[MattyZ]

Hi, I have a 2017 Volt with about 68k miles on it, I've had the car since new.

Went to a local shop I've been to before and have had generally good experiences with for the 68k service. I've known the rear brake rotors have been pretty badly scored for a while now as some other owners have experienced, see e.g. Gen 2 rear brake pad/rotor change, sorry I can't immediately find pics of the original condition of my own.

They said they thought the front brakes & pads were still pretty good with about 50% life left, but that the rears should be done and I agreed to that. They asked if I'd like the regular rotors or the FNC rotors and I asked for the FNC.

First problem I noticed was that about 2 days after the work was done there was a driving rainstorm in my area for the better part of a day. I went out the next day and the "new" rears were covered in rust. But the front 6+ year old rotors had no rust on them. So it seems they at least maybe didn't replace them with the FNC-rotors I asked for, okay not the end of the world I guess..

Second problem however is that now, a couple weeks later after a few hundred miles of driving, I'm starting to notice an odd wear pattern on the rear rotors. I'm unsure if this is normal for new rotors but it looks suspiciously similar to the "rusty grooving" my old rotors had, just not nearly as bad.

I've attached pics of a rear rotor and corresponding front (which again have never been replaced since new), each side looks similar. I'm not a mechanic and don't look at rotors every day so I don't know enough to say if what I see on the rears is normal or not, but my amateur opinion is for "new" rotors they look kinda like crap! So at best I have concerns they didn't put on the FNCs as I asked, at worst that they maybe just turned down the old rotors and slapped them back on. First is rear, second is front:

Any comments or suggestions appreciated, thanks.

 

[voltreg]

Considering the depth of pitting in the photos, it looks like those rotors have been on the car for quite a while. One usually only sees slight surface rust for quite a while unless they live in an area with massive amounts of winter road salt. Even then, I would not expect "new" rotors to show that much pitting. You would have needed to view them right after the brake job to be sure. The rear brakes get very little wear on the Volt. I'm at 120k on my 14 and they still work fine.

The outer and inner rims of the disk do look clean so maybe they are just low grade material that rusts quickly

 

[MattyZ]

You would have needed to view them right after the brake job to be sure. The rear brakes get very little wear on the Volt. I'm at 120k on my 14 and they still work fine.

Thanks for getting back. I looked at them incidentally after the job was done but I didn't get down and look carefully. From a distance they looked new enough.

One usually only sees slight surface rust for quite a while unless they live in an area with massive amounts of winter road salt

The heavy rusting on the "FNC rotors" after the first rainstorm they sat out in was the first point I had concerns and kept an eye on it since then and, yeah..still have concerns. I live in southern New England but the weather has been fairly mild this year, probably not as much salt on the roads as usual...

I'm moving from the area within a few months and likely won't ever be going back to this shop again anyway, they don't know that but I'm wondering if it's worth the aggravation approaching them about it at all, other than the FNC issue I don't know that I can finally prove they didn't do the job right, I just have suspicions. "Coated rotors" is definitely what they charged me for on the bill, though.

And if I take the time to take it to another shop that looks at them and agrees with me I might as well just have that shop do it right, I'd never let the previous place work on it again regardless!

 

[voltreg]

It probably would not be worth the stomach acid to have to confront them. As long as the car stops good I would not worry about it. The rotor looks like it has plenty of life. Rust should not cause the brakes to not work. Most of the stopping action is from the front brakes and the brakes don't get much of a workout often if you are skilled one-peddle driver. That may be why the rear brake rotors show rust quickly...not much heavy use.

 

[Cloudnine]

The rotor looks like it has seen 10k miles of driving, not a couple hundred. Odd to see so much scoring. They didn't reuse the pads did they?
If I didn't know better, would say these are used rotors.

 

[jbakerjonathan]

I would find out the difference in price between FNC treated rotors and non-treated rotors to make up my mind on hashing it out with the shop, or just chalking it up to a lesson learned. Shifting into Neutral when at speed and jamming on the brakes to forcefully activate the rear brakes every month will do well to keep the rear system in shape. You should use the parking brake each time you exit the vehicle, too.

 

[MattyZ]

The rotor looks like it has seen 10k miles of driving, not a couple hundred. Odd to see so much scoring. They didn't reuse the pads did they?

I've added a few more pics of the rear if it's any help.

If I didn't know better, would say these are used rotors.

Seems plausible, I was a bit surprised they were just like "Ok boss" about the FNCs and had me bring the car in that week for a
one day turn-around, and didn't have to order parts.

.

 

[MattyZ]

I would find out the difference in price between FNC treated rotors and non-treated rotors to make up my mind on hashing it out with the shop, or just chalking it up to a lesson learned.

Right, $450 in parts and labor is a wobbler for me, particularly since it's unlikely I was going back there again anyway. I think it's unlikely they just turned down my old rear rotors, they were pretty far gone. I think it's more likely these maybe just aren't brand new, and maybe aren't the type I asked for.

Glad I didn't bother with a full set..

 

[jbakerjonathan]

Judging by the condition of the hub surface, I question how new the part is. There appears to be too much "corrosion" for it to be a new part. A comparison with a new part at the Parts Department is warranted in my view.

 

[Cloudnine]

The pad looks new enough to me. You won't get far with this mechanic. He will tell you the pads need to run in, the pads need to take a set, the wear is uneven until the moon is in the second house of Pisces, blah blah.

 

[bboaze]

My guess is new pads, same old rotors that were on the car.

 

[Bettergolf72]

No way are these new rotors.....pads look new though. What you do is up to you, but I would at least go back and nicely ask them to look at these rotors and explain all the grooves and pits. They are not even the old ones resurfacsed (turned).

 

[aallen]

Hi, I have a 2017 Volt with about 68k miles on it, I've had the car since new.

Went to a local shop I've been to before and have had generally good experiences with for the 68k service. I've known the rear brake rotors have been pretty badly scored for a while now as some other owners have experienced, see e.g. Gen 2 rear brake pad/rotor change, sorry I can't immediately find pics of the original condition of my own.

They said they thought the front brakes & pads were still pretty good with about 50% life left, but that the rears should be done and I agreed to that. They asked if I'd like the regular rotors or the FNC rotors and I asked for the FNC.

First problem I noticed was that about 2 days after the work was done there was a driving rainstorm in my area for the better part of a day. I went out the next day and the "new" rears were covered in rust. But the front 6+ year old rotors had no rust on them. So it seems they at least maybe didn't replace them with the FNC-rotors I asked for, okay not the end of the world I guess..

Second problem however is that now, a couple weeks later after a few hundred miles of driving, I'm starting to notice an odd wear pattern on the rear rotors. I'm unsure if this is normal for new rotors but it looks suspiciously similar to the "rusty grooving" my old rotors had, just not nearly as bad.

I've attached pics of a rear rotor and corresponding front (which again have never been replaced since new), each side looks similar. I'm not a mechanic and don't look at rotors every day so I don't know enough to say if what I see on the rears is normal or not, but my amateur opinion is for "new" rotors they look kinda like crap! So at best I have concerns they didn't put on the FNCs as I asked, at worst that they maybe just turned down the old rotors and slapped them back on. First is rear, second is front:

View attachment 176069
View attachment 176068
Any comments or suggestions appreciated, thanks.

This seems very odd to me. I have about 220,000 miles on my 2012 Volt, and have never had (or needed) brake work, and would be very disappointed if I ever do. Most of my braking is regenerative, and I very rarely make hard stops. Indeed, from my experience, this is one of the great benefits of electric cars. You don't have nearly the maintenance expenses, and brakes are right at the top of the list of averted expenses. My experience squares with that of the many BEV and PHEV owners I know; they simply don't have brake expenses.

 

[Orienteer]

My guess is new pads, same old rotors that were on the car.

This is exactly what it looks to me. The OP seems to be gotten had.

 

[jivefive99_2654]

Rear brakes for me two years ago was $600. Not cheap but hardly the fault of the electric motor.

 

[aallen]

This seems very odd to me. I have about 220,000 miles on my 2012 Volt, and have never had (or needed) brake work, and would be very disappointed if I ever do. Most of my braking is regenerative, and I very rarely make hard stops. Indeed, from my experience, this is one of the great benefits of electric cars. You don't have nearly the maintenance expenses, and brakes are right at the top of the list of averted expenses. My experience squares with that of the many BEV and PHEV owners I know; they simply don't have brake expenses.

I should add that I live in the Midwest, with periodic snow and ice. I drive the car almost every day, so am using the brakes enough to keep rust/corrosion from building up.

 

[MattyZ]

This is exactly what it looks to me. The OP seems to be gotten had.

I'm unsure at this point, the condition of the old rear rotors was pretty rough, I'm not sure they could've ben turned down to look like this "good" again. Unfortunately I don't have before-pictures at hand but I don't have a garage, so the car has lived outside through many New England winters. As I understand it the rear brakes on hybrids like the Volt sometimes deteriorate through disuse compounded by exposure to the elements, and I think that was what happened in my case, they had wide "rusty ridges" on them (for lack of a better term) that no amount of mashing the brakes in neutral would clear off.

My alternate explanation of why new FNC-rotors could look coated in surface rust right after install: I drove home just a couple miles from the shop and parked the car, without breaking in the new pads much at all. The rotors are FNC-treated but the pads aren't, maybe the new rotors got coated in dust from manufacturing that spalls off new pads. Then a heavy rainstorm came, and it was the crap that transferred, that rusted. Or just dust from the shop, some other source. Not a materials scientist, here..

But I think it's plausible the rotors are new treated rotors, and that was just a weird coincidence. I've had a good relationship with this shop for some time.

Next big rainstorm that comes up I'll see what they do to test my "theory", have to see what happens now that there's a few hundred miles on them and the pads have worn down a bit. I have some concerns about the wear pattern but maybe that's a separate issue I'll bring up.

 

[phattyduck]

Do a few stops with the shifter in the "neutral" position and see if the rear rotors clear up (uses mechanical brakes only that way). They don't look new to me, but they don't look like they've spent winters in the salt belt either...

-Charlie