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I'd like to know if I'm the only person that has had problems with the brakes on their Silverado???
I have a 2004 4x4 Silverado which I purchased new in Dec 2003-It now has 22100 miles on it & I just had to replace the pads and rotors on all 4s to the tune of $895. This is not a work vehicle. The back pads were worse then the fronts. Metal on metal. I realize you have to replace pads at about 25 to 30,000,  most of the time. The material that these rotors are made of on this truck are so inferior.  They were so deteriorated,rusted & pitted that there was not a smooth surface on them,they were disintegrating. In turn they destroyed the pads. I've talk to Chevrolet Customer Service Center about this problem. "Just general wear & tear" Not covered under warranty. I did not have my Chevy dealer do the brake job- I didn't want the same GM garbage put back on.  

thats stupid because ac delco brake pads are one of the best out ther and its probably the driver that causes all this to happen not the truck and now that you thought you got a good deal you paid  a lot of money on some auto zone garbage brake pads all this is part of owning a truck if you cant afford it dont buy it  

$895 for four rotors and pads is a complete rip off! Chevy 4X4s have floating rotors so there are no bearnigs to repack. Unless your truck is a 3/4 or one ton, threre is no easier brake job to do. If your brakes were metal to metal that is a good reason why you needed new rotors.  

Hi mike302-The local GM & Chev dealer quoted me a price of $640. just to do the rear brakes. The reason there was metal to metal on the one rear wheel was the pad was cut apart by the very rough surface on the rotor & part of it fell off.  

Problem is junk metal in rotors, get new low cost Raybestos rotors and eliminate the problem. Pad failure is high on the foreign made steel rotors, Raybestos are American made steel product.  

Rapid Robert:
Problem is junk metal in rotors, get new low cost Raybestos rotors and eliminate the problem. Pad failure is high on the foreign made steel rotors, Raybestos are American made steel product.

Is there a splash or dust guard made for protecting the rear brake
rotors for a 2003 Siverado 4x4?  If there is, could you tell me where to look at and purchase it?  

I have a 2003 Silverado Z71 ext cab and the rear brakes were replaced at 43,000 miles when I bought it and the front brakes made it to 83,000 miles. I located the former owner and he told me the rear brakes were previously replaced at 26,000 miles and the front at 37,000 miles. I took it to a trusted friend for state inspection and the first thing he checked was the rear brakes as it is well known that these trucks have problems with inferior rotors, mostly rear. I think they tried to save a buck and got lesser quality parts. I'm doing the front brakes this weekend and will use Raybestos rotors and pads becuase as Rapid Robert wrote, they are American Made with quality steel. Hopefully thet will last longer than the junk that can from GM. Also I suggest doing your own brakes as they are very easy to do and you save major money over what a dealer will charge. If you can't do them ask a friend who can.  

Suonds like they are getting their pads and rotors from Nissan.....Garbage  

Actually, I just had my Silverado looked at this morning after it starting grinding this past week. I took it to the dealer because of all the problems of heard about Silverado brakes.

The Service Manager, himself, asked if I would mind using an aftermarket rotor and pads. He said GM's own parts were too expensive and of inferior quality. He noted that the rear rotors on the Silverados were prown to rusting so severly that they would destroy the pads. The cost for them to do the work with quality aftermarket parts was $316, including labor.

To be honest,I was suprised that I got the 51,000 miles I did on them. I have owned several Chevy Vehicles and I would have to say that poor brake construction has to be one of the primary complaints. I know many folks that get 20,000 miles or LESS out of their brakes and rotors.

It would seem that production quality in the rotors is inconsistant from manufacturing location to manufacturing location. I have heard the gambit from other Silverado Owners. Some owners report having no problems at all, while others report that the pedal goes to the floor so frequently, that they won't even carry cargo in the bed. I see that there has been a regional recall on the 1999 - 2002 models that is still being evaluated.  

I have a 2003 Silverado 3500 4x4 I/m driving to florida this fall and I pulled the wheels to check the brake lining as part of a safety check. This Truck has 38,000 miles and the brake pads were still in good shape but the rotors were rusted and scaling on all four wheels. The rotors are totally non servicable and must be replaced. The pads wern't worn out but I'll replace them also. I actually had less than 40% of normal braking capacity. I had noticed the brakes did not seem to be working properly and certainly did not have adequate brakes for a one ton truck. GM will wait until there are a few serious accidents before they respond. I'm told they won't be covered under warranty. My suggestion is to put an ad in your local paper to warn other prospective buyers. I plan to put an ad in four metropolitan areas. This is a safety issue that needs to be addressed.  

I have a 2002 5.3 1500 with 73,000 miles and I haven't touched the brakes yet.  I looked at them this past winter and all the pads appeared to be more than half there.  I was going to replace just the pads this weekend as a per caution so I didn't wreck the rotors.

I drive my truck hard and am surprised I haven't had problems yet.  

I just replaced the front rotors and pads on my 2002 1500 2WD Silverado LS, only 26,000 mile on it.  Source of problem - factory rotors are junk.  Had a brake shimmy, looking at outboard side of rotor, everything fine.  Back side of rotor, rusted and only about 30% pad contact.  Outside pad had over 50% thickness of pad left and inside pad was concave shaped due to the bad rotor.  I figured if the rotors were made right, I should have gotten another 15-20K miles out of these pads before needing a brake job.  Looked at rear disc brakes, same problem with rusty rotors on inboard side but only about half as bad as front. Still need done in next month or so to get the brakes back to good working order.

I don't abuse this truck as it's our "good vehicle".  Got an old 95 C1500 W/T that takes a beating and is used for all the tough chores.  

So to address the 2nd reply in this thread --- "thats stupid because ac delco brake pads are one of the best out there and its probably the driver that causes all this to happen not the truck and now that you thought you got a good deal you paid  a lot of money on some auto zone garbage brake pads all this is part of owning a truck if you cant afford it dont buy it" Well if GM rotors are only good for 25K miles, I might as well put Autozone or Pep Boys rotors from china on the truck for 50% the cost.

I expect a full size truck to be of good quality and able to take any extra abuse that trucks take.  But to have a truck that I have treated just as good as a car and to have problems like this?  No wonder Toyota is overtaking GM in the global marketplace.  I was looking at a 2007 Mailibu and Impalas as we need to get back into a car for the gas mileage.  But with the problems I had with this truck, I'm looking at Honda, Toyota, and Hyundai.  I've been a GM owner for 35 years but I'm tired of their inferior quality of the parts.  

Factory rotors on GM's are not junk... The rear caliper location is junk, GM does sell sheilds for them that work, they also released a new on vehicle brakelathe to all GM dealers, They maybe over priced but they are better than most aftermarket...I work in a GM dealership,and the only time ive had to replace rotors was when people let the pads go past the sqealer... they can be cut on the vehicle and works quite well...lol, they went back to drums...  

any ideas what would cause this? these are the insides of the rear rotors on an 2002 Sierra -- it's like the pads became cupped and only made contact in the center of the rotor

http://img16.imagevenue.com/loc380/th_60396_P1020205_122_380lo.JPG

pads (inside on the left), outside on the right
http://img25.imagevenue.com/loc512/th_60401_P1020204_122_512lo.JPG

inside pad closeup (notice the curvature)
http://img124.imagevenue.com/loc371/th_60407_P1020203_122_371lo.JPG

outside of rear rotor (for wear comparison)
http://img130.imagevenue.com/loc542/th_60743_P1020202_122_542lo.JPG  

WOW!!!!   What an eye opener!!!  My story of my 2004 Silverado, which, I drive very hard on delivery routes but only 49,000 miles when all of this started.  Wish I'd read this 2 weeks ago.  I was convinced by a local brake scamming mega idiots at Just Brakes that I had a bad calliper.  So, I purchased the rotor directly from Chevy and replaced it myself with new pads on both sides on the front.  Two weeks later, my left rear goes from a low wine on one day to an incredible whining to metal on metal in less than 100 miles and one day and a half of driving.  I just drove it straight to the dealer to make sure I hadn't done anything to the system when I replaced the calliper.  I told them what I'd done.  It wasn't me but my rotor was pitted and ugly and scratched to his heck on the inside.  The outside that I gave a visual check to was perfect.  Then, one week later, left front rotor, one that I had turned through suggestion of my mechanic friend when we changed the rotor and pads three weeks ago, was completely crumbled and grinding metal on metal.  Yes, brand new pads.  I bought an aftermarket rotor and pad after reading these articles and not only did I buy American but I saved myself 400% of what I spent on just the calliper, which, I've been assured by mechanic friends that wasn't bad.  WOW!!!  These factor rotors are crap!!!