Has anyone had to replace their Brake Pads yet, well folks I have that Ripped off feeling that we have come to enjoy since purchasing this car. I went to Hubacher Cadillac and was told that squeal indeed was what I feared, that pads in the front were worn next to nothing(was lucky the rotors were not damaged). How could brake pads wear down to nothing in less than a year? I picked up my 1sc 2005 in March of last year. When I told the service manager, that it could be the calipers, pads, or the rotors that may be possibly be defective he LOL :tisk: has anyone heard of any problems that might be covered under warranty or am I just out 470$. Would a complaint to GM help or would that be a waste of time? He also stated I have possibly 6K to 7K left on the rear brake pads...:bigroll:

Am I crazy or is this normal...?? I have never not changed my pads past the 10K mark. How many miles do U have? 19K??? My GOD I amazed that U let it get that far...


I understand if U have to pay $470 to have it done, but I personally do mine myself, on all my cars. It is one of the only things left for a "SHADE TREE Mechanic" to do to one of these types of cars these days.

I changed the pads at 800mi. I was having the reported grinding noise when braking or releasing the brake. All covered under warranty. They also replaced the bushings first thinking it was comming from the suspension. I think there is another thread on this topic. Try looking down a little.

I put new pads on the Q45 every 12-18 months. Honestly, 19k isnt that bad for a performance car.

I had to replace front pads and rotors at 25k and rear pads two weeks later. I put 50k on a '02 and 107k on a '97 and never changed a thing. Replaced front tires on my '05 STS4 1SG at 30,500 mi. and went to 255/45ZR18s (same as rear size). BIG difference! The rears are only half gone, if that. Pay no attention to recommended tire pressures. I'm running 40 psi front and 34 psi rear (cold). Higher pressures (and bigger fronts) really eliminated the mushy feeling and improved the responsiveness. They look better, too.

So I guess, the 19K is about average. I figured I would have the dealer do it this time, but I would like to try it my self next time. Anything I should know before attempting the brakes myself. I have done it before on other cars with disk brakes, but never on any with ABS.

I read this post two nights ago and realized yesterday that my brakes are squealing at 27K highway miles. I have not had a car in recent history wear brakes out this rapidly. My 03 CTS (also with performance package) was over 50K before requiring brakes. Prior two GM cars went even further. The quality of this vehicle is taking me WAY back with GM, seems like the GM of eighties!
The quality "bar" has been raised way beyond what Cadillac delivers and they don't give a crap.
This is NOT typical history of my experience with performance cars or higher end vehicles.
-:tisk: :tisk: :tisk:

Pad life is not a quality issue. You can switch to high-performance pads if you want, at the expense of rotor life. You cant change physics.

STS and SRX both seem to go through brake pads pretty quick.
Jesda is right. They can't use Asbestos anymore and for performance reason they use lighter rotors that are a softer metal.
European carmakers have been doing this for years. I used to replace BMW and Mercedes pads and rotors at short intervals and great expense without any complaints.
Strange how people complain about how they want their cars to be more like BMWs, then when carmakers give them their wish they complain because their car is like a BMW.

Indeed, which is why Porsche uses quick-install pins for easy brake pad swaps. Of course, its pretty dangerous if/when those pins fail. :O

Just got off the phone with $tealer... 20,500 miles on car, says front pads will be gone SOOOON:eek:

I've NEVER replace a set of pads with only 20k miles on them, nor should I unless the I'm driving a d@mn taxi!

After taking that call from the service advisor, I drove to the dealer to see the pads.:want: That service advisor was out to lunch, spoke with service mgr.
Pads had more wear on inboard than outboard pads, and of the 2 inboard, the pass side was slightly more worn than driver.
Although the pads were not exactly evenly worn, it was too debatable if it were a warranty issue to waist my time fighting for it, so I told them to do it.
I did mention to the service manager I wasn't too thrilled with them, only a few weeks ago the wife goes there for an oil change, she gets home (40miles away), and says they undercharged her. No, they charged her for the regular oil they put in:tisk:, not the SYNTHETIC oil the car calls for! Next day, another round trip to dealer & wait for oil change.:mad:

So wife picks up the car after they finish breaks, they decided to warranty the brake job:thumbsup:... NO BILL! :)

sounds like there's more this story...470 for a pad change is high...did they turn the rotors? did they bed the pads in? lots of questions should be asked regarding ANY brake work.

as far as the 19k is concerned, it's not that unusual. it all depends on the driver's style and the type of driving. another major factor are the pads, in fact the number one factor. are they "soft" pads like the german cars, that go through pads rather quickly?

Pad "hardness" will certainly effect pad life. The flip side of that equation is rotor life. The harder the pad, the shorter the rotor life.
When I was there, I was surprised how much wear the rotor did have after only 20k miles with a pad soft enough to be that worn that soon. If the pad is so soft as to have that short of a life, I expected hardly any wear on the rotor. I was wrong. The rotor too showed plenty of wear.
Harder pads will even put more wear on the rotor.

Just got off the phone with $tealer... 20,500 miles on car, says front pads will be gone SOOOON:eek:

I've NEVER replace a set of pads with only 20k miles on them, nor should I unless the I'm driving a d@mn taxi!


it all depends on how the system is engineered and of course, how hard you are on the brakes. the german car makers seem to design their brake systems for rotor replacement as part of a brake job. the older caddys could easliy go 50k on the pads (they were semi-metallic from the factory) and the rotors would last forever; but the point was made regarding the weight of the rotors...the more durable rotors means more unsprung weight...not a good thing for better handling.

Here an update on this story, I took the car in for warranty work on the "farting" noise coming from the AC system. The mechanic noticed I needed new Pads and rotors while he had the car up in the air. I have 29k on on the car now so... by my count folks thats only 10k miles between front brake jobs. Needless to say I told them if I had to pay 600.00 to replace my pads and rotors after I had just spend 470.00 having new pads and the rotors turned 10K miles ago, I would be spending another 80.00 to to take them to court. They decided to have GM cover it and they said maybe there was a problem with the last break job at 19k....you think maybe. There is nothing wrong with paying to have good performace, but a formula 1 race car or TAXI this caddy is not.

I've always been under the impression that Ceramic pads eats up rotors and wear quick. Ceramic pads are the OEMs for these cars; so they cannot rightfully be compared to the semi/metallic pads that are standard on other cars.

zzzasy
'05 STS