Premature brake replacement

Pyrojodge · January 17, 2023

Hello all,

I am one of the unfortunate people that just had to replace my rear rotors, brake pads, and wear sensor because I live in the northern United States where corrosion is going to happen. Apparently how the brake pad wear sensor held the area can corrode which allows the sensor to move into a position where it causes wear to the rotor and the sensor eventually causing an error message about your BRAKE PAD MONITOR SYSTEM needs attention. This is an $800 bill for me to replace 80% remaining brake pads and good rotors and the sensor because of GM's engineering choice for this system. I'm curious if anyone else on here has run into this issue and what the chances are of GM stepping up if there's enough of us having to replace components that are still in fantastic shape? I wonder how many of their vehicles use this same set up and how many issues this has caused.

2019 High Country 64k miles for reference.

newdude · January 17, 2023

45 minutes ago, Pyrojodge said:

Hello all,

I am one of the unfortunate people that just had to replace my rear rotors, brake pads, and wear sensor because I live in the northern United States where corrosion is going to happen. Apparently how the brake pad wear sensor held the area can corrode which allows the sensor to move into a position where it causes wear to the rotor and the sensor eventually causing an error message about your BRAKE PAD MONITOR SYSTEM needs attention. This is an $800 bill for me to replace 80% remaining brake pads and good rotors and the sensor because of GM's engineering choice for this system. I'm curious if anyone else on here has run into this issue and what the chances are of GM stepping up if there's enough of us having to replace components that are still in fantastic shape? I wonder how many of their vehicles use this same set up and how many issues this has caused.

2019 High Country 64k miles for reference.

You did good making it 64k. We replace them on trucks as early as 15,000mi on this new body style. Don't expect any help from GM, especially that far out of bumper to bumper.

The only thing that would work for longer life on the new brakes is preventative maintenance aka once a year have everything cleaned and lubricated on the front and rear brakes, which should be done anyways to prolong their life. Especially in the salt belt.

Edited January 17, 2023 by newdude

Bikerjon · January 22, 2023

On 1/17/2023 at 1:21 PM, newdude said:

You did good making it 64k. We replace them on trucks as early as 15,000mi on this new body style. Don't expect any help from GM, especially that far out of bumper to bumper.

The only thing that would work for longer life on the new brakes is preventative maintenance aka once a year have everything cleaned and lubricated on the front and rear brakes, which should be done anyways to prolong their life. Especially in the salt belt.

Hey newdude, exactly where and how do you clean and lubricate the brakes? Are you referring to the mounting area for the brake pad wear sensor? If so I will do it to my Trail Boss when it warms up.

Thank you for any advice on this.

newdude · January 22, 2023

31 minutes ago, Bikerjon said:

Hey newdude, exactly where and how do you clean and lubricate the brakes? Are you referring to the mounting area for the brake pad wear sensor? If so I will do it to my Trail Boss when it warms up.

Thank you for any advice on this.

You can clean the wear sensor area if its possible yes. Brake dust can accumulate.

I'm talking about the pad mounting area so the pad hardware clips or in the case of the front brakes on these, the pins that hold the pads in place should be cleaned and lubricated to keep everything free and sliding. Things bind up, pads stick in the brackets or the calipers and then things wear out wrong or fast.

Adammrtl27 · January 3

This never used to be an issue. When I was a kid my dad used to get two brake changes before needing to change his rotors. My mom drives a Toyota as a traveling nurse and gets 45,000 miles between brake jobs. My oldest brother used to fix old cars, we would drive a car out of a junkyard, pump the brakes and clear the rust off the rotors...

Meanwhile I've leased 4 or 5 GMC vehicles over the last few years and I'm currently sitting in the shop with a 2.7 year old truck, with 26000 miles looking at a $700+ brake job.

I'd like GMC to explain why I should lease a Toyota next?

KARNUT · January 3

The more I read this forum the more convinced I am about not buying any new GM. Or any newer vehicle before joining the appropriate vehicle forum. My Avalanche had one brake job in 180K miles. My Odyssey just had one at 130K. My wife’s Genesis with mostly in town driving one axle in 132K miles. Why in the world do we need sensors to tell us we need new brakes? Go to the dealer once in a while they will check. If nothing else you can hear it.

Theynine · April 27

Bulletin No.: 21-NA-089 issued March 23 2023 states that a sh!tty caliper design allows dirt and debris to get in there and cause early pad wear. They say there is a revamped version available with a mud shield of sorts. They also say its the customers problem to pay for it. And the caliper itself runs for close to $600! EACH! Screw these guys! I have the ‘YOU REPLACED PARTS DO YOU WANT TO RESET THE ALERT SCREEN’ thing going on now, even though the brake monitor screen says 60 70 wear left. Ive got 39,000 on the 2021 Silverado RST so I decided to check it out and the rear pads are indeed quite low. So I guess the YOU REPLACED PARTS DO YOU WANT TO RESET thing is actually your pad wear indicator, not the screen with percentages on it, cus thats full of ******. THIS SHOULD BE A PAID FOR RECALL!

silveradosid · April 28

the part gm should pay for is to recailbrate the monitoring system. it is absolute bullcrap that a sensor reads 70 % brake pad left when it is actually worn right out. this is dangerous, because if you believe what the truck says you could have a brake failure. my left rear sensor was against the rotor and worn down to almost nothing and still said i had 60 percent brake pad left

Edited April 28 by silveradosid

slimjim2525 · April 29

Is there a total aftermarket replacement for this system? Calipers and all?

Ryan2017 · Monday at 06:46 PM

My 2024 ultimate Sierra had the brakes go 27,000 km after the break sensor light came on and was giving me warnings on my dash GM provided no support for this refused to acknowledge it even a problem as a few of my buddies had the same thing happened as well

BIGDOGx · Wednesday at 07:32 PM

On 1/17/2023 at 2:21 PM, newdude said:

You did good making it 64k. We replace them on trucks as early as 15,000mi on this new body style. Don't expect any help from GM, especially that far out of bumper to bumper.

The only thing that would work for longer life on the new brakes is preventative maintenance aka once a year have everything cleaned and lubricated on the front and rear brakes, which should be done anyways to prolong their life. Especially in the salt belt.

I know this post is old but wow, did it change after the 18 model year? My 14 is just now needing rear's done at 10 years and around 73,000 miles..

newdude · Wednesday at 07:36 PM

2 minutes ago, BIGDOGx said:

I know this post is old but wow, did it change after the 18 model year? My 14 is just now needing rear's done at 10 years and around 73,000 miles..

Yes brake system is all new, as are all the calipers. Seems to be a couple things going on leading to early replacement, especially the rears. Items getting lodged into the pads, pads hanging up in the brackets on the side the wear sensor is on, rotors get some nasty ridges and grooving. We've already done them on used 2022 and 2023s they've been buying in for used cars. The rotors seem to be the biggest thing on those so far.

BIGDOGx · Wednesday at 08:17 PM

Seeing as i am needing brakes soon what would you recommend for pads and rotors? I was always of the school of thought that OEM GM brake components are usually the best and longest lasting, certainly not the cheapest though.

Grumpy Bear · Wednesday at 08:39 PM

1 hour ago, BIGDOGx said:

I know this post is old but wow, did it change after the 18 model year? My 14 is just now needing rear's done at 10 years and around 73,000 miles..

9 years, 3 months and some odd days. 181,000 on the OEM set with allot left in the pad/rotor. They dumbed it down and want ME to pay for the 'fix'? How bout I don't buy it at all and save twice what I paid for the first truck? :mad:

1 hour ago, newdude said:

Yes brake system is all new, as are all the calipers. Seems to be a couple things going on leading to early replacement, especially the rears. Items getting lodged into the pads, pads hanging up in the brackets on the side the wear sensor is on, rotors get some nasty ridges and grooving. We've already done them on used 2022 and 2023s they've been buying in for used cars. The rotors seem to be the biggest thing on those so far.

That is just wrong at every level. :nonod:

newdude · Wednesday at 09:00 PM

42 minutes ago, BIGDOGx said:

Seeing as i am needing brakes soon what would you recommend for pads and rotors? I was always of the school of thought that OEM GM brake components are usually the best and longest lasting, certainly not the cheapest though.

The OE stuff is what I use, I just always make sure to tear it all down once a year and clean and lube everything. If you do that, most any brakes should last a while.