General Gen 5 questions / Brake troubleshooting [Archive] - Chevy Malibu Forum: Chevrolet Malibu Forums

: General Gen 5 questions / Brake troubleshooting


2004Classic
05-20-2010, 03:49 PM
As i've come to find out, our particular cars are prone to warping the front rotors. Simple question, is there anyway of fixing this? I bought new rotors about 5-10k miles ago and its coming back already.

Second question, when i put new rotors on i also put new pads on / had to buy a new caliper because the old one was sticking and causing the pads to prematurely wear down. After this and atleast 6 months later i have this INTENSE cracking sound from 15mph and lower. I mean this is really embarrassing, it sounds like someone walking over a thicket of broken sticks to describe it the best. When i did the brake job im thinking i may have let some air in while bleeding the brakes, would this have any relation? or is it something else.

Regardless ill probably get a video and put it up.

Edit- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JT1qeH08HZQ
video its hard to hear, but read what i said it sounded like and you'll know what to listen for.

chevyguy8893
05-20-2010, 06:58 PM
Best bet for the warping rotors is go with some slotted rotors and ceramic pads to help dissipate the heat as best as possible. Slotted and drilled don't offer any more benefits in this case, and some slotted and drilled rotors can crack. Generally once a rotor warps it is prone to do it easier in the future. Once does start happening you can have the rotors refinished to get rid of the warping, but it may come back. You could try refinishing the rotors you have now and put some ceramic pads on to see if it helps. There are some small places that will refinish rotors cheap if you take them off and bring them to the business. Around here Napa and Carquest do it really cheap.

As for the noise iI haven't heard anything like that so a video would be helpful.

2004Classic
05-20-2010, 07:03 PM
added video, read edit.

chevyguy8893
05-20-2010, 07:11 PM
Sounds like something may be shifting when the brakes are applied and come in contact with the rotor. Just do a visual inspection of the brakes to see if there is anything that may be close. Check the pads at the same time to make sure nothing came apart. This is about all I do when customers have noise issues with brakes and generally I can see the problem. Maybe someone else can shed more insight into that noise.

DrivenDaily
05-20-2010, 07:32 PM
Your video was too short to hear more than just a split second of noise.

Check your wheel covers for proper installation, or remove them and drive again.

Check to be sure you installed the anti-rattle springs (or clips) that come with just about every disc pad set I've seen. If none did (or none were pre-installed in the kit) you may have to do some dumpster diving to retreive your old ones and re-use them. Failing that see about buying replacements (if you discover that you have none).

There are likely other suggestions that can be made, but here's a place to start. Tell us what you finally find is the cause.