Typerod

Hi all, welcome to another episode of my Tahoe (it has 275K miles) issues....while I was on vacay (3 hour drive from home) last week, my front left inner brake pad was worn down to the metal backing. No biggie right? I order new rotors and brake pads, parts come in, my buddy does the work. After they removed the rotors, they spun the hubs and the right hub was fairly noisy, and it had a gritty feeling when you spun it, AND the front left hub was similiar, but less gritty. The front right hub is the original hub, the front left hub was replace maybe 4-5 years back, it was replaced on a mis-diagnosis by me.

So I had them replace the front hubs, might as well tackle it now instead of waiting till they got worse. I also replaced the front left caliper AGAIN. I had just replace the original caliper back in 2016, now I needed to replace it again. My buddy said he can tell the pistons weren't retracting easily like the passenger side. The brake fluid is only about 3 years old maybe has about 55-65 miles on that fluid.

Sucks to be on vacay and have these surprise expenses for my vehicle! I mean I get it, its a high mileage vehicle, nothing lasts forever, blah blah blah, but it still hurts me and my wallet. =)

Ohh and guess what, my buddy found the left side engine mount is bad! So now I plan on replacing driver's side and passenger side mount. But at least I know why I was feeling a "bump" when I would leave a stop sign or stop light, I was assuming it was play in the driveshaft or rear diff.

So I spent about $1400 last week on parts and labor for the brake pads, brake rotors, and front hubs, new front brake calipers. Now I'm estimating I'll be spending at least $1000 to replace the mounts, and I still need to do a 4x4 service and trans fluid drain in fill. SMH! LOL!

I am scheduled tomorrow to do a brake fluid flush with a machine, hopefully this will help me out in the future, and I won't be replacing this caliper anymore. I plan to do machine flushes once a year now.

So my question is, why is it my front left caliper is always going bad? Could it be the sediment is just going mostly to that caliper since its the closest to the master cylinder?

Thanks in advance! And stay tuned kids, what will be next to bad on my Tahoe? lol!

tech2

does the caliper piston push back with a piston depressor tool? don't use a c-clamp as this will move even a seized caliper. if it doesn't move back...open the bleeder screw and repeat...it if pushes back now...the flex hose is not allowing fluid to move back to the master cylinder...acting as a one way check valve due to deterioration of the flex hose.

KChevy75

Did you use ceramic or semi-metallic pads? I learned the hard way that you must use ceramic pads on the front brakes on the Tahoe and Suburban. When using semi-metallic, the front inner driver side pad wears significantly faster. in a few months the outside will look almost new still while the inner will be almost gone.

Typerod

This set of front pads that was just replaced were AC Delco, not sure which tier. I replaced those with GM OEM pads. I am not sure which type either of these sets are, ceramic or semi-metallic.

The left front in-board was worn down to the metal, while the left front outboard pad was about 50%. The right front out-board and in-board pads were about 50% each.

The vehicle is currently at the shop getting a brake fluid flush. I let them know my concerns, the owner of the shop said he will ask the tech to pay close attention to see if the fluid flow from that front left caliper is slower than the others. I replaced the flex line 3 years ago when I replaced that front left caliper, so my guess is that its not the flex line, but if the flow is slower, maybe its the hard line coming from the master cylinder that is clogged up with sediment, if thats even a possibility.

Typerod

According to my buddy, he said the caliper pistons would push back but not at freely as the front right side.

So just an update, I believed I have fixed the issue or at least one of the issues. So when I got home from vacay, I took the front left caliper off and bracket off. I didn't find anything out of the ordinary. But when I was putting back the brake pad into the bracket the in-board pad (problem side), wasn't going in at all. I was lining it up but it just would not go back in easily. I had to force it in, but that amount of force, I said to myself, that pad isn't going to ease off the rotor once the brake pedal wasn't depressed.

So I took off the caliper bracket once again. I was inspecting where the brake hardware sits on the bracket and where the top side of the brake pad slides into the hardware. I removed the hardware and I see there is extra material from the casting of the bracket. Then I remembered I have an old bracket where the pins are seized, I bolted that guy right up, and the brake pad slid right in, w/o issue.

I didnt have a grind wheel at home, so I tried to wire brush if off but that didn't work. I brought it to the shop where I got the brake fluid flush the day before, and they filed that extra material away. And wouldn't you know, the brake pad went into the bracket super easy just like its supposed to.

There is no way in the world anyone I paid to take a look at the issue would ever find that root cause, lol. Only me, b/c its my vehicle and I wanted to take the time and find the root cause. I paid two people, my buddy, who didnt find the root cause, and another shop, who as well didnt find what I found, but they sort of made up for it b/c they filed away the extra material for me for freel.

I'm at work right now, so I can't upload a pic of the filed down area on the bracket.

So now I am questioning, was the caliper really bad as well?

Thanks to all for your help!

tech2

ijt has specific inner and out pads...if reversed one will rub on the caliper bracket.

Typerod

Thanks for the reply tech2. The inner pads have the "sensor" on them. But I didnt realize if they were on the wrong side, it would rub...good to know!

tech2

I know cause I've made that mistake!