Our 09 SS (37k miles) has been making school bus type noises when stopping. It makes the sound about 80% of the time when stopping, only at lower speeds when coming to a stop. It's not a squeal, the pads look brand new, and the rotors still look good, as well.

I know the dealership put pads and rotors on the car, but I'm wondering if they used a crap pad, or if they just didn't put anti-squeal on them. Has anyone had this issue, and what was the verdict?

 

Were the rotors resurfaced or replaced? Maybe the compound of the brake pad they used is noisy?

 

Replaced. The only information I have is that the dealership performed a "replace pads and rotors" job on the car just before we purchased it.

 

What exactly do you mean school bus type noises? That’s pretty vague. Two things that come to mind from “school bus noises” are the diesel engine idle and the air dryer that purges moisture from the air lines and blows off into the atmosphere. You have neither.

 

Did you ride the school bus as a kid? You know, the big yellow cheese wagon. He said it makes the noise when he STOPS. Clearly you are not familiar with school busses as you would instantly know the sound he is talking about.

 

Do you have the Brembo brake package? If you do they make noise at lower speed stops and it is normal.

 

Exactly...lol. That's why I used that to describe it. Some bigger vehicles with air brakes make that noise when they stop, but every single school bus seems to make it every single time.

I do have the Brembos and, yes, I do expect a certain amount of noise due to their high metallic content, but this noise is pretty loud and irritating, and the car didn't do it for the first 2-3 months that we owned it. I'm serious about it sounding like a school bus...it's that long, and that loud.

 

Just go out and brake hard a couple times, like 65 to 0 hard, a few times in a row. My SS/TC has had squeaky brakes since about 5k miles but last spring I did some laps at Road America and the brakes stopped squeaking for about 5k to 6k miles. The squeak had just started to come back before I put it away for the winter.

 

^^^ this

mine squeeled for a while and then went away as they wore. squeeling is normal for the compound used.

high performance brakes are as stated "high performance" driving like a grandma or even regular use will not use the brakes 100% as intended. with performance sometimes you have to sacrifice comfort and driveability. especially with a budget performance car like the cobalt ss.

just be patient it may go away.

*waits for the thread by the OP titled "brakes aren't working in the rain"*

OP just a heads up.. these brakes don't work well right away in wet conditions until the moisture burns off between the pads and rotors. so if your brakes are a little less responsive in the rain, that's why.

 

Okay then. I can always get behind a fix that involves driving the crap out of the car. That actually makes sense, too, considering how close the wife works, and how little it has been getting driven otherwise. Hm. I will give the 60-0 thing a shot and see what happens! Thanks for the advice.

 

Sounds like the break in period to me

 

How did it go?

You don't have to stand on the brakes. Just a medium braking. I just put new brakes on and a couple 60-20 stops and it felt great. No squeaking yet either.

 

****, the brakes suck ass in the rain period. They suck at first then bite until you take your foot off then have to brake again. Its a vicious cycle lol I've never had problems with anyother car I've owned with shifty brakes in the rain, just the brembo's

 

mine have been doing this for awhile now. annoying as **** too. but it still stops good

 

Most likely they didn't put enough high temp grease on the pad/shim shim/caliper areas. Mine did that after I changed pads without greasing them.

 

I warp rotors constantly on long freeway drives pretty sure I got a sticky caliper