Hey yall, I got my 2000 Chevy C2500 ( 8 lug ), and her brakes act up only after it rains and at low speeds. Its been happening for a couple months now, I'd get out of school and slowly maneuver around the parking lot and with a little bit of break pressure it feels like my breaks seize up and the truck just lurches forward, I believe its my front drivers side tire that skids. Asked my father and he suspects a warped rotor. The breaks were fully serviced about 9 months ago so I wanted to see if anyone has had a similar experience. Thanks
I have a '99 C2500 8-lugger w/JD7 brakes, and
after the first couple of stops of the day the brakes are
always absolutely smooth & confidence-inspiring. (This is with recently refreshed rear drums and unknown vintage
front rotors, pads, & calipers from the PO.)
Given this, I do not suspect any front rotor warpage. So smooth that I haven't had any inclination
to measure the runout?
On the other hand, if the truck isn't driven every single day, I do seem to feel something similar to
what you described on the first stop or two. Curiousity piqued, I performed a close visual inspection
of the front rotors prior to driving it one time, and noticed a bit of 'flash rust' on the rotor's friction
faces? But only where the rotor was exposed to the air, for if you moved the truck ~1/2 a tire revolution
you could see that the rotor surface that was underneath the brake pads was still shiny, *not* rusted?
And it seemed that the 'flash rusted' area was indeed more grabby/nonlinear than the smoother unrusted spot.
If you braked at low speeds you could feel the difference as a 'pulsation', not in the pedal, but as how the
whole truck was slowing down. But once the rotors were made uniformly shiny again by the pads (usually
by the end of the 2nd stop) ...all was well, so I haven't pursued any kind of remedy...if one is even possible,
given how much raw rotor surface is exposed to the elements.
And I am confident we're experiencing similar symptoms, for the problem is absent during a dry spell, but almost
always shows up when it's rainy/humid out.
Then again, on my vehicle the problem has never gotten any worse. But if this symptom is
worsening over time
on your truck, this means that some mechanical relationship is changing over time? It's perfectly OK to
give your front rotors a close inspection for warpage (to eliminate that possibility), the disc caliper isn't sticking
at any part of it's normal travel, the adjustable wheel bearings are adjusted to spec, and last but not least are
the brake pads up to OEM specification...or did the brake shop improve their profit margin by using the
bottom-tier pads that are iffy even when everything else is perfect?
When it comes to brakes, trust but verify. But at the same time make sure you actually need to change/upgrade
the parts already in place *before* you replace them...only to experience the same thing afterwards due to
humid environment/exposed raw rotor interaction.
Try checking to see if you are also experiencing the rusty/not rusty phenomenon, as well as making the
aforementioned checks on the front brakes.
Let us know what you discover.
Cheers --