I had to get front brakes, including rotors, replaced on a 2001 Chevy 2500hd CC 6.0 yesterday. The truck has somehere around 37k miles of light duty usage. Pads were not yet worn out, but rotors had builtup areas of rust causing uneven pad wear. The mechanic says this is a common problem with these trucks. Comments welcomed. David
Your right on target . Had mine done at 35,000. Suks donut!
This is typical with the newer trucks. The pads would literally last forever, but the rotors rust out on the inside surfaces. I'm not sure that pads that last forever is a great thing. Eventually, brake pads, calipers, slides...etc need to be maintained....but it isn't happening with the new style trucks. Lack of lubrication eventually causes the pads to stick/stop moving and you get the rotors rusting from poor/little pad contact with the rotor. This is strictly my opinion.
Ian
OK, I'm confused........ Explain the rusting out from the inside?
When I think about how a disk brake works I'm having a hard time with the idea that the PADS are still good, and the rotors are "rusted out"? The hydraulic pressure that presses the pads against the rotors is massive. I can see the pads, slides, calipers, etc, having a problem and not RELEASING the pads from the rotors. Which would cause the rotors and pads to wear unevenly and the truck to pull and a lot of other undesirable things to happen... But HOW do you get a vehicle that isn't pushing the pads AGAINST the rotors? And if it isn't making contact between the pads and rotors isn't it immediately apparent 'cause the truck doesn't stop? Or pulls wildly?
What am I miss>I had to get front brakes, including rotors, replaced on a 2001 Chevy 2500hd
I didn't see the rotors myself. This truck was my personal company truck, handed down to an employee in January. As I interpret the situation, rust was building up around the outer perimeter, where I *think* there are some slots or recesses machined into the rotor, perhaps to assist in cooling the rotors. The brakes were indeed still working well, but making noise. IIRC, the pads don't make contact all the way out at the edge of the rotors, though I would have to look to confirm this.
Hm... Interesting... Well, maybe I'll find out at 35K or so... but it sounds a little odd that they'd be concerned about an area of the rotor where the pad doesn't even touch.
I doubt that they would be concerned about that. If so, then they may just be scamming....looking for work. The fact is that I've seen many higher mileage new style trucks that the inner brake pads seem to get stuck on their slides and often the inner rotor surface starts to get quite rusty. The pads certainly are not worn, but they don't seem to be contacting the rotor surface.
Another good reason to have some sort of brake "servicing" done at a reasonable mileage, but this is extremely hard to justify to a customer. It ends up being much more simple to just machine the rotors, and install new pads.
Ian
MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.