Chevrolet Cust Svc

I’ll be sending you a PM for more details.

Thanks,
Laura
GM Customer Service

dthomp2366

Thank you for your concern with this. It does feel alot better know that someone is following up on this. Now if I could just get Onstar to not hang up on me when inquiring about this new check engine light....

Grishbok

I feel better knowing that GM is looking in to this as well. My rear rotors are becoming grooved at 12k, the fronts are fine.

Has anyone found a common denominator in this yet? There must be a common link, such as improperly installed pads, calipers, or holding clips, or a bad batch of pads or rotors. Are the cars with issues from a particular vin series? There has to be a common link between all the cars experiencing this.

RKRamos

iTrader: (11)

With standard break pads, roughly how long should they last? I just had my break pads replaced (not covered by warranty) last summer, and they are already starting to screech. It's only been a year?!

soundjunky

iTrader: (4)

I know what you mean, but all you can do is try to be as proactive as possible, and get a feel for the dealer/service department's track record;
In this instance i spoke to the (assistant?) service manager, purely because I was not interested in booking an appointment where i would be told something akin to "sorry, this is not covered under any kind of warranty - no matter the circumstance.";

I actually had a sit down with the service manager at my selling dealer before buying my car - and that was a factor in the ourchase, unfortunately that manager had to prematurely retire for health concerns - then it was made known to me in short order that the next guy in line didn't give a flying-*&@! about me as a customer, or having me come back for repeated service work - so I left them (which is really too bad, my friend works there, and that alone makes me want to support that service department ~ but he has to follow management's lead, and if management doesn't give a crap about talking to/hearing out the customer - then I will never return.

So far with my current servicing dealer, if I am thinking of having them look at something, I'll go talk to either the manager, or assistant manager (depending on who is not busy at the time) to field if I would be either wasting their time, or setting myself up for an unwanted bill... I'm not saying my method is fool-proof, but I'm just saying...

I'll try my best to relate this exactly as related to me by the assistant service manager last week;
Typically brake components are (much like oil, filters, belts, and bulbs) considered "wear items" and thus, not covered under warranty.
The excpetion is when there is an underlying problem with something as built by GM;
In my case , I have inner rear pads totally wiped, while the outers are at (I'd guess) 80%;
In this instance, there is nothing that I have done wrong, but there is a (suspected) underlying condition which has caused premature wear of the rear inner pads, as well as possibly damaging the rear rotors (noise indicates metal on metal, at which point normally the rotors are damaged).

As to expected "life" of pads/rotors;
that is entirely dependant on the driver and driving conditions;
you only need to look at the components as a whole to assess if they are evenly (or with in specified tolerances) wearing ~ I was told that over the life of the brakes, a couple mm difference between pad thickness would be considered 'normal'.

I hope this somewhat clears things up for you.

@ Laura;
Would you mind cluing us in as to why you've come here?
It seems to me that you probably already have a heavy work load to begin with;
coming to any enthusiast website to address posted concerns about product quality, is IMHO going above & beyond the call of duty(!)...

Permafried-

Are you cussing them out or something? I've called for a couple issues lately and asked for a remote diagnostic. They were friendly, let you know that the call will be disconnected, a ring heard and then they will be back on the line and I had the code given to me right there.

Chevrolet Cust Svc

You’re welcome! I’m looking into it and will PM you again when I have more information.

Thanks,
Laura
Chevrolet Customer Service

Chevrolet Cust Svc

Yes Grishbok, I am documenting the concerns I’ve seen on this thread and I’m sorry to hear that you’re also experiencing them! Since you’re at 12,000 miles I would suggest speaking with your dealership about this. If you could keep me updated on your progress, I’d appreciate it.

Thanks,
Laura
Chevrolet Customer Service

dthomp2366

LOL I'm very pleasant but they seem to have connections problems or they tell me "its no error showing on my end" then say they're transferring me to diagnostics and then the call gets dropped. 3 times in a row made me give up. SMH LOL

HEATON

iTrader: (3)

11 000 miles rear inner pads 90 percent worn..Slides are free...So far seems to be caused by lack of airflow across the inner pad-rotor..

soundjunky

iTrader: (4)

since I noticed this myself last wednesday, I've talked to a couple people, and done more reading, and I am now wondering if the initial problem is because the sliders bind, but the secondary issue is possibly because the parking brake is set too tight from the factory (which causes dragging)...

I have not touched a single setting on my brakes - I figured that if I screwed with anything that any dealer service shop would (rightfully so) cite that "xx had been changed by owner, which was the root cause of the problem";
for me one of the nicest things of owning this car is never being in the tried & true spot of working on a car sunday night in order to be able to drive it to work monday morning (which is especially annoying to have to do in the dead of winter)...



I noticed your sig;
Apparently your GXP has the EXACT same rear pads/calipers as the Cobalts ~ but I do not recall of ever hearing of this issue with the Solstice/Sky...
Maybe that's something to think about...

HEATON

iTrader: (3)

The G6 only has 5000 miles on it..I will have to have a look at the pads in the next few weeks

soundjunky

iTrader: (4)

CORRECTION

I read "2009 GXP" - and missed the 'G6' part...

I thought it was a Solstice GXP... my bad.

sorry for the false alarm.

HEATON

iTrader: (3)

The G6 has the same brakes as the Malibu (Z Body). Not sure is the sky-solstice have the rear inner pad issues...

soundjunky

iTrader: (4)

ok, so update guys;

Apparently when I was booking it, the tech/service advisor mis-spoke;
There is no TSB on the rear brakes of our cars.
There is though talk on the GM Techhelp/Techline(?) about this being a common occurrence especially when the car is not driven aggressively, and there is a recommended "fix";
I'm of the understanding at this time that what I had done was not actually "warranty" work per say, but more over in the realm of "dealer-discretionary courtesy service"...

Strike it up as another reason why I love the service/track record I'm getting from my dealer!!
(I'm sorry to those of you who feel you're being screwed around)

I had a short list of things that I've observed ect all but one of which was taken care of;

• aformentioned rear brakes...
• I had a couple occurrences of a code P0451(?) - of which there was a TSB, related to the fuel pump(??) - so warranty work was done on that;
• I had my DIC start flashing the night prior(!) "service aribags";
  to which the passenger side seat belt retractor was deemed the culprit - so that was replaced under warranty!!
• my front & rear bowties are for some reason coming apart - the gold foil is wilting/peeling away - those are being replaced under warranty (going back thursday, because there was insufficient time to get it into the trim shop yesterday)

I did mention that I thought my drivers side rear caliper was seized, but I neglected to inquire as to if that was legit, or if I was just mistaken.

What I don't get is that prior to my purchasing a Cobalt, this dealer's service department* seemed to be about as unattentive/unconcerned towards a Cobalt owner as possible - which was a factor why I eventually gave up on getting one from them (they had a yellow '09 SS for the better part of a year; the other factor was that they said they "would not negotiate on any SS's").
(* = because the way I work, is that I wanted to get a feel for the service department before a purchase, because this would factor in to if I would buy - if the dealer seemed rigid ect, it was a major strike against them)
I was previously made to understand that they would essentially be looking for due cause to not honor warranty work - but so far my personal experience has been the exact opposite, I couldn't be happier with the service they have provided.

I'm glad I stopped going to the selling dealer for service at the first sign of trouble.

Chevrolet Cust Svc

Very glad to hear you’re happy with your dealership and that they were able to provide great service to you.

Thanks,
Laura
Chevrolet Customer Service

exninja

iTrader: (1)

My $0.02 is that this isn't merely a pad issue. It doesn't make sense that both the inside pads have weaker material, and that after the pad is worn out it would grind rather than wear the outside pad. Both of my slider pins were gunked up, probably with brake dust. This seems very suspect to me. If the caliper can't slide on the pins then it's just pushing the inside pad into the inside rotor face. That's my observation. A reason that I don't think it's an issue of the parking brake being poorly adjusted is that the grinding only occurred during braking.

ronn

iTrader: (3)

The pads and rotors on the INNER side are more exposed to road debris. But that's the case on ALL brakes. The pins are also exposed on the inside to the crud that's comming off the disintegrating pads! It's the pads that are the source of the contamination of the pins and rotors on the inner side. Once the inner rotors are scored and pins are contaminated, the pads get chewed up more on that side.
I have new rotors and CERAMIC pads and the rotors still look NEW after 5k miles! PADS are the source of this problem, not the pins.

RKRamos

iTrader: (11)

So I noticed that when I slow down without applying my breaks I get a screeching noise but when I apply my break it goes away, any ideas on what it could be?

Chevrolet Cust Svc

I’m sorry to hear about the brakes concerns you’re experiencing. At this point I would suggest at least speaking to your dealership about this. I hope that this is an easy fix for you. Would you please keep us updated?

Thanks,
Laura
Chevrolet Customer Service

emiller

I've got over 25k on my stock replacement pads and rotors and they still look new.

sponge14

Well, I managed to make it about 30,000 miles before I started to have rear brake issues. I heard them for the first time 2 days ago and I checked my rotors, and sure enough they are being torn up by the pads. As far as I could see with the wheels on, the outside pads look like they have a lot of material left on them, but something is definitely grinding in the back. The outside of the rotors are grooved real bad, way beyond machining them back to within specs. I could not check the inside of the rotors yet. I think it's pretty sad that with this many complaints there is not a recall being done on our brakes. I guess brakes aren't really a safety concern to GM?

soundjunky

iTrader: (4)

^^I'd encourage you to go talk to your dealer;
skip the service advisers, and arrange to show up at a time when the service manager is around;
feel free to print up some of the posts from this thread, and try to talk to him, no9t under the pretense that they have to do something, but moreover under the pretense that "something isn't right", and that you are wanting to conduct yourself as vigilantly as possible to maintain warranty (as soon as any aftermarket brake components are installed, you're going to be SOL.

that's my two cents.

emiller

What would the safety concern be? Grooving and noise aren't a safety issue. The brakes still function normally.

sponge14

I will be going to a dealership about this, and a whole bunch more issues that I have let build up. It's hard to make time to get there with my work schedule, I have to take a day off just to go there.