[k1ng617]

I decided to attempt my first ever pad & rotor replacement and have a whole new respect for people that do this day in and day out. Here are a few things I encountered.

NOTE: I have a 2017 Cruze Premier w/ just under 30k miles. Also, I live in the Northeast where the roads become more salt than actual road in the winter.

Problem #1: All 20 out of 20 lug nuts were swollen and would not fit my 19mm breaker bar in the trunk. Nor would it fit my 19mm driver socket or impact socket. The next size up in my socket kit was 21mm and it was too big. My local Harbor Freight, Autozone, and Advanced Auto didn't have a 20mm 1/2" so had to order one from Amazon.

Autozone had a 20mm 3/8" drive socket, so I gave it a shot and this happened... I'm a dummy for even trying. Some WD40 & a locking oil filter wrench was able to yank the broken socket out thankfully.

I knew the backs were all gouged so those went first. Nothing too unusual here.

However, my fronts were squealing which I thought was really odd because both fronts had plenty of pad and the rotors looked like this:

But, when I got the rotor off, the backs on both were HORRIBLE!

You would think this was a picture of an old pad and a new one, but these are from the same corner. The one of the left is from the backside of the rotor and the right is from the front facing side!

Clearly something is majorly wrong. This was the same on both front brakes.

The guide pins on the front felt stiff and grimy so I pulled them out, cleaned them and re-greased them. I'm hoping that fixes this uneven wearing.

Anyone else see anything like this? Will my re-grease of the guide pins prevent this from happening or is something more wrong? Maybe a frozen piston? It went back in okay it seemed.

 

[JeremyHabetler]

Re-greasing for sure will help, before I finished reading through your post I was thinking about the guide pins. If that's only after 3 years you might want to check more often, maybe every summer, just to make sure the grease is still doing it's thing.

 

[Blasirl]

Welcome Aboard!

Next time yo may want to try a 3/4" socket.

Don't forget to introduce yourself and your Cruze here.

 

[JeremyHabetler]

^ yeah, that too, they're Imperial not metric

 

[plano-doug]

If that's only after 3 years you might want to check more often, maybe every summer, just to make sure the grease is still doing it's thing.

New rears at 30 k miles is highly unusual. I often see them only half used at 100k miles.

The uneven wear indicates that re-lubing the pins was needed. But I wonder if something else is contributing to the uncharacteristically short life - maybe the lube was missing or the pins were bad from the factory?

Doug

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[k1ng617]

New rears at 30 k miles is highly unusual. I often see them only half used at 100k miles.

The uneven wear indicates that re-lubing the pins was needed. But I wonder if something else is contributing to the uncharacteristically short life - maybe the lube was missing or the pins were bad from the factory?

Doug

The pads had plenty of life on the rear axle, but the rotors were pitted/marred and vibrated on heavy braking. I suspect it's the winter salt usage and me not washing off the salt. I also don't drive much so my car can sit for periods at a time. I'm going to be more vigilant this winter w/ bringing my car to a wash after a snow. Hopefully, that will prevent future premature damage like this.

Anyone know of a good/safe anticorrosion method that exists for a car's undercarriage that may help?

 

[MP81]

But I wonder if something else is contributing to the uncharacteristically short life - maybe the lube was missing or the pins were bad from the factory?

That definitely sounds like something was not right from the factory...IMO, that should have been warranty...yeah, brakes are a consumable item, but they don't wear THAT quickly. And when you consider the 2nd gen Cruze is really quite light, they shouldn't be using much of the pads. GM OE pads have quite a good amount of thickness.

The pads had plenty of life on the rear axle, but the rotors were pitted/marred and vibrated on heavy braking. I suspect it's the winter salt usage and me not washing off the salt. I also don't drive much so my car can sit for periods at a time. I'm going to be more vigilant this winter w/ bringing my car to a wash after a snow. Hopefully, that will prevent future premature damage like this.

Anyone know of a good/safe anticorrosion method that exists for a car's undercarriage that may help?

We take ours through a no-touch wash (just preference there, would rather not have anything touching the paint, especially on the Cruze, being black) every week or two during the winter (well, back before...all this, we'll see how often we do it this winter), and that includes an underbody and wheel blast. I'd say that's probably your best course of action.

 

[earichmond]

funny i just did my rotors and pads(r1 concept black slotted drilled) and turned into a multiple day project since a lug stripped and then 2 rotor screws as well, ended up drilling one lol

 

[plano-doug]

Anyone know of a good/safe anticorrosion method that exists for a car's undercarriage that may help?

I guess "move to the sun belt" is not a good answer

Seriously, I was thinking road salt and harsh winters, too, for the accelerated wear.

I grew up on the southern fringes of the rust belt. I can remember driving around with icicles hanging off my F100 for weeks at a time

Doug

.

 

[Noiitekk]

Man those rotors got rekt lol. I'm born and raised in the northeast and haven't had any real problems with severe rust on any of my vehicles over the years. I do go through the no touch car wash every other week throughout the winter though, so that might be a factor. In spring I usually blast the undercarriage with a pressure washer to flush out any of the crud they spray on the roads.

I just did the brakes on mine and my sister's Cruzes last week and didn't have any problems like that. Took me an hour each car to do pads and rotors. I would definitely grease up your caliper slide pins. Looks like they were hopping the pad against the rotor causing that awful wear.

 

[JLL]

Under 30k? Wow. Those are some bad brakes!

 

[k1ng617]

Appreciate all the tips. I'll admit I'm guilty of not caring for my car as much as I should especially living up here. I'll follow your advice and get a car wash regularly and a periodic under carriage spray after they salt the roads.

 

[MP81]

It'll help, and not for a ton of money - plus, you end up with a pretty clean car in the winter, which always feels nice.

 

[Ma v e n]

While it's possible that your car didn't have enough lube on the pins, it's VERY unlikely it was on all 4 calipers. That corrosion is very characteristic of infrequently driven, or short trip only driving in the NE. The rust takes hold to a point where the pads can't burnish it off or it's not driven enough to do so.
Undercarriage washing will go along way, and periodic cleaning and lubing of the pins and shims will help, but nothing is going to solve that problem other than more often and more extensive braking.
I hope you used a brake grease and not wheell bearing/chassis grease to lube everything or you'll have a new concern as all the rubber swells and deteriorates.
And lastly, if that was less than 30k on the factory brakes that had never been services(rotors cut or replaced) be aware that unless you bought new OEM or another rotor with a similar tech to inhibit corrosion, you'll be doing this all over again even sooner.

 

[k1ng617]

While it's possible that your car didn't have enough lube on the pins, it's VERY unlikely it was on all 4 calipers. That corrosion is very characteristic of infrequently driven, or short trip only driving in the NE. The rust takes hold to a point where the pads can't burnish it off or it's not driven enough to do so.

I think you hit the nail on the head. My commute for the last few years has been about a mile each way and if I do stray in between it's usually a quick stop at a local shop. I'll commit to washing/spraying it off more for certain, but if my lack of driving is the cause, sounds like I'll just have to eat it. Thankfully, at least now I have the tools and the know-how to replace them when that time comes again.

 

[phil1734]

That's not so bad. (I'm kidding.)

This was a rear from my Solstice, that I bought from a guy who never drove it because he was convinced it would one day fetch six figures at Barret-Jackson (I paid him $8,000 and that included a plethora of spare parts and collectibles.) Cars need to be driven to stay healthy.

 

[plano-doug]

View attachment 288977

Looks like there are a couple extra holes in that rotor.

Doug

.

 

[pandrad61]

That's not so bad. (I'm kidding.)

This was a rear from my Solstice, that I bought from a guy who never drove it because he was convinced it would one day fetch six figures at Barret-Jackson (I paid him $8,000 and that included a plethora of spare parts and collectibles.) Cars need to be driven to stay healthy.
View attachment 288977

Yah sitting is just as bad as abuse of a driver. Especially for motorcycles and boats.

 

[DerekStoc]

funny i just did my rotors and pads(r1 concept black slotted drilled) and turned into a multiple day project since a lug stripped and then 2 rotor screws as well, ended up drilling one lol

Same thing happened to me.... I'm pretty sure it's a combination of extremely cheap lug nuts, and my local tire store over tightening them... absolutely going to change my tires myself next time.

 

[k1ng617]

So, I have an update. After driving for a full tank, I've noticed my average gas mileage has risen by about 20% if not more. Ever since I bought my car (less than a year old and Chevy Certified) I was always a bit disappointed by my gas mileage. I would average maybe 23-26MPG when doing the math at the pump (I find the measurement in the cluster is always higher), but thought it's because I drive mostly city and can be a bit aggressive w/ the gas and braking. After my brake job, I'm averaging closer to 30MPG which tells me that from the time my car left the dealer my brakes were already rubbing pretty severely which explains the terribly lopsided front brake pads. My latest fill up (picture below), puts me at 31.26MPG (but I did about 100 miles on open highway). Even in the city my instrument cluster is reading closer to 30. I'll have to check again on my next fill up since I will probably be doing more city this tank, but I already see a pretty big difference. Now I'm just thinking of all the gas I wasted and pads I burned for no good reason...