Rapid brake wear

[building 64 lan]

A family menber has a 04 Alero that was purchased new, the car has 20k miles on and the front brakes need to be replaced. The selling dealers service Mgr. says that he has just received a directive from GM not to warranty any more brakes.The customer call center says that they are not aware of any brake problems with these cars. Another family member has a 01 Alero that was purchased new, the front brakes were worn out at 17k miles. The dealer that this car came from put 3 sets of front brakes on all under warranty. A lot of GM cars and trucks in this family and none with rapid brake wear until these two. A good friend is a certified mechanic and works in a private shop in Mid Michigan, says that he sees a lot of Aleros and Grand Ams in their shop with rapid brake wear. Web sites are full of people complaining about brake wear and sadly a lot of other things on these cars. Mitchell and All Data have no tsbs dealing with rapid brake wear on these cars. AC Delco's web site says that the late 90s Cutlass and the late 90s -mid OOs Alero, Malibu and Grand Am All use the same brake parts. What causes these cars brakes to wear so rapidly? Is there a fix? With the number of these cars built there must have been some kind of communication from GM to the dealers about brakes on these cars if so I would like to have a copy. Thanks

[Triple-X08]

why, because its a poor design. second off, people who install them normally dont install them right, probably a sticking slide or something like that, hard to tell, need to know what part is wearing, is it the inboard pad, or outboard, and also if its tapered, need to know how you drive, city or highway, just assuming its a bad part isnt good enough. try putting on some good quality pads if everything checks out ok, make sure they are good, not the 20 dollar special from autozone.

[MrCritical]

A 4 year old car with 20k sounds like a lot of stop and go driving.

The warranty manual that comes with every new car tells you brake pads are warranted for 12/12. No one needed a directive from GM.

[impala02]

Originally Posted by building 64 lan

A family menber has a 04 Alero that was purchased new, the car has 20k miles on and the front brakes need to be replaced. The selling dealers service Mgr. says that he has just received a directive from GM not to warranty any more brakes.The customer call center says that they are not aware of any brake problems with these cars. Another family member has a 01 Alero that was purchased new, the front brakes were worn out at 17k miles. The dealer that this car came from put 3 sets of front brakes on all under warranty. A lot of GM cars and trucks in this family and none with rapid brake wear until these two. A good friend is a certified mechanic and works in a private shop in Mid Michigan, says that he sees a lot of Aleros and Grand Ams in their shop with rapid brake wear. Web sites are full of people complaining about brake wear and sadly a lot of other things on these cars. Mitchell and All Data have no tsbs dealing with rapid brake wear on these cars. AC Delco's web site says that the late 90s Cutlass and the late 90s -mid OOs Alero, Malibu and Grand Am All use the same brake parts. What causes these cars brakes to wear so rapidly? Is there a fix? With the number of these cars built there must have been some kind of communication from GM to the dealers about brakes on these cars if so I would like to have a copy. Thanks

When you say rapid brake wear, are talking about the pads, or a problem with the rotors? I had a first year Alero and the rotors had to be turned down twice and then replaced within 36,000 miles because of warping. I wasn't too pleased. The rotors on those cars, at least the first year, were terrible. In contrast, the front pads on my Impala lasted over 50,000 miles. When I did replace them, I threw on some new aftermarket rotors, even though the stock rotors were still fine.

[GMCSonoma]

Originally Posted by Triple-X08

why, because its a poor design. second off, people who install them normally dont install them right, probably a sticking slide or something like that, hard to tell, need to know what part is wearing, is it the inboard pad, or outboard, and also if its tapered, need to know how you drive, city or highway, just assuming its a bad part isnt good enough. try putting on some good quality pads if everything checks out ok, make sure they are good, not the 20 dollar special from autozone.

Good advice except for the 1st sentence..

Originally Posted by MrCritical

A 4 year old car with 20k sounds like a lot of stop and go driving.

The warranty manual that comes with every new car tells you brake pads are warranted for 12/12. No one needed a directive from GM.

I concur...loads of stop & go with short trips...GM nor any other carmaker would cover this....

Pay the repair and find some lifetime replacement pads in ceramic...

[Triple-X08]

Originally Posted by GMCSonoma

Good advice except for the 1st sentence..




I concur...loads of stop & go with short trips...GM nor any other carmaker would cover this....

Pay the repair and find some lifetime replacement pads in ceramic...

why.. lol. im just stating the truth. ok its a design characteristic of the vehicle. as GM likes to call it. "normal operation". wait.. wait... "typical of vehicle design". that one is always my favorite.

[Triple-X08]

i agree with what was mentioned above, could be stop and go. hard telling without being there to look at the vehicle.

[GMCSonoma]

Originally Posted by Triple-X08

why.. lol. im just stating the truth. ok its a design characteristic of the vehicle. as GM likes to call it. "normal operation". wait.. wait... "typical of vehicle design". that one is always my favorite.

So your design is better???

[GMfan1111]

been down this route numerous times with my N bod car. N bods are notorious for eating brake rotors and the overall design of the brakes in general for these cars suck. Luckily The rotors on my Bu have not warped yet but we did fix the ABS and replace gaskets the first year we owned it because the previous owner was a dimwit and did not fix it. Overall the brakes on my Bu usually stay out of trouble But when I get together with my dad and inspect the brakes we do find uneven brakepad wear from time to time.

[Triple-X08]

Originally Posted by GMCSonoma

So your design is better???

dont have one, not my job. thats why I dont get paid the big bucks to come up with stuff on cars that doesnt work. or work part of the time, or not work properly and say its normal, nope, not like an over paid engineer that gets paid regardless if a piss-poor design effort works or doesnt work.