[TheLastDeadMouse]

I took my car in this morning for what I had assumed was a bad rear wheel bearing, but instead they told me that the rear pads were worn to the metal and that they'd damaged the rotors, so both would need to be replaced. The front brakes were badly corroded, but still plenty of pad left and not damaged, so they're just going to clean them up. I've seen other's posts here about seized rear brakes, so this case is uncommon but not unheard of. I have done the occasional firm braking downhill to try to clean things up, but apparently it wasn't enough here in the salt belt.

I'm out of the bumper to bumper warranty so I'm looking at about $450 to replace rear brakes I never use on a car with 60k miles, but obviously this is not the result of normal brake wear. I tried calling the Volt Advisor line, who in turn talked to the dealership, but they weren't able to save me anything.

I've heard of GM occasionally covering or discounting repairs out of warranty under a goodwill policy, and this seems as good a candidate as any, but am unsure where else to go with this now. Has anyone heard of someone having success getting this sort of thing covered, and how they did it?

 

[Joe67]

it sounds like you've used the escalation channels (Dealership then the Volt Advisor who is Chevrolet Customer service). Not sure where one would go from there?

 

[caronjeff]

Sorry to say your probably on the hook for this. Several others have also reported this issue, but because it's clearly a road salt and lack of cleaning the salt off issue, you may not get any relief from GM. My own 2011 with 87,000 miles on it all the brakes look like new, however I've got the advantage of running hot and cold water in my heated garage, and I can't stand a dirty car.

 

[dhiller123]

I took my car in this morning for what I had assumed was a bad rear wheel bearing, but instead they told me that the rear pads were worn to the metal and that they'd damaged the rotors, so both would need to be replaced. The front brakes were badly corroded, but still plenty of pad left and not damaged, so they're just going to clean them up. I've seen other's posts here about seized rear brakes, so this case is uncommon but not unheard of. I have done the occasional firm braking downhill to try to clean things up, but apparently it wasn't enough here in the salt belt.

I'm out of the bumper to bumper warranty so I'm looking at about $450 to replace rear brakes I never use on a car with 60k miles, but obviously this is not the result of normal brake wear. I tried calling the Volt Advisor line, who in turn talked to the dealership, but they weren't able to save me anything.

I've heard of GM occasionally covering or discounting repairs out of warranty under a goodwill policy, and this seems as good a candidate as any, but am unsure where else to go with this now. Has anyone heard of someone having success getting this sort of thing covered, and how they did it?

Brakes (the pads and rotors) are considered a wear item. Those are typically covered under a 1 year, 12,000 mile warranty. Unless the dealer would find a brake failure due to a manufacturing defect (highly unlikely), they are not covered for the full 36,000 mile warranty.

That said, as you stated that your pads are down to metal on metal and cutting in to the rotors. GM views that as improper maintenance and will not cover that repair under warranty. I doubt if any dealer would cover that under "goodwill" warranty. GM would bounce that warranty claim even before your car left the building.

Diller
'11 Volt Premium
'15 Ford Flex SEL AWD

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Tapatalk

 

[ClarksonCote]

Are the rear rotors truly no good anymore? Will they not pass inspection? My advice would be to buy pads yourself and replace the pads yourself on the rear brakes. It's a real easy job. $450 turns into $50 in parts or less.

 

[Fyodor]

Even if you were still under warranty, I think you would be hard pressed to make a claim, but no, I haven't ever heard of anyone with success with this kind of thing with any kind of car. Perhaps if you could prove an actual defect, e.g. in the parking brake mechanism, but otherwise wear items like brakes are normally not covered.

It's why I pay every two years or so to have my calipers checked, cleaned and lubricated. That was about the pad life on my other cars so I don't complain.

What model year is your car?

 

[turboguy327]

And this is why people should service their brakes even though the manual doesn't say you need to.

 

[dhiller123]

Are the rear rotors truly no good anymore? Will they not pass inspection? My advice would be to buy pads yourself and replace the pads yourself on the rear brakes. It's a real easy job. $450 turns into $50 in parts or less.

If the pads are truly that worn out, the metal will dig into the rotor face, causing grooves. While replacing just the pads would seem like the easy answer, they will wear abnormally with the grooves in the rotors.

Also, be sure to check and make sure the caliper slides aren't sticking or seized. This can also cause abnormal/premature brake wear.

Diller
'11 Volt Premium
'15 Ford Flex SEL AWD

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Tapatalk

 

[Xr7]

I would look at used rotors from a low mile wreck if your rotors show excessive grooves. They should not need to be turned and will be OEM. My guess is they should cost under $50 each and be easy to put on yourself.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/11-15-Chevr...ash=item3ab55da64c:g:AQ8AAOSw5VFWNUN1&vxp=mtr

 

[canehdian]

And this is why people should service their brakes even though the manual doesn't say you need to.

Which is surprising - I mean, what dealer wouldn't love to get that service money on this car

 

[Steverino]

You are not going to get a wear item goodwilled at 60k miles. Sorry, it sucks, but 60k on a regular car is not bad at all. For the $450, make sure they use the GM FNC treated rotors that don't rust. Otherwise you'll have orange rotors in a day.

But this does bring up the benefit of regularly hand-washing the car. You quickly find/see issues and can catch them early before they get big. The rotors did not go bad in a day, there was some early scoring. New pads might have been an inexpensive fix. I wash my Volt weekly (or try to). If a new nick or whatever shows up, you have an idea when it happened and can also fix, repair, paint, replace or ignore as desired. I was inside the garage in winter, but would use a spray and wash if that wasn't an option.

 

[AtomicPowered]

And this is why people should service their brakes even though the manual doesn't say you need to.

The manual says to inspect the brakes and parking brake. It's every 7500 miles.

 

[turboguy327]

The manual says to inspect the brakes and parking brake. It's every 7500 miles.

Inspect does not mean service unfortunately.

 

[Prohidium]

Did the dealer do your tire rotations and inspection? If so, they should have caught this before it got to this point. Also, it would be very odd for both rear brakes to become seized so if anything is happening it would be that the brakes are not releasing properly and are dragging on the routers due to rust and lack of lubrication.

If you did your own rotations, you should have inspected pad thickness which is fairly easy to see when the wheel is off. Lubing the caliber guides is pretty easy too and lots of videos on how to do that.

At any rate, if you can do the work yourself, you can cut the cost in half or better. $450 doesn't sound outrageous if the dealer is doing it.

 

[caronjeff]

I use a grout sponge (available in the tile section of Lowes or Home Depot) and a bucket of warm soapy water. You can compress the sponge and force it between the spokes of the wheels, wiping all the salt and road sand and crap away. Rinse and repeat. I do this after most rains, and especially after frozen snow events! You don't want salt to linger on these brake rotors and calipers. My 2011 brakes look like new. 87,000 miles in Michigan.

 

[Joe67]

I use a grout sponge (available in the tile section of Lowes or Home Depot) and a bucket of warm soapy water. You can compress the sponge and force it between the spokes of the wheels, wiping all the salt and road sand and crap away. Rinse and repeat. I do this after most rains, and especially after frozen snow events! You don't want salt to linger on these brake rotors and calipers. My 2011 brakes look like new. 87,000 miles in Michigan.

I hit the coin operated self serve spray wash weekly during the winter.

 

[hellsop]

Inspect does not mean service unfortunately.

It would mean catching that the pads were dragging and wearing prematurely (well, for a Volt, anyway), though.