Our H3 is at the 18k mile mark too with mainly highway drivingbut we stillpad left and the brakes still feel good.

I know that brake jobs are considered maintanence and are typically not covered under warranty. I wonder if this is still the case if your pads are not worn outbut you have uneven wear on your rotors? Could this be considered a defect and covered under warranty? I'd ask the dealer.

Rotors usually last through a set of pads or two. I'd be pissed if I had to pay for new rotors when my pads are only halfway through their expected life.

 

Brakes are 12/12 on the H3. Even the rotors. If you have a nice dealer, they'll warranty the bake job for you as "goodwill" to GM. With 18K and in need of brakes, they could still say it's the driver. no offense. Anything outside of 12/12 we wont warranty it when it comes to brakes. We charge $300 plus tax to turn the front rotors and install new pads. good luck!

 

Dennis, Dennis, Dennis..why is it always a womans fault.

 

I was just teasing...

 

Seriously though..Brakes are tricky to call...Usually most of the OM stuffis pretty good, but like anything, some bad apples squeak through and end up being bad after a few miles..Honestly there is not much to blame on the driver in the case of premature warpage or any warpage for that matter...could be they were broke in wrong, i.e., high speed braking, excessive stop and go type traffic, etc...The fact of matter is, that hardly anyone can take the time or effort to properly break in the brakes...What I suspect happened and it happens to the rears more as mentioned above, is when you drive around a few miles with the parking brake on, then you release it afterseeing your error and then have to stop for traffic and the scortched Pads burn in a spot on the rotors and these end up getting worse over time and end up with the warped rotor syndrone...But it also could boil down to material defect in the rotors..but usually just one side or the other, not both sides at the same time, unless they where both exposed to strenuous braking at the same time, such as with the parking brake on...I think everyone has done that a time or two...But the key to this or any hard braking, is to never come to a complete stop, keep the wheels rolling, until the pads and rotors have a chance tocool down some.

 

The only problem with that Dennis, is the parking brake is a small set of shoes inside of the rotor. the pads are only for stopping, so if you forgot to release the parking brake, all you have done is fried your parking brake.

 

wow i need to go up on my prices
i do them all the time for $150 to $160
and thats for ceramic pads (no noise and almost no dust)
and turn the2 rotors

 

Key word ther Linus is FRIED...I speak from experience...On a 92 300E Benz I had for 12 years..One day the significant other forgot to release the parking brake...it was driven like that for only a couple of miles and then relesed..soon afterward the car developed a terrible shimmy when stopping..I pulled the rear Drum/Rotors like the H3 has and the rotor faces were actually blued from the heat, migrating from the center drum area all across the face of the rotor..Granted you maybe correct in what you eluded to, that the regular pads did not suffer any excessive wear and the really wouldn't have either for only a couple of miles had they been acting as the parking brake..anyways, the parking brake shoes were not that much worse the wear either and had plenty of life left to them...But the heat they created, was enough to warp the rotors severly...What stands out about Jen's first post that leads me in this direction,is that her service guy saidRear ROTORS are BAD and nothing about worn PADS....Classic Parking Brake left on senerio.

 

I have had that same problem, When I braked I would get a grinding noise just before I came to a stop. I have taken it to the dealer twice and they resurfaced the rotors both times. They know about the problem, I have an 06, 23k miles, they said the rotors had a glaze from getting to hot, just the rear had the problem, first they put a swirl pattern on the rear rotors which worked for awhile. It came back about a month ago and thi time they just did a normal resurfacing job. I am worried they aren't going to last much longer. They are good now. I do drive in the lovely san diego traffic every day but I use my gears ( auto trans ) and I know I dont ride my brakes or brake hard. I have never had this problem with other cars on the same commute. They are covered under warranty, take it back to the dealer. I think the brakes are just to small for the truck.

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I see your point Dennis. I wasn't looking at it from the perspective of what the heat from the drum would do, only form what the pads would do in a normal warping scenario. That makes sense.

My biggest gripe of this style of parking brake is that even if you properly apply the brake, it is still too easy to drive off with it on. Back in the days when the parking brake used the regular brake parts, if you properly put engaged the brake, you would know there was a problem as soon as you tried to move. I know this from first hand experience. When I was 16 I was showing off to some of my friends by doing burnouts in my Scout. The last one I did I set the parking brake. I forgot about the brake and did one more. I busted the driveline, not a u-joint, but twisted the tube in two. You could also use the brake in an emergency. Now you cant.