Hi Guys, I don’t know if this is the best place to post these questions but I live in the UK and we don’t have many Chevy dealers over here. My Z28 is 4 years old and it seems to be suffering with bad brakes. The dealer changed the front pads and rotors just before the warranty ran out but just a few months later he had to skim the rotors and now the steering is juddering again, He said that Chevy’s just eat breaks but I don’t believe him, if I ask him to change them again the job will cost me over £450, that’s about $730.
My questions are
Is this true, Chevy’s just eat breaks
What causes the rotors to go bad?
How much would a dealer in the US charge?
Would it be an easy job to do myself?
Is there a Camaro club in the UK where I could get good advise?

 

I assume you have an LS1 car if it's 4 years old. If so, I have heard people have problems with rotors warping often, but it hasn't happened to me personally yet.

If your car is an LT1, then I would say yes, the rotors are prone to premature warping. I drive a 1996 V6 but as you probably know, the front brakes are the same on V6 and V8 cars. My rotors warped frequently and I believe it's because of the single piston caliper design used on the 93-97 cars.

So, last time they warped, instead of buying new rotors only for my existing brakes, I bought a complete LS1 front brake assembly from a junk yard off a car that had only 6000 miles on it, for $334 shipped, and changed them myself. The install was, in my opinion, relatively easy. You just need some brute force to knock rusty steering knuckles loose when taking the old brakes off. That was the toughest part for me so I had to get my father to help me for that.

LS1 front brakes are a dual piston design and I haven't have any rotor warping problems in 2 years now.

Give us some more info and maybe we can give you the right advice. Again, if your car is 1998 or newer, I don't know what you could do. I'm sure someone else will chime in for that.

 

I replaced all 4 rotors with pads, all the way around at Monroe Mufffler and Brake here in Columbus for $330...Mines an LT1 though, are the LS1's that much more expensive??

 

I'm sure the parts are imported to the UK which would sky rocket the price. Probably warped rotors from what you've described. Get some aftermarket Powerstop or Powerslot rotors. As far as I know they're made of stronger metal.

 

Thanks, I did not expect such a quick reply.
Yes my car is an LS1 and it has only done 35000 miles.
I don’t do many miles and I don’t break hard, I do however accelerate pretty hard, good for confusing other UK drivers that don’t know what a Camaro is.
The brakes were fine until the car was 2 1/2 years old and then the steering started to judder badly under braking.
The car came with a 3 year warranty so the dealer agreed to replace the front pads and rotors, then 3 months later it started again, I went back to the dealer and because the warranty had now run out he said that he would not replace them again but would have the rotors skimmed.
Now, 6 months later they have gone bad again and they can’t be re-skimmed. And $730 every 6 months just for breaks seem a bit much.
From what you say my Camaro uses dual pistons and should not be a problem, maybe the replacement rotors were faulty and a new pair may be OK? If so I have the choice of taking it back to the Chevy dealer so that he can use GM parts or to a Corvette restorer that may be able to use alternative parts, what would you do ?
Also, do you think it is OK to just change the rotors and keep the discs?

 

Dual piston calipers help stop warping, they are much better than the single piston ones, but still, yeah you could have warping problems with them. Mine have been fine but I have heard many people complain of rotors warping too often on their LS1 cars.

The most the shop should do is change the rotors. And I don't know how much it should cost, but if I were you, I'd buy my own rotors and change them myself. It's not difficult at all.

I've heard from many LS1 owners that Powerslot rotors do warp less often, so you might want to look into that. Still I say change them yourself. Rotors should be ~$400 new for both. It would be easy to find out anyway if I am wrong.

I don't know what you mean by "is it OK to just change the rotors and keep the discs?" Changing the rotors only is what you want to do. Well..... unless there's a chance your calipers might be faulty? I hadn't thought of this before. What does the shop say the problem is exactly? Rotors? Calipers? Both? I guess both if they want to charge you $730.

 

A lot of early model LS1s had rotor warping problems. I thought most work done by a GM dealer was warrantied with a 12 month/12000 mile warranty on parts and labor.

 

The brakes need to be done in my '98 Z. I went to a few brake places, and it was $750 bucks here. I need 4 rotors, new pad all around - and maybe 2 new front calipers.

..........that was 3 months ago, and the car hasn't moved since. I'm just going to save up for the after market rotors and pad and do it myself. Using better then stock parts, I should still be able to save myself around $100-$200 bucks.


Hope this helps.

 

haveing the rotors machined or "skimmed" is pretty much asking for them to warp, you are makeing them thinner which makes them more prone to warping, new rotors will last much longer than machined rotors. You may also want to check your calipers, if they are not greased correctly or have seized they will keep pressure on the brakes even when you let off the petal, which will warp the rotors in a hurry.

RRios8191: Are you sure you got new rotors?? I am working at a monro muffler here in ct for the summer and that sounds about what we would charge to machine and put new pads all the way around, rotors for these cars are about $90 a piece i believe, just curious.

 

My ex-girlfriend was charged 400$ for new front pads and rotors but it was on her 96 Z. We replaced all 4 pads and rotors for 230$ on my buddies 97 today. With good parts from a parts store near my house. Unless you are hard on them or go through alot of puddles they shouldn't warp. Rotors often warp from rapid cooling (driving through puddles with hot rotors). I've had the same rotors for 45k miles and never even cut them so I dont think its a common thing. If I were you I would mail-order some aftermarket ones. A bear kit would be the best but they are pricey. Im sure somone on LS-1 tech can tell you the best brake rotors if you ask there.

 

Wait, I'll run outside and look............Okay. I'm back!!! Just kidding!! Yeah, I am the biggest cynic nowadays when I have work done on my car. They certainly looked new to me, not just machined down. I remember because he pointed out to me Personally, underneath the lift and showed me how thin my rotors were. All I really wanted was pads anyway..I told him I didn't have too much to spend because I was just moving into a new townhouse with my girlfriend..Maybe I got lucky and got a deal somehow..I guess some shops are different from others, WHO KNOWS!! DO you guys ever work with the price on some jobs as well?? Is Monroe a Franchise??

 

I can't offer a whole lot of help, but I just want to salute you for having the HUGE NADS to drive a car with the size and visibility of the Camaro in the UK.

My wife and I spent our honeymoon there in 2001 and rented a Ford Puma to get around, and I swear that car was too big at times! We drove over 2000 miles in the course of 2 1/2 weeks in that car. By the time we were going home, we were having dreams about huge free parking lots, 8-lane roads, and lanes that were wider than the car by more than six inches.

Where are you located? We're going back this September . . .

For the rest of you, a Ford Puma is at least three feet shorter than our f-bodies--maybe four!

 

Yes, we will help people out on the price from time to time, and you definatly got some help lol. Yea, monro is a franchise, and a pretty profitable one at that. All the stores are company owned, they supply just about all of their own parts which have a rediculous mark up (your rotors are usually about 90 each and you got 4 and pads for 350 and i'll bet they still made money), and they pay their employees s**t, but you diden't hear any of that from me

 

one thing that is also critical in brake rotor warping is actually torquing the lug nuts to spec... not using an impact wrench...

use an actual torque wrench and it shoudl reduce some of the warpage..

my GF's Jetta is EXTREMELY snesitive to this. If I torque the weel studs to the spec then the rotors don;t warp.. but if I used an impact or didn;t torque them to spec they warped every time.

 

Thats odd, and what isa spec 80? 90? foot pounds?
or in his case NMs
I've always used a tire Iron, and I've changed rims about 40 times in the past 2 years. no problems...........