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MY PROBLEM ----COPY & PASTED FROM ANOTHER THREAD----
I bought it certified with 14,000 miles. It came with a 36,000 warrenty. I now have 94,000 miles on the vehicle and I am on my fourth set of rotors!! And on top of that I have the original brake pads. As a matter of fact from 14,000 mi to 94,000 my brake pads have not worn at all. Chevy gives you a print out of how much remaining brake pad is left and my brakes have not worn AT ALL in 60,000 miles. Every old school mechanic I talk to says this is a RED FLAG that my brakes are not operating properly. I had to cut the rotors at 30,000, and then at 50,000 they were warped and too thin to resurface. I Replaced them again. At 80,000 I had to have them cut because they were warped. Then at 85,000 I had to have them replaced again because they were warped. I live in Illinois but use the vehicle for a business that has me traveling from state to state. Everytime I take it in the rolling hills of Missouri, of god forbid the mountains of Colorado, after 1 hour of hills or mountains, I can feel that they are warped. Within 1 hour of mountain driving my rotors get to hot that when I brake, my whole steering column shakes and the vehicle swerves to hard that I can barely stay within the lines on the interstate. I seriously feared for my life the four times that this has happened. I have tried to have Chevy look into this and everytime they just slap new rotors on and send me on my way. I keep telling them there is something else wrong. They give a 12,000 mile warrenty on rotors and they are warping in half that time. Chevy has had to replace them for free under warrenty 3 times and I have had to pay once. I feel like all they want to do is slap new parts on instead of finding the problem or having a
RECALL! As a matter of fact my dealer told me that they have a couple other customers that use their Chevy 3500 Express Van as a work truck and that the same thing keeps happening to them. They try to tell me it must be my driving/braking in mountains. First of all I grew up in Colorado and had a 1984 Dodge Ram Van and never put rotors on in less that 100,000. I know how to drive in the mountains. I have spoke to corporate, who agrees something else is wrong but they won't do anything about it. They say they've checked everything. But they won't check the pressure in the master cylander with a gauge. I finally got the service supervisor to admit to me that these vehicles have crappy metal rotors from China and that they have been failing in the saftey lane tests for their ability to brake and stop in the required distance. I bought the 3500 1 ton van because I believed it would last me for years as a work vehicle. I feel that my vehicle was overated to it's weight limit and it cannot stop itself if it has ANY kind of load in the cargo area. It's just really scary because I use it for work and I have to travel to these areas and I fear for my life everytime I drive in the mountains. I am going to be writing to all kinds of people at Chevy as well as the better business bureau. I have already filed a complaint with the US DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTAION HIGHWAY SAFETY ADMINISTATION. THERE NUMBER IS 1-888-37-4236. IF CHEVY RECEIVES 3O OR MORE COMPLAINTS A RECALL INVESTIGATION WILL BE LAUNCHED. I am also going to contact a local Chicago newspaper writer who takes on stories like this when people are wronged by corporations. This isn't really about being wronged as much as it is about being safe.
When I got home I took the van to the local Chevrolet dealership. The local GMC dealer had gone out of business. I explained what had happen. They checked it out and put the following information on my invoice..."SEE BULLETIN NOTE WHEN BRAKES ARE HOT WILL PULSATE THEN WHEN COOLED NORMAL
#843615 PER TAC NO REPAIRS AT THIS TIME CASE #71-877103556 DAVE COPELAND. Wow, what a cop out. They know these brakes are dangerous and won't do anything about it. The owners manual in section 4, item 15, states that "if you don't shift down, the brakes could get so hot that they would not work well, You would then have poor braking or even none going down a hill. You could crash." Unbelievable, but true. Service Manager says this is all my fault due to the upgraded tires and rims on the vehicle. General Manager looking for ways to blame me for this also. Had the tires checked to see if they were the same size as original tires. They were. He wanted me to take trailer back to the High Sierras and use original equipment rims that he would furnish and see if the problem was still there. Initially I said I'd think about it but after see the acknowledgment in the owners manual I felt that would be a waste of time and called back and left a voice mail saying that wasn't going to happen and I would have to try other alternatives. You should of seen all the bees coming out of the hive when I showed up with my picket sign saying "GM SUCKS". I was told the GM would be calling me today.
I would like to set up a case for you and have someone look into this further for you. Please e-mail me with your complete contact information, VIN, current mileage, and involved dealer. I look forward to your response.
Christina
GM Customer Service
Talking to people that were driving next to us they tell us that it looks like it's bouncing so violently that it's going to rip away from the van. Seems focused on the front left side. We've had wheels rotated, brakes done, alignments from several shops. Still having problems with this.
Quite scary when it happens.
https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/ivoq/
You have to request a "Portable form" that is emailed to you. Weird but whatever.
Upgrading to a heavier brake rotor and new tires does seem to have fixed the issue for us. Not sure which was the "trick" but guessing the brakes since rotating the previous tires didn't fix it (those tires were in great shape - just got paranoid and wanted the wife and kids safe so I traded it all out). No problems for about 3 months now. Maybe it's fixed for good? Pray so.
The California Bureau of Automotive Repair wasn't able to do much for me but they did go to the Chevy dealership I had been picketing and stirred things up a bit. The end result was nothing could be done but the dealership realized I wasn't going to go away. The next time I showed up with my picket sign the General Manager came out. I told him about the upgrade I had made and offered him a copy of the bill it if he wanted it. He took the copy and said he would contact GM again and see if he could get a different response from them. I told him I would accept a 50% reimbursement from GM. I also told him to be sure to tell GM that I am retired and have plenty of time to picket and that I was not going to just go away, like I'm sure they were counting on. I also told him I was not looking for reimbursement from his dealership as this was a GM problem, not his.
A week later I received a phone call stating GM would reimburse me my requested 50% as a good will gesture (something like that). One week later I received my check for $1,033.06. PERSISTENCE PAYS OFF! I know most people don't have the time to do what I did, but when you've been wronged don't give up. What's right is right and what's wrong is wrong, and General Motors was wrong to supply us with brakes that are inadequate (according to their own statements). What is needed is a recall on all of those vans, 1500, 2500, and 3500 series.
When I asked them if I'm in 1st gear going down hill and my speed is getting excessive and my brakes shudder violently from earlier braking, what am I supposed to do? They had a great response..... "I don't know".
Thanks for the info, I will check it.
Website aFe is not in use, please check the name: I suggest ATE (is a big brand name)
Greetings from the Netherlands
I haven't had a chance to test my new brakes in the High Sierras mountain range here in California, but will be doing so at the end of July while I'm towing my 7600 pound travel trailer. I hope this works for the both of us.
The mechanic has replaced my hydro-boost twice with re-manufactured parts, and the problem still continues. Any suggestions?
I just happenned to come across this post and decided to contribute my 2 cents. I am from Canada and I rented a GMC Svana 3500 van last July to go to Florida. When we were coming back, just past Beckley on a down slope when I stepped on the brake, the whole van including the steering wheel started to virate very badly. I managed to drive back to Toronto by controlling the speed with gears. I mentioned this to the reental company.
Again I rented another GMC Savana 3500 this month to go to Myrtle beach and just past Morgantown on I-68 the same thing happened. I was surprised to go through this again. I managed the whole trip by driving on low gear.
And now I come across this posts. GM should be ashamed of this.
"GM BRAKES SUCK" were not the kind of signs they wanted in front of their business. I was turned down by GM for any reimbursement. The picketing and persistance was the only thing that got me any reimbursement at all. I told them I would accept 50% reimbursement and gave the general manager a copy of the bill. Good luck. Be persistent. Don't just go away. They are counting on you doing just that....giving up!
I Bought Brembo sport slotted brake discs, http://www.tirerack.com/brakes/results.jsp?autoMake=GMC&autoModel=Savana&autoYea- r=2009&autoModClar=2500+8-Lug. I am very happy, these are oke, no problems with shuddering anymore. I already tried EBC and frozen rotors, both didn't work. Also now I know brake pads are not importand, i my case they are not responsable for shuddering
I am also confused about people who are saying it is the rear brakes that are shuddering. In mine, it does feel like it is the rear that is shuddering but I also can feel the warped rotors pulsing the front brakes at times - particularly braking downhill when the shuddering is not happening. My steering wheel does not shake violently. I can believe that the front rotors are the problem even though it feels like the vibration is coming from the rear or through the drivetrain. Before I experienced the shuddering problem, I had already decided that my rotors should be replaced.
I also get some vibration at higher speeds that feels like out of balance wheels. I had my wheels balanced. Can these warped rotors add to the wheel vibration? Was your ride smoother after replacing them?
So: Is there a separate rear brake problem? Or is all of this really about front rotors?
How sensitive is the choice of replacement rotor? Is a quality brand slotted or slotted and dimpled rotor sufficient?
What brand of rotor should I trust? Obviosly not the GM OEM.
It would be great if anyone can update us on how their repair has held up.
Thanks
I think the issue may be a combination of brakes and suspension design.
Regarding your comment about feeling out of balance while driving normally - we ran into this some.
We saw two types:
#1: a all-the-time mild shake at highway speeds. This occurred even after we had the wheels computer balanced at two different shops.
#2: About once a month it would actually begin the violent front-end-shaking just with normal driving (without braking) where we would have to slow down to <10mph for it to halt. I think it to have been a combination of harmonics of bumps in the road coupling with a possibly warped rotor lightly touching the pads at just the right time.
We verified it wasn't a alignment/caster issue - again checked at two different shops/companies using computer alignment equipment.
Only after changing the brake rotors have these issues resolved.
We've not had the problem for almost a year, with lots of miles. Not one time. I have no doubt the issue is with the rotors (and some collision with the suspension design).
670 Km in few hours, no break problems. Specially the rental company gave me a lot of confidence.
http://www.advantagecarrentals.com/car-rental-toronto-airport