Probably everyone but me knows this...rear brake pads and rotors may wear out more quickly than the fronts. This truck only has 36875 miles on it (I bought it new) and I have been carefully watching the fronts...rotors OK and pads have 1/3 left. I have never had a vehicle that I bought new wear out the rears before the front, so had not checked the rears for awhile.

So, this week I hear unnatural noises coming from the right rear. Pulled the wheel and found the outside of the rotor rusty and pitted...plus gouged out from the "squealer". Outside pad was gone and the left side was in almost the same shape. Inside surface of both rotors was good; outsides were both very rusty, very pitted, and taking out the pads.

I don't know if the rotors were made of bad metal or what, but I wish I had watched better. Also, the stinking squealer did not do any squealing, it just gouged out the rotor!! Seems like I remember squealers being made of thin, springy metal that would not tear the rotors up too bad...must be a design improvement!

Anyway, ran down to Carquest for rotors and pads...all is well, now.

Gerald

 

I have heard 'not good' things about the rear disc brakes on the Chevy trucks.
How unfortunate is that?
The fact of having rear disc, from the factory, on a pickup sounds like a great thing but, when I got my 'new body style' 2007, in 2007.... it had drum rear brakes! I was disappointed but apparently there is a reason why there was a switch back.

 

I've got 4 wheel disc brakes on my 07 NBS and I find my brakes are wearing reasonably evenly. but I service my brakes every other oil change. Brake calipers require servicing in order to slice efficiently. If the pistons/caliper can't slide.. They will not brake evenly or may possibly bind and wear prematurely.

 

I think you are right about their needing more frequent servicing, especially on the rear. One factor may be how the vehicle is used. This one was not used a lot and seldom had any heavy braking. I'm thinking drum brakes would tolerate this type usage better.

I noticed when taking off the old pads that they did not look like they would slide very well. And most of the rear braking was being done on the inside of the rotors. This allowed the outsides to rust up and then wear the pads prematurely...maybe?

When I cleaned up the hardware, applied brake grease, and installed the new pads, I noticed that a couple pads did not slide very well. I don't know if this was kosher or not, but I used a file to clean up the pad ends until they were free to slide. Never had to do that on any other pad replacement; it looks like the design of these pads and the slide hardware is such that they will bind very easily.

Anyway, I plan to watch more closely in the future and maybe get on the brakes a little more aggressively once in a while.

Gerald

 

Just a follow-up on this thread. It turned out that the job was not done after the rotor and pad replacement.

The left rear caliper would not properly release (the original problem showed up on the right rear). I released the fluid pressure by opening the bleeder and that did not help, so the problem was within the caliper. I tried to free it up, but with no success. The cylinder was not gummed up and the piston did not look bad. It was not a metal piston. I can only conclude there was some sort of interference between piston and cylinder. I would have liked to do some more detective work on it, but AutoZone took it as core.

Anyway, bought two re-man calipers and we are back in business, for now. The re-man calipers also did not have metal pistons.

Well, they say there is a first for everything. This is the first time I've ever had rear brake problems before 40,000 mi. and the first time a caliper (of mine) has ever failed in 50 years of DIY brake jobs.

Gerald

 

I just had a caliper fail on the front of my truck... did exactly what you mentioned your rears were doing. I should have known something was up when replaced the original rotors (140,000 miles) and the inside of one of them was worn through to the bars while the outside was still good.

My truck was ridden hard on dirt roads for 140,000 miles before this surfaced... I can't beleive 40,000

 

at 160k, my 4-wheel disc silverado is still on the original set of pads, and rotors ... lots of suburban miles ... fluid reservoir is still high, never topped off

 

I got 120,000 on my 04 Sierra with the original factory pads. Fluid level is still high and pads are thick. Check them every 5,000 miles when tires are rotated and balanced. Factory pads are suppose to be made of ceramic material on the 04s and up. My buddy's 01 wore out the rear pads 1st too. Rumor had it the fronts on the earlier models where ceramic and the rears where made of cheaper material. Just a rumor, but never found any factual evidence on the theory.

 

Sounds like you keep close track of your brakes. My practice has always been to start checking the fronts at 20,000 mi. and the rears at 40,000. In this case, that was not good enough.

This is only the second vehicle I've had with disc rears. The other, a LeSabre, went over 60,000 mi. before needing rears.

One thing I found while getting the Silverado straightened out is that the rear disc system uses two different caliper set-ups; mine has a single piston, but several models use a two piston caliper. Maybe the two piston set-up is less prone to problems. Also, the pistons not being metal may have been part of the problem. As I said in my post #4, the design of the pad holders/slides on my truck looks like it would cause the pads to easily get stuck (and they were stuck). Anyway, I hope maybe someone will benefit from this discussion.

Gerald

 

Yeah I try to keep a pretty regular visual inspection of the brakes front and rear while Discount Tire has the truck up on the rack. And I am pretty unsure of teh rear disk, because it is my 1st rear disk setup. Heard of many problems from friends like you have mentioned. I am unsure if I have a single or dual piston setup. MAybe I need to due a thorough inspection. Thanks for the good information on your ordeal.