they are losing out on more money when they got new cars with less then 5,000 km on it comming in and having to repalce stuff on them that should not have to be replaced to begin with...

 

I got the low coolant message a couple of time. I dumped in some extra coolant and haven't seen an error message again. It was also when the car just started up and only for a second and it went away.

As for the brakes I am right with you. My rotors pulse a bit too. Nothing horrible yet, but I noticed something as well. I am pretty hard on the brake since I like in DC and there is a lot of stop and go. I did take off the front tire and put it back on but I can't imagine I tighted it so much I warped the rotors. If anyone knows the torque specs I can try to re torque down the log nuts to spec (I have since gotten a torque wrench). When I re tightened the lug nuts after taking the wheel off I did use a cris cross pattern as suggested in the manual.

I am definetly considering new rotors and pads as a first upgrade because at higher than highway speeds (100's) if you hit the brakes are the gases lift the pads off the rotors. Kinda un nerving. Overall the brakes stop you quickly but I don't know how long they are gonna last over what I will refer to as spirted use.

 

I had a problem with my 02' cavy and the wheels not being on right. It screwed up my wheel hub and my rotor

 

It's really easy to warp rotors when putting whells back on. I think it's more about uneven tightening than how tight.

 

Well I used about the same amount of force on each lug when I put it back on. I will check with my wrench and see how close my arm dyno was at getting them all the same torque.

 

Well it's the lowest bid according to the GM specs, so either GM didn't spec out the part right or the manufacture has quality control issues.

 

thats because most service centers or "jiffy lubes" skip the process of torqueing them down. most of the time you have to request that they torque them or they will just not do it even though they are supposed to. i ALWAYS torque mine and they havent started to show pulse till about right now...which is about 50k since ive had them done. brakes are still in GREAT shape too.

 

well they fixed all the problems except one... they gave me a new one... they stratched the paint on the drivers side door from the middle of the door to the back tire. looks like they rubbed against something. It's not noticeable unless you get right on it. its a surface stratch. DAMN IT!!

They are going to pay for screwing my car up they said to come in on Thrusday to fix it.

 

My tires were only torqued at 52 when they are supposed to be 100 for the SS/SC.

 

Are they using carbon-ceramic pads on these cars now?

 

Torque specs in our books that came with the car.

 

Sneaky, I'd get it in writing that if you're not satisfied with their fix they will pay the shop of your choice to repair the scratch.

 

Bird **** is highly acidic, and if it's allowed to dry in the sun with the chemical reactions that can occur quite quickly, it can leave a permanent "impression" in the paint . Happened to me on my 2003 Imola red BMW M3. Removal required careful professional buffing.

 

I decided I am going to take mine in when a 4th thing goes wrong. So far I have a leaky windshield, check engine light, and the auto lights turn the head lights on no matter how bright it is outside.

Best part is that you need a special adaptor cord to go inline of a OBD2 scanner to read our cars. Gotta love GM. The check engine light is no biggie, I know its the airflow sensor.

Quality....