Well, I finally tore into my truck to replace the brakes. I'm taking it very slow, making a several-day job out of it. I'm having my 13 y.o. nephew help me as well, so he can start learning how to work on vehicles.
I'll be taking pics as I go, started already today. I got a real shock when I took my wheels off........I believe I may have had the first non-racing major rotor failure in history! Or at least, a major failure where the vehicle wasn't wrecked as a result.
I'm definitely taking pics, you gotta see this. My left rear rotor is destroyed. The entire inside braking surface is gone, as well as the inside pad of course. The mounting plate of the inside pad (that's all that's left) even ate about halfway through the cooling fins, as far as I can see, though I don't have the rotors off yet.
The inside braking surface of both front rotors is gouged pretty bad. The right front isn't too bad, but the left front is far worse with the finger test. I can't finger-test the inside of the right rear due to the backing plate. So, it's entirely possible I've been driving my truck with only ONE fully-functional brake. Call it 1 1/2 with the right front. My brake fluid is of course toasted as well, black as night and down about 2/3 inch.
Backing plates are pretty rusted, I should go ahead and replace those as well while I'm at it.
I find it odd that the outside braking surface on all the rotors look fine, even on the destroyed one. I've never towed a trailer with my truck, never even hauled anything remotely heavy in the box except my brother's 4-wheeler one time. I'm not a leadfoot, and I brake long and light for stops. I drive like a friggin' grandma.
This massive corrosion and subsequent brake failure is likely due to the fact that my truck is an outside truck, never garaged because the fit is simply too tight. This wouldn't be bad in and of itself, but I also have a gravel driveway and the pockets made in my driveway by my tires (because I always park in exactly the same spot) collect and hold water for quite a few days after a rain.
Only 39,500 miles on my truck and it will be 8 years old in either the last week of August or the first week of September. I forget which.
I painted my new calipers last night to prepare for them being put on. I got a 2-part epoxy caliper paint kit from eBay for around $38, and it looks great. I can't wait to see the painted calipers (although stock) on the truck with my new drilled & slotted rotors.
Here's a link to the rotors:
Chevy Avalanche [02-06] Cross Drill Slot Front & Rear Brake Rotors
I got the rotors with ceramic pads, WITH shipping, for $280 from an eBay auction. That's all 4 rotors/pads for about the same price as only doing the fronts with DuraStops (drilled & slotted ones). I had to jump on it for the price.
I have the hardware, now the only question is if my ABS module withstood the (as light as I could) abuse I put it through the last couple months I drove it. It'll suck if I have to replace that too. But, I had to keep driving it while I saved up money for the repair. The idiot light for my brakes FINALLY came on when I started it today LOL........after several months of driving it with bad brakes, it picked today to come on for the first time. Go figure.
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