Has GM or anybody else nailed down the brake problems yet? I am at 63,900k now and still on factory brakes. Mine have/have had zero problems. But, for all the other people who have had the problems has GM said anything or have you personally figured it out? Is it fault brake rotors, or calipars? or?

 

We changed the pads and rotors on our 07 hhr today 80 thousand miles inner pads on both sides were almost downto the metal backing plate both outer pads were worn about half way. It looks like in our case the caliphers are sticking on their mounting surface's.

 

I see, i was wondering if it was a faulty calipar although the gong conclusion seems to be cruddy rotors.

 

I would agree with the crappy rotor's I replaced mine with napa rotors and adapitive one pads.

 

I just got the rotors resurfaced and pads replaced at 55K. My HHR is still under extended warranty, if I use aftermarket parts, will it void the warranty?

 

The official word from GM (last I heard) was that certain braking conditions cause excessive lateral runout (LRO) and the vibration under braking. It is not in fact warped rotors, but some brake pad material that sticks to the rotors. Correction under warranty seems to be hit and miss depending on the dealership.
For me it is started by braking from a high speed. I avoid hard braking when possible and use engine braking. If I do start to feel it though, I baby the brakes for a while and slowly scrub them back into shape. I still have 3-4mm left on my pads and rotors after 2.5 years and havent had to service them. Im looking forward to getting aftermarket brakes after these wear out so I wont have to worry about babying them anymore. So far Im leaning toward R1 Concepts, as they are a lot cheaper than EBC and Ive heard good things about them.

 

I think I am going with aftermarket rotors, but probably going to fork out teh cash for GM pads. They have lasted me this long, I might as well stick with what I KNOW works.

 

It seems that driving style might be the big difference. Some people get good mileage out of their brakes and others have problems over and over.

I've seen truck drivers who get 200K on a set of brakes and others who can't get 30K on a similar rig.

 

I say you have found the real answer to all the so called GM/HHR brake problems 79K same pads,rotors and shoes. All about the controling heat

 

From the pictures of your HHR with the solid covers, one would think that heat might be a problem, but apparently not if you have 79K on your brakes.

I wish they would rate automotive brake material like they do commercial vehicle brake material where they rate by the amount of friction. Harder material lasts longer but usually doesn't provide as much friction as softer material. Softer material will stop you faster but will lose some friction as it heats up. I prefer softer material that gives better first application stopping power. I can avoid repeated stops that will raise the temperature and cause fade. Softer pads wear faster but they don't wear the rotors as badly. They don't squeal as badly but they produce more brake dust.

For racing, when the brakes have to be used repeatedly, a harder pad is needed and the rotor material has to be matched to the pad. People put the racing brakes on street cars but these brakes need to be hot to work best.