k5hart

The only person who's touched the car is the dealer. I'm sure they will turn them again but at this point I wouldn't trust that they wouldn't warp again. I may go with the aftermarket rotors if I keep it. Thanks for the info on the warranty! Gas mileage can't be effected to bad. It would be worth the aggrevation.

burbhhr

Dealer charged me $135 to turn rotors. This is the third time in year and a half. Went to aftermarket place to get them replaced. After a while the technician comes to see me and asks me why I'm getting brakes. The brakes are fine, rotor smooth, plenty of pad left. I tell him how I've had them cut three times now as a result of having to stop at highway speeds. He recommended trying to lemon law the car and get my money back. It is certainly acting like a lemon.

tim_tenn

I had the brake rotor issue with my '03 Impala. A bit of research showed me I wasn't alone. Resurface twice (first time at 10,000). Then dealer put on new set of rotors. These were resurfaced twice as well. Then put on a set of aftermarket rotors (not expensive ones, but not GM OEM either) and these did not require resurfacing before trading it in on my HHR at 108,000 miles. I have 5,000 on my HHR now, and plan to replace the original equipment rotors with a set of better rotors. Don't want to go through the resurfacing again.

pitbull76

Burb, I really think that the problem was caused by incompetent techs at your last tire rotation, not stopping from high speeds. If stopping from high speed killed HHR rotors, there'd be a lot more screaming going on here. It's just easiest to notice warped rotors when stopping from high speeds. Also, lemon law is a PITA. Not worth it for just a replacement set of rotors. Take a minute, step back, and think about the situation. The rotors warping is scary, but the fix won't be that expensive. Get it done for peace of mind, and hold onto your $$$. It'll cost a LOT more to dump the HHR and trade into something else. And then make sure that anyone that rotates your tires uses a torque wrench or torque sticks when putting the lugnuts back on the car. I sure hope whoever checked out the brakes yesterday did just that, or they might be warping again soon.

solman98

$135 to turn rotors? And this is (by your record) the thrid time? Most rotors can only be turned once during their lifetime. Unless the only cut an extremely low amount off. I personally have never had an issue with GM rotors. My last truck I had to replace them at 120K. The HHR is 1.5years old now and no problems with the rotors either (I do my own work). Working on the fleet end, I can say it seems to be the drivers that kill rotors. We literally have thousands of GM cars on the road and only a select few agencies have rotor issues, and they are hard on the cars.

BTW, Give me any car with any set of rotors you want on it and I'll warp them within 100 miles.

YMMV

wingfeather

No rotor problems here. Guess I'm lucky.

tim_tenn

Our '01 GMC Sierra 1500 went 139,000 without any -- repeat ANY -- brake work at all. Not even replacement of pads. Granted, they had less than 10% left at time of trade-in, but still damn good!

JESSE

My rotors were cut twice by 36,000 miles and still had vibration. Went out and bought EBC's rotors with EBC's Red stuff pads and have not had any problems since. Imo They were worth the $$ and I would reccomend them to anyone wanting to upgrade their brakes.

TY&HHR

Ours got turned for the 5th time last Monday. Got less than 5,000 miles to go before warranty expires. Then I will get replacements and put them on myself.

burbhhr

Thank you to everyone for talking me off the proverbial ledge. Purchased EBC drilled rotors today, and EBC green pads. I decided against the costly trade-in as everything else about this car I really love. I will however, never return to the dealership I bought my HHR and I had factory recommended services performed. I feel they should have covered the last machining $135 under warranty. Still might push for that. I also suspect, thanks to the many qualified suggestions here, that the torque lug nut issue could be partly to blame.
Again, thank you... I was really upset and hot about this... and thanks for your valuable suggestion. Here's to hoping the ebc aftermarket upgrade is the solution.