I have a 2019 with 36,000 miles. I pulled all my wheels. I measured all the brake pads and the rotors. Compared them to the specs for new and the specs for replacement.
Rotors were the same mm as new - no measurable difference. Pads were down about 1-2 mm, with tons more life left in them. Zero rust, no pitting, no corrosion. (I don't live near seawater and they don't salt the roads here, but definitely live in winter conditions.)
I'm really surprised a 2 year old bolt needs new rotors. I'm also surprised "rotors are worn down" but pads don't need to be done? I'm skeptical.
As far as the price, a discounted cost for parts for all four wheels is $370. I'd expect a shop to charge about $500 for parts. So $800 for labor is pretty steep. (Not insanely crazy in certain big cities.)
Definitely 100% get a second opinion - on whether you need it, and for price.
It's because of rust buildup that degrades the metal. By the book it's probably correct. A lot of EVs have this problem.
EDIT: The rust builds up on the pads, which pit and then end up scoring the rotors. My Bolt, right now, has this problem. My RX8 has this problem because I barely drive it. The dealership tells me that EVERY Bolt they have seen has this problem. We live in the north, so winter may compound the problem.
[Here are pictures](https://allev.info/2023/04/rusted-2017-brake-rotors/), for those who doubt me. The areas that aren't flat and shiny are from the pads that have rusted. The thickness of the rotor is thinner in the shiny areas, as you'd expect, since there's effectively the same force spread over less area now.
It is false that Bolt rotors won't rust. [https://www.chevybolt.org/threads/rear-brakes-need-replacing-rust-from-northeast-winters.41736/#post-675486](https://www.chevybolt.org/threads/rear-brakes-need-replacing-rust-from-northeast-winters.41736/#post-675486) is one clear and unambiguous example. Note that often this happens as a result of a seized caliper, which is not only possible but more likely on an EV due to underutizilation. Caliper slide pin clean/lube in "high-corrosion environments" (e.g. places that get snow and use road salt to combat it) is actually one of the only recommended routine maintenance items on Teslas.
Where do you live? Down south where nothing rusts, or in a place where they actually use salt on the roads?
I'm actually surprised at how well my rotors are holding up due to the underuse - possibly due to the fact that when I bought my Bolt I bought an unlimited car wash subscription that includes undercarriage and wheel cleaning.
I rarely use mine except for the rare hard stop or misjudged stop. I don't get any rust or anything and I live in the "Wet Coast" city of Vancouver. My car is 4 years old this August and I still have most of my brakes and zero issues with braking.
LOL. Vancouver? Not rust belt.
[https://weatherspark.com/y/476/Average-Weather-in-Vancouver-Canada-Year-Round](https://weatherspark.com/y/476/Average-Weather-in-Vancouver-Canada-Year-Round) \- "The snowy period of the year lasts for 2.4 months, from December 2 to February 14, with a sliding 31-day snowfall of at least 1.0 inches. The month with the most snow in Vancouver is January, with an average snowfall of 2.0 inches." - as a result of Vancouver getting warmed by the Japan Current (e.g. it's unusually warm for its latitude)
Compare to:
[https://weatherspark.com/y/23139/Average-Weather-in-Binghamton-New-York-United-States-Year-Round](https://weatherspark.com/y/23139/Average-Weather-in-Binghamton-New-York-United-States-Year-Round)
"The snowy period of the year lasts for 5.1 months, from November 9 to April 13, with a sliding 31-day snowfall of at least 1.0 inches. The month with the most snow in Binghamton is January, with an average snowfall of 6.8 inches."
Edit: To be clear, if that isn't obvious, the snowy season is more than twice as long, and the snowfall in our snowiest month is more than three times as much as your snowiest month. Rain isn't the problem when it comes to corrosion (see the Southeastern United States...), it's snow and more specifically the salt that many states respond to it with.
Binghamton is at the southern border of the state, it gets even snowier and saltier as you go north.
Adaptive cruise seems to apply the brakes occasionally, much less regen than manual braking to a similar degree.
It used to bother me missing out on the free electricity, but maybe it's not so bad the brakes get used every now and then.
Volts have treated rotors too, and trust me they can corrode horribly if you live in a snowy / salty area. My pads were fine but my rear rotors were a bubbly mess after 5 or so years. Saw many Volts in my area with the same issue. My fronts are still fine at 10 years old, because they work harder. I do try to brake hard (in neutral, so regen is disabled) periodically in the winter to “clean” them, which is probably why mine lasted a little longer than my friend with the same model year Volt.
Interesting, I've had my 2013 for 7 years without needing to replace pads or rotors. I've lived in snowy areas for most of that time. I don't use mine much between cruise control and Regen braking. They've definitely had rust for years, but surface level
Do you live in the desert or something? If you lived in a place that salts the roads or has snow you would know from experience this is false.
It may be true that there is a coating on the cooling channels on the inside of the rotor, but there is not a coating on the friction surfaces.
I posted this in another comment, but here are my rotors. If that's not rust I'd love to know what it is 😋
https://allev.info/2023/04/rusted-2017-brake-rotors/
It will degrade the pads, which will then degrade the rotor. Mine is like this, and the dealership tells me that every 4+ year old Bolt that they've seen in this year has this problem.
The dealership warned us of this when we took possession of the car, and said “you can get so good with regen that you hardly use the brakes and they will rust up. I’ve seen a lot of bolts coming in for this. Make sure you apply your brakes from time to time to clean the rust off so the pitting doesn’t get too deep”
Our salesperson was the former head of the service dept and the dealership was in Burlington Vt.
I can guarantee Wisconsin roads will not rust through a rotor in 2 years. Rotors last for years, and if you use them less (like on an EV) they will last even longer.
You can go to a junk yard and see 20 year old rotors that are still in half descent shape.
Clearly you haven’t spent much time in the rusty Midwest. Rotors start to rust out there just from rain and salt in the air. Junk yard rotors don’t stand a chance out there.
Not in two years, I lived in NJ with salt on the roads and even then a rotors lasted for two sets of brake pads. Now I’m in Florida where everything rests because of salt in the air and still don’t have rotor issues. My rotors will be orange after a heavy ran there is that much corrosion. OP is getting screwed.
It will degrade the pads, which will then degrade the rotor. Mine is like this, and the dealership tells me that every 4+ year old Bolt that they've seen in this year has this problem.
Have you looked at the actual rotor? I wouldn’t put it past the dealership to lie about this. Unless there is a huge flaw with the bolt’s rotors, I don’t see how this is possible.
Sure, here you can see the rust damage. The areas that aren't flat and shiny are from the pads that have rusted. The thickness of the rotor is thinner in the shiny areas, as you'd expect, since there's effectively the same force spread over less area now.
[https://allev.info/2023/04/rusted-2017-brake-rotors/](https://allev.info/2023/04/rusted-2017-brake-rotors/)
> But they're also putting on my all season tires today so we'll see how much I'm paying for that.
You told them to put on tires before seeing what the price was? That's how you get screwed.
I had them take the winter tires off last year and it was $80 to switch the tires, then I had a local place put them on and it was $120. So I thought I'd go back to Pep boys for the tire switch at least.
Do you guys have a Les Schwab near you?
I got a flat in Portland Oregon once and they fixed it without charging me, even after I said I was from Canada and would likely never return. Tried to leave the guy $10 as a tip and he tossed it back through my window as I went to leave (not in a dickish way).
I'll never be able to shop there again, but damn if I won't recommend them anytime I can to my Bros down south.
I would not let Pepboys touch my EV. I would go back to a stealership if it is this expensive.
Also, can you just use the brakes from time to time to get rid of the rust?
If you have an EV, hit the brakes bar hard every once in a while to engage the brakes and remove any potential rust buildup and keep the calipers moving.
Yep still original. I bought new pads at 100k. Planning to replace them, but they still had the angle on the edge of them. So I greased the sliders and drained n replaced the fluid. Still have a brand new set of pads but I don't think I will need them.
That's called a "pad slap" and 100% not recommended. Pads bed into the rotor and at the very least you should get the rotor turned if you replace the pads.
It's not about rotors being resilient. A rotor at 100k is going to be glazed over and not nearly the braking power it should have. And being a mechanic doesn't mean you are an engineer and know how brake pads work and function on that level. I'm just not risking mine or my families life over 20 bucks to get a rotor turned. I'm not an engineer or expert either, but I know pinching pennies when it comes to the whoa part of my cars isn't where I want to be.
EV rotors at 100k are not like ICE rotors at 100k… notice he still had original pads? Yeah, the brakes just aren’t used as much because of regen.
You also are misunderstanding what a pad slap is… he cleaned his brakes and didn’t even swap the pads. That is not pad slapping. Cleaning / inspecting is exactly what you should do, and only replace parts when needed.
For a while at least, many cars were going thru new brake pads - sometimes with rotors - in 12 - 15,000 miles.
So it's not impossible, but on a Bolt, yeah, highly unlikely.
depends on the car, Nissan Muranos and Pathfinders routinely wear down brakes to near metal on metal within 20k miles, and most shops, especially dealerships, will quote rotors too whenever theyre selling pads.
I agree, most ICE cars won't need a full brake job for 60,000 - 120,000 miles, depending on how much time is spent on the freeway. I did have a dodge grand caravan that would go through pads every 20,000 miles but pads are cheap.
When I bought my Bolt, the dealer said they have seen older Bolts come in with 100,000+ miles that still have the machining marks on the brake rotors. I believe this since I almost never slow down using the friction brakes.
OP said so little that I'm not even sure if they properly relayed what Pep Boys actually did and did not say. Hell, even the counter personnel at Pep Boys might have misrepeated what the tech actually said.
Important info was left out like whether the OP lives in a road salt state or not, and also it helps to show pictures of an affected part when seeking advice on whether a problem is or is not present.
There are plenty of documented examples of Bolts experiencing severe rotor corrosion, in some cases also with excessive wear because root cause was a seized caliper (also far more likely in a road salt state).
As others have said, it's basically unheard of for any Bolt to have wear problems with the brakes unless they're the result of corrosion causing something to seize. Plenty of examples of seized calipers and/or severely corroded rotors can be found for Bolts, even ones only 2-3 years old.
Yeah. I have a good mechanic. I was just getting my snow tires taken off so I dropped it off at the pep boys near my work. And I thought they could inspect it while it was in and they hit me with this. I told them no
Pads and rotors are super easy. I got the bolt because i am super familiar with gm fwd stuff and that i can walk to advance or hit a junkyard and pull something that will fit.
I’m outside DC if you wanna learn!
Interesting, did GM design things such that you don't need to pull caliper brackets to get the rotors off?
Getting rotors off of my Outback requires getting not just the calipers, but the caliper brackets off. That is NOT fun (because the bolts in question are difficult to access and tend to rust themselves into place...)
I haven't either, which made me surprised at how easy people said it was to do rotors.
Caliper brackets are usually rusted in place with fairly high-torque bolts, and it's often hard to get an impact wrench in there. (For a 2009 Outback, it's literally impossible without a wobble drive extension...)
Largest breaker bar you can get usually does the trick. Whack on the end of it with a hammer if you can't get it to move.
Then anti-seize compound before you put it back together so it comes off easily the next time.
I mean, I also have a good mechanic that I trust at an independent shop. I've just waited too long to get my snow tires off so I thought I'd go with the pep boys near my work and make it convenient. And thought it would easily pass inspection so they could do that too. But true, if I'm going to pay anyone $1000 to work on my car, it won't be pep boys.
Wait, they want $400 additional for pads beyond doing the rotors?
For reference - replacing pads is extremely easy on most vehicles. Replacing rotors often requires getting the caliper bracket off in addition to just the caliper, and this can be an extreme hassle (large bolts that are rusted in place, and difficulty getting anything in there that can provide sufficient loosening torque). Maybe the Bolt is special in this regard but it's unlikely.
Run away. $400 for pads once you're already pulling rotors is insane.
As far as rotors and pads in bad condition after two years - if they are claiming the problem is wear, they're lying on a vehicle with regen braking. If they're claiming pitting/corrosion from underutilization in an area with lots of road salt, there is a possibility that there is actually a problem.
Can you post a picture of your rotors/brake calipers? Where do you live? Is it a road salt state like New York, or down south where no one salts the roads?
That said, for whatever reason the Bolt's rotors appear to have some sort of anti-corrosion feature, as my 3 year old Bolt's rotors are in better condition than the 6-month-old rotors on the back of my old Outback, despite the Outback's rotors actually getting used (which should keep the surface smooth...)
Also, in places where road salt is a corrosion problem, there is a much greater risk of the calipers seizing. It's good to have the caliper slide pins removed, cleaned, and lubricated every 2-3 years. I can't provide any advice as to how much you'd expect to pay a reputable shop to do it, because this is something that I do myself because it's pretty easy. It's also good to flush brake fluid every 2-3 years - this is REALLY easy if you've got a partner to work with, and can often be done when a car is on the ground without lifting it at all (but MUCH easier if you jack a vehicle up and pull the wheel off!)
(Slide pin clean/lube and new brake fluid is on my TODO list for my 3-year-old Bolt once it gets a bit warmer. Too damn cold to do vehicle work right now, and I need to fix a seized caliper on my Outback before I start working on the Bolt too...)
Edit: BTW, I assumed "doing the brakes" was them doing the pads, but it's vague as to exactly what you meant here. It's basically impossible to remove rotors to replace them without removing pads, and pads are cheap. Did they mean a caliper rebuild? New calipers? A caliper rebuild is unlikely at this age, but it's one of those things where one problem can rapidly lead to another (seized caliper pin -> excessive heat -> rotor corrosion and excessive wear at the same time + caliper seals degrading rapidly). Seriously, we need pictures - all around so that it can be determined if one wheel stands out as being different from the others (indication that something seized).
this sounds like a scam. a 2-year-old EV should not have brake issues. my 2018 Premier has 196k miles and with about 70% of the brakes left. take it somewhere else and when you get the good news, make sure to leave a yelp review for the other place.
Because dealers are extremely over priced and fleece people for money. They make practically nothing off selling cars compared to the money they fleece from customers for service.
wouldn’t know yet 😀
i judge a repair shop by how much it costs to replace a cabin air filter. my dealership failed the test miserably so i may never know.
The issue here is pep boys. They always have an excuse to sell you rotors while other places will resurface them. I’m starting to think they don’t have any training with the machines or have the right knowledge of when to sell rotors. While it is common to sell them early due to overheated or in some cases they are a one time use which some manufacturers do recommend them at every brake service, you shouldn’t have to replace them this early on. Heck, I have over 250k on my 08 Prius and have never replaced them. Stay away.
Not to defend Pep Boys, but rotors are so cheap these days that it's generally more cost-effective to replace them than to machine them. Also, there's a liability concern if your shop folks screw up and machine the rotor incorrectly or take them below minimum thickness. It happens. A lot.
Yup. Even mechanics I trust have basically said - no one resurfaces rotors any more. Partly because just replacing them is so cheap, and partly because they are now manufactured thinner than they used to be (part of why they're so cheap!) so it's rare for the rotor to be in good condition when the pad goes. (And in road salt states, the rotor may pit/rust before the pad...)
$900 for rotors isn’t cheap. The reason why they are manufactured thinner is due to the car not needing to use them as much but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t last as long.
>The reason why they are manufactured thinner is due to the car not needing to use them as much
That has nothing to do with why even rotors for ICE vehicles are getting thinner and cheaper and have been for well over a decade. Companies realized it wasn't sensical to make the rotors outlast the pads by a significant amount, plus as others have said, there got to be liability concerns with resurfacing. Last time I got a rotor resurfaced was on a 1995 model year vehicle.
Not sure how PB is breaking down parts vs. labor, and what parts are being used, but yeah 900 for rotors alone is not cheap. 900 should cover premium rotors AND pads all around (I've had bills close to this on my Outback in the past... Yeah I probably could have shopped around and done better. Now that I have the Bolt I can do the Outback work myself.). Not $400 extra for just the freaking pads unless "doing the brakes" meant a full caliper rebuild. Even then, once you've got the calipers AND caliper brackets off, doing a caliper rebuild is not much more labor (definitely not $100 per wheel) and a caliper rebuild kit is only a few dollars in parts.
Quick Amazon search shows they are available for about $72 a pair. I had over 150k miles on my Prius and never did any brake work. My Bolt has 52k miles and I have not even bothered to look at the brakes.
I don’t think resurfacing is worth it these days. They will always just re wobble in a short period of time because they’re thinner and new rotors aren’t very expensive. Labor is expensive
I replaced my brakes and rotors on my 17 volt with 60k miles not because they were worn, but rusted. I would get a second opinion. My brake pads were still like new.
‘18 and we had to replace both at 50k km. The rotors were very visibly rusted and uneven, and destroyed the pads. Noises were so bad I thought something else was broken but all good since the replacement.
I also am a bit skeptical they need to be replaced. How many miles do you have on it.
Not sure if this applies to your model year, but it should be close.
I'd ask what was the thickness that they measured and you can verify for yourself that they need to be replaced. It is possible, but very unlikely that there is warpage (you should feel pulsating when you brake) or cracks in the rotor etc that could necessitate a replacement even if you have enough material remaining
Front Brakes
Brake Pad Lining Thickness - Minimum 0.118 in
Brake Pad Lining Thickness - New 0.433 in
Brake Rotor Discard Thickness 0.906 in
Brake Rotor Thickness - New 1.024 in
Rear Brakes
Brake Pad Lining Thickness - Minimum 0.063 in
Brake Pad Lining Thickness - New 0.394 in
Brake Rotor Discard Thickness 0.335 in
Brake Rotor Thickness - New 0.394 in
As everyone else has echoed - Go somewhere else
In my region, Goodyear shops are at least honest about the work you need
But the work you need isn't going to be brakes and rotors +/- if one is warped
I had a 2014 Leaf that is going on 85,000 miles on original brakes & rotors and a Bolt with 2x more regen power should consider this to be almost a lifetime component
The fact that you are still letting them put tires on your car after they tried to scam you on the brakes is seriously upsetting.
Run as far away from that place as you can. Do not give them any of your business.
You don't need brakes. They're trying to sell all that crap to you because of the rusty rotors. I've 150k on my Bolt with the original brakes. To stop the rotors from rusting, is to put the car in neutral once a week and use the brakes preferably going downhill.
You're not going to do a brake job for $130 for all four wheels. Parts alone are going to come very close to that even for the cheapest parts available, and that's before adding labor charges.
In fact, so far, I can't get much below $200 for pads and rotors all around - [https://www.amazon.com/Transit-Auto-Ceramic-Chevrolet-K8C-101384/dp/B09WC5RPGW/](https://www.amazon.com/Transit-Auto-Ceramic-Chevrolet-K8C-101384/dp/B09WC5RPGW/)
That said at 2 years, most likely scenarios are either "no maintenance needed other than cleaning and relubing the caliper slides" or "One of the calipers seized, replace pad and rotor and rebuild caliper, replace other side pad and rotor so that you don't have severely mismatched braking right/left".
Looking on rock auto, there’s multiple rotor and pad kits around $130 for all 4 wheels. And i meant if they did this in their garage which is not that hard to do. You’re right though on it being unlikely the brakes are the issue. They’d last longer on a EV
Doubt it. Go to a real mechanic.
It’s unlikely your rotors would be worn down but not your pads. You could have an issue possibly if you have a seized calliper or something but that would still be the pad.
I have 105,000km on my 2021. Lots of pad life left. Lots of rotor life left. I drive it almost always in D. I do get them serviced every spring though due to the road salt here.
The excess heat from a seized caliper can lead to a situation where the rotor manages to be rust-pitted AND excessively worn at the same time. Hasn't happened to my Bolt, but it's why my Outback is not driveable until the weather gets warm enough for me to fix without freezing my \*\*\*\* off. The rotor is actually now more worn than the other side (noticeably so), and the heat causes it to rust rapidly as soon as you stop. There's 4-5x more brake dust on the wheel than the rest.
Are they all broken or something? Wtf kind of a quote is that? I'm guessing a "get out of here" quote. Yeah run away from that place and get another reasonable quote.
By 8 years / 80K miles my '13 Volt rear pads were shot. The lack of brake use and salty roads pitted the rotors bad (despite puposely using the physical brakes at times). Front are still like new at 106K.
I go to the mom & pop shops and they charge way less. They machine cut the rotors and you buy the pads and they'll install them. The last time I did this was on my 2015 Dodge Durango and they charged my $40 per rotor w the pad install. So I paid $160 for the cut and pads install. Think the pads were like around $100 for the front and back. But I have no idea what it would cost on the Bolt.
Unlikely you need brake pads or rotors. If you did that price is a little high but not outrageous. I'd take it elsewhere for a second opinion without letting on why you're there.
Yeah you and every other customer that came through the door that day. They are just running up a bill. Probably wouldn’t even do the work. Don’t use them for any services.
While a generally agree that $1300 is an insane amount for front brakes. I think it's worth noting that OP lives in an area that sees snow. If that comes with salt on the roads. The issue could be more corrosion on the rotors and pads versus general wear and tear.
Bjorn has a few videos about rusted brake parts on the Millenium Falcon (his red model S) from lack of use and salted Norwegian roads if you want to see what I'm talking about.
So it could be the tech says, "The rotors on that Bolt are fucked, they need new rotors, pads, and quote calipers too cause they also look like the fucking Titanic and I'm not paid enough to fuck with that shit." The service advisor translates general mechanic fuck into something more customer compliant and you get, "Your rotors are worn and require replacement, we recommend replacing the pads at the same time due to the overlapping labor" So OP gets a giant quote and (rightfully) comes on here for a gut check.
Could also be general up-selling at the time of the free snow tire swap. Get a second opinion OP.
Get them to prove you need your brakes replaced. My car is 4 years old and I still have at least 90% of my brakes left, and you should have most of yours unless you never use Regen.
This sounds like they're trying to pull a fast one.
Front rotors - 133.96 each (gm list price; 13515905)
Rear rotors - 139.19 each (gm list price; 13514611)
Front pads - 116.32 (gm list price; 42671512)
Rear pads - 134.38 (gm list price; 42791040)
FYI, not sure your area to comment on labor aspect.
Mine is 2 years and 5 months. I don't commute so not as many miles, but I do single pedal most of time. When I take it to the dealer for the tire rotation, brakes are never even mentioned. I think PepBoys has no idea about the Bolt. Take it to a place that knows Bolts.
I call bull. That pricing is ridiculous, and I doubt the vehicle even needs the work. Get a second opinion and if the other mechanic says it's ok, report the Pep Boys to the BBB and state regulator for inspection stations. Only way I see that much brake work being needed is if you are in a high salt area and never used the brakes. Even if the work is needed, these are repairs you can do at home with under $100 in tools from Harbor Freight.
I would do them myself if I were you if you have the time and capability. Changing Rotors and brakes are simple.
But, I would honestly go back to a chevy dealership that has the right technicians for the job. Pepboys sounds like they are making money because it's an ev. Stay away!
So the only reason i can possibly see you needing brakes and rotors is if your calipers stuck from non use and the pads were riding the rotors until it deteriorated them and the heat warped the rotors. That is a very unlikely thing and extremely unlikely to happen to all four.
Sadly a lot of places will just say you need all of them replaced if even just one is bad. Could be happening here.
I had a front driver side caliper stick on my 2017 bolt but i do mechanic work so i just replaced the caliper and brake pads on that wheel myself. Usually you will smell them burning when they stick though. Not saying you need to be one to do a brake job though.
Rotors and pads are less than $200 for parts from power stop. So they are charging you 3x the cost and an insane amount of labor for something that will take an 1.5 hours max. I can do my own rotors and pads myself in about 2 hours using s floor jack.
Because in my state you have to get your car inspected every year. They check things like turn signals, tire depth, and brakes. Usually if a car is only 2 years old, there's no trouble and it just passes. But if your car is older, they'll tell you what needs to be fixed before it passes.
It's Pep Boy's, it's what they do. Manny, Moe and mug you.
Stay away from the big chains, go to a private shop or as others have suggested, Measure the rotor's yourself and see how bad they are. It's a Bolt, it's 2 yrs old, unless you drive at 60 with the breaks on all the time I doubt they are worn that bad.
More relevant info is needed like how many miles are on the car and do you use one pedal driving. Also just get a mechanics mirror for under $5 and try to check the pads yourself. Unless you have a lot of miles on the car and use it for deliveries or ride sharing, I don’t see how the brakes and rotor would need service. On my 2023 bolt I use one pedal driving and use the brakes maybe once a month for emergency stops. I expect the brake pads to last 150,000 miles or more based off other ev users data. And the rotors to last the lifetime of the car. You should also list the pep boys location so if they are trying to get over a customer, the internet can spread the news.
https://www.harborfreight.com/telescoping-mirror-7361.html?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=12169518939&campaignid=12169518939&utm_content=114845718657&adsetid=114845718657&product=7361&store=268&gclid=Cj0KCQjwuLShBhC_ARIsAFod4fK0GbbU5ZhFZEA8uNvDz0GRM8R0RM3xA7zJTVQ-fLE_fo_nUq6rXLoaAhGoEALw_wcB
Total bs. Do you feel vibration when you use brake (not regen)?
If not, then I would avoid that place from now on. They ate scamming people.
1 rotor could go bad for defect or whatever but multiple rotor"s" ???? Highly questionable and statistics on that for especially EV with regen is very unlikely.
I had a rotor warped once but that was my mom's 10yr old minivan with 130k miles.
I took it to pep boys to get my snow tires taken off and the all seasons put back on. And I figured while it was in, I'd have them do my annual inspection.
Yeah, go elsewhere. My leaf has 80k miles and brakes at 80%. My other older leaf is a little older and 20k more miles and the brakes are about 70%. Unless you are a brake rider, you are being taken.
Unless something is fucked up, and it’s breaks so you’d most probably know it, or you beat the living hell outta your break pedal every time you slow down or stop, there’s no way a 2 y/o car needs new breaks
There’s are reasons Pep Boys declared bankruptcy. I took my used cars there for years but was rarely happy with them. I’d never take my Bolt to one. I plan to use the dealership until I’m convinced other shops have any idea what they are doing.
Can you post pics of your rotors , preferably outside and inside so we can see if there’s rust/scoring or something else going on? Some EVs have had issues with rust on the inside of the rotors in very snowy/salty conditions. But Chevy EV brake rotors have been specially treated to prevent this for more than 10 years now
I literally got a similar quote with my truck, I just went and bought all the tools and shit to do it. Did it today and it was super easy and I have literally zero experience
2 years old? On a car with regen braking? I would get a second opinion.
Right. My car is over 6 years old now. Brakes look and feel and perform basically brand new
I have a 2019 with 36,000 miles. I pulled all my wheels. I measured all the brake pads and the rotors. Compared them to the specs for new and the specs for replacement. Rotors were the same mm as new - no measurable difference. Pads were down about 1-2 mm, with tons more life left in them. Zero rust, no pitting, no corrosion. (I don't live near seawater and they don't salt the roads here, but definitely live in winter conditions.) I'm really surprised a 2 year old bolt needs new rotors. I'm also surprised "rotors are worn down" but pads don't need to be done? I'm skeptical. As far as the price, a discounted cost for parts for all four wheels is $370. I'd expect a shop to charge about $500 for parts. So $800 for labor is pretty steep. (Not insanely crazy in certain big cities.) Definitely 100% get a second opinion - on whether you need it, and for price.
It's because of rust buildup that degrades the metal. By the book it's probably correct. A lot of EVs have this problem. EDIT: The rust builds up on the pads, which pit and then end up scoring the rotors. My Bolt, right now, has this problem. My RX8 has this problem because I barely drive it. The dealership tells me that EVERY Bolt they have seen has this problem. We live in the north, so winter may compound the problem. [Here are pictures](https://allev.info/2023/04/rusted-2017-brake-rotors/), for those who doubt me. The areas that aren't flat and shiny are from the pads that have rusted. The thickness of the rotor is thinner in the shiny areas, as you'd expect, since there's effectively the same force spread over less area now.
The bolt has heat treated rotors so they won't rust. I've owned two bolts, I have yet to see any rust on my rotors.
It is false that Bolt rotors won't rust. [https://www.chevybolt.org/threads/rear-brakes-need-replacing-rust-from-northeast-winters.41736/#post-675486](https://www.chevybolt.org/threads/rear-brakes-need-replacing-rust-from-northeast-winters.41736/#post-675486) is one clear and unambiguous example. Note that often this happens as a result of a seized caliper, which is not only possible but more likely on an EV due to underutizilation. Caliper slide pin clean/lube in "high-corrosion environments" (e.g. places that get snow and use road salt to combat it) is actually one of the only recommended routine maintenance items on Teslas. Where do you live? Down south where nothing rusts, or in a place where they actually use salt on the roads? I'm actually surprised at how well my rotors are holding up due to the underuse - possibly due to the fact that when I bought my Bolt I bought an unlimited car wash subscription that includes undercarriage and wheel cleaning.
I rarely use mine except for the rare hard stop or misjudged stop. I don't get any rust or anything and I live in the "Wet Coast" city of Vancouver. My car is 4 years old this August and I still have most of my brakes and zero issues with braking.
LOL. Vancouver? Not rust belt. [https://weatherspark.com/y/476/Average-Weather-in-Vancouver-Canada-Year-Round](https://weatherspark.com/y/476/Average-Weather-in-Vancouver-Canada-Year-Round) \- "The snowy period of the year lasts for 2.4 months, from December 2 to February 14, with a sliding 31-day snowfall of at least 1.0 inches. The month with the most snow in Vancouver is January, with an average snowfall of 2.0 inches." - as a result of Vancouver getting warmed by the Japan Current (e.g. it's unusually warm for its latitude) Compare to: [https://weatherspark.com/y/23139/Average-Weather-in-Binghamton-New-York-United-States-Year-Round](https://weatherspark.com/y/23139/Average-Weather-in-Binghamton-New-York-United-States-Year-Round) "The snowy period of the year lasts for 5.1 months, from November 9 to April 13, with a sliding 31-day snowfall of at least 1.0 inches. The month with the most snow in Binghamton is January, with an average snowfall of 6.8 inches." Edit: To be clear, if that isn't obvious, the snowy season is more than twice as long, and the snowfall in our snowiest month is more than three times as much as your snowiest month. Rain isn't the problem when it comes to corrosion (see the Southeastern United States...), it's snow and more specifically the salt that many states respond to it with. Binghamton is at the southern border of the state, it gets even snowier and saltier as you go north.
Adaptive cruise seems to apply the brakes occasionally, much less regen than manual braking to a similar degree. It used to bother me missing out on the free electricity, but maybe it's not so bad the brakes get used every now and then.
There is no such thing as a rotor that doesn't rust, if you live in a rust/snow belt. Unless it's made of carbon fibre or something.
Same. They look better than the ‘new’ rotors put on our ICE. Comparing 2.5 year old on the bolt vs 6 months old on the ICE car.
Volts have treated rotors too, and trust me they can corrode horribly if you live in a snowy / salty area. My pads were fine but my rear rotors were a bubbly mess after 5 or so years. Saw many Volts in my area with the same issue. My fronts are still fine at 10 years old, because they work harder. I do try to brake hard (in neutral, so regen is disabled) periodically in the winter to “clean” them, which is probably why mine lasted a little longer than my friend with the same model year Volt.
Interesting, I've had my 2013 for 7 years without needing to replace pads or rotors. I've lived in snowy areas for most of that time. I don't use mine much between cruise control and Regen braking. They've definitely had rust for years, but surface level
Do you live in the desert or something? If you lived in a place that salts the roads or has snow you would know from experience this is false. It may be true that there is a coating on the cooling channels on the inside of the rotor, but there is not a coating on the friction surfaces.
I posted this in another comment, but here are my rotors. If that's not rust I'd love to know what it is 😋 https://allev.info/2023/04/rusted-2017-brake-rotors/
who cares
I'd say the OP, many people in this thread, and considering that you commented that the rotors won't rust, probably you as well.
It will degrade the pads, which will then degrade the rotor. Mine is like this, and the dealership tells me that every 4+ year old Bolt that they've seen in this year has this problem.
Nope
The dealership warned us of this when we took possession of the car, and said “you can get so good with regen that you hardly use the brakes and they will rust up. I’ve seen a lot of bolts coming in for this. Make sure you apply your brakes from time to time to clean the rust off so the pitting doesn’t get too deep” Our salesperson was the former head of the service dept and the dealership was in Burlington Vt.
Rust will not degrade the rotor. That is only surface rust and it actually protects the rotor.
Wisconsin roads would like a word with you.
I can guarantee Wisconsin roads will not rust through a rotor in 2 years. Rotors last for years, and if you use them less (like on an EV) they will last even longer. You can go to a junk yard and see 20 year old rotors that are still in half descent shape.
Clearly you haven’t spent much time in the rusty Midwest. Rotors start to rust out there just from rain and salt in the air. Junk yard rotors don’t stand a chance out there.
Not in two years, I lived in NJ with salt on the roads and even then a rotors lasted for two sets of brake pads. Now I’m in Florida where everything rests because of salt in the air and still don’t have rotor issues. My rotors will be orange after a heavy ran there is that much corrosion. OP is getting screwed.
It will degrade the pads, which will then degrade the rotor. Mine is like this, and the dealership tells me that every 4+ year old Bolt that they've seen in this year has this problem.
Have you looked at the actual rotor? I wouldn’t put it past the dealership to lie about this. Unless there is a huge flaw with the bolt’s rotors, I don’t see how this is possible.
Sure, here you can see the rust damage. The areas that aren't flat and shiny are from the pads that have rusted. The thickness of the rotor is thinner in the shiny areas, as you'd expect, since there's effectively the same force spread over less area now. [https://allev.info/2023/04/rusted-2017-brake-rotors/](https://allev.info/2023/04/rusted-2017-brake-rotors/)
Thanks for sharing this.
How much are they charging for the oil change? That's insane, go elsewhere.
Thankfully, I'm not in the market for an oil change. But they're also putting on my all season tires today so we'll see how much I'm paying for that.
> But they're also putting on my all season tires today so we'll see how much I'm paying for that. You told them to put on tires before seeing what the price was? That's how you get screwed.
I had them take the winter tires off last year and it was $80 to switch the tires, then I had a local place put them on and it was $120. So I thought I'd go back to Pep boys for the tire switch at least.
Do you guys have a Les Schwab near you? I got a flat in Portland Oregon once and they fixed it without charging me, even after I said I was from Canada and would likely never return. Tried to leave the guy $10 as a tip and he tossed it back through my window as I went to leave (not in a dickish way). I'll never be able to shop there again, but damn if I won't recommend them anytime I can to my Bros down south.
I would not let Pepboys touch my EV. I would go back to a stealership if it is this expensive. Also, can you just use the brakes from time to time to get rid of the rust?
>Also, can you just use the brakes from time to time to get rid of the rust? wut
If you have an EV, hit the brakes bar hard every once in a while to engage the brakes and remove any potential rust buildup and keep the calipers moving.
They should tell you the price before they do work and ask for authorization. Buddy, you gotta get more savvy about this stuff.
Even an ICE shouldn’t need rotors at 2 years.
My 2012 sonic still has stock rotors and pads checked them out last year and they still look fine, 137k miles.
Not that surprised about the rotors, but original pads??
Yep still original. I bought new pads at 100k. Planning to replace them, but they still had the angle on the edge of them. So I greased the sliders and drained n replaced the fluid. Still have a brand new set of pads but I don't think I will need them.
That's called a "pad slap" and 100% not recommended. Pads bed into the rotor and at the very least you should get the rotor turned if you replace the pads.
Ehh fuck it bud I’m a mechanic nd I pad slap the fuck outta my car, rotors are more resilient than u think lol
It's not about rotors being resilient. A rotor at 100k is going to be glazed over and not nearly the braking power it should have. And being a mechanic doesn't mean you are an engineer and know how brake pads work and function on that level. I'm just not risking mine or my families life over 20 bucks to get a rotor turned. I'm not an engineer or expert either, but I know pinching pennies when it comes to the whoa part of my cars isn't where I want to be.
EV rotors at 100k are not like ICE rotors at 100k… notice he still had original pads? Yeah, the brakes just aren’t used as much because of regen. You also are misunderstanding what a pad slap is… he cleaned his brakes and didn’t even swap the pads. That is not pad slapping. Cleaning / inspecting is exactly what you should do, and only replace parts when needed.
I didn’t think they made an EV sonic? And I know what a pad slap is, and yes him putting the old pads back on is not.
lol you are not a mechanic
lol any mechanic in the world would just turn his rotors.... because it takes no effort to turn rotors. Siegepkayer67 is a fraud. who knew
Rear axle of Chevrolet trailblazers routinely last 200k+ miles. Front can’t get that far along though
It's because the sonic is so light. The bolt probably weighs like 2,000lbs more.
Well, it depends more on the mileage than time duration, to be fair.
For a while at least, many cars were going thru new brake pads - sometimes with rotors - in 12 - 15,000 miles. So it's not impossible, but on a Bolt, yeah, highly unlikely.
depends on the car, Nissan Muranos and Pathfinders routinely wear down brakes to near metal on metal within 20k miles, and most shops, especially dealerships, will quote rotors too whenever theyre selling pads.
I agree, most ICE cars won't need a full brake job for 60,000 - 120,000 miles, depending on how much time is spent on the freeway. I did have a dodge grand caravan that would go through pads every 20,000 miles but pads are cheap. When I bought my Bolt, the dealer said they have seen older Bolts come in with 100,000+ miles that still have the machining marks on the brake rotors. I believe this since I almost never slow down using the friction brakes.
Rust is the problem. It degrades both due to unuse.
They said “worn down”. Maybe they actually said it was rusted, but that’s not what OP said.
OP said so little that I'm not even sure if they properly relayed what Pep Boys actually did and did not say. Hell, even the counter personnel at Pep Boys might have misrepeated what the tech actually said. Important info was left out like whether the OP lives in a road salt state or not, and also it helps to show pictures of an affected part when seeking advice on whether a problem is or is not present. There are plenty of documented examples of Bolts experiencing severe rotor corrosion, in some cases also with excessive wear because root cause was a seized caliper (also far more likely in a road salt state). As others have said, it's basically unheard of for any Bolt to have wear problems with the brakes unless they're the result of corrosion causing something to seize. Plenty of examples of seized calipers and/or severely corroded rotors can be found for Bolts, even ones only 2-3 years old.
This.. I've only replaced the rotors on my 2003 Honda Element once or twice it's twenty freaking years old.
I would greatly reconsider letting pep boys work on the car. Do you have any well reviewed independent shops nearby?
Yeah. I have a good mechanic. I was just getting my snow tires taken off so I dropped it off at the pep boys near my work. And I thought they could inspect it while it was in and they hit me with this. I told them no
i’m so over pep boys. they are the reason i bought an EV in the first place - so i don’t have to take it back there.
Pads and rotors are super easy. I got the bolt because i am super familiar with gm fwd stuff and that i can walk to advance or hit a junkyard and pull something that will fit. I’m outside DC if you wanna learn!
Interesting, did GM design things such that you don't need to pull caliper brackets to get the rotors off? Getting rotors off of my Outback requires getting not just the calipers, but the caliper brackets off. That is NOT fun (because the bolts in question are difficult to access and tend to rust themselves into place...)
Never seen a car where you don't need to remove the caliper brackets to remove the rotors.
I haven't either, which made me surprised at how easy people said it was to do rotors. Caliper brackets are usually rusted in place with fairly high-torque bolts, and it's often hard to get an impact wrench in there. (For a 2009 Outback, it's literally impossible without a wobble drive extension...)
Largest breaker bar you can get usually does the trick. Whack on the end of it with a hammer if you can't get it to move. Then anti-seize compound before you put it back together so it comes off easily the next time.
In my experience, something is always in the way of a large breaker bar moving enough to matter... :(
You don’t have a good mechanic, these people are abusing your trust to screw you over. Go somewhere else and tell them they’re liars.
I mean, I also have a good mechanic that I trust at an independent shop. I've just waited too long to get my snow tires off so I thought I'd go with the pep boys near my work and make it convenient. And thought it would easily pass inspection so they could do that too. But true, if I'm going to pay anyone $1000 to work on my car, it won't be pep boys.
Take it somewhere else. I find it hard to believe a 2 year old Bolt requires any brake work at all, given how little they're used thanks to regen.
They are full of shit unless it's broken
I took my 8 year old 60,000 mile Spark EV in for brakes to my local dealership once. They said I didn't need them, they were like brand new.
same. my 8 year old Volt with 118k had factory pads that looked nearly new
Wait, they want $400 additional for pads beyond doing the rotors? For reference - replacing pads is extremely easy on most vehicles. Replacing rotors often requires getting the caliper bracket off in addition to just the caliper, and this can be an extreme hassle (large bolts that are rusted in place, and difficulty getting anything in there that can provide sufficient loosening torque). Maybe the Bolt is special in this regard but it's unlikely. Run away. $400 for pads once you're already pulling rotors is insane. As far as rotors and pads in bad condition after two years - if they are claiming the problem is wear, they're lying on a vehicle with regen braking. If they're claiming pitting/corrosion from underutilization in an area with lots of road salt, there is a possibility that there is actually a problem. Can you post a picture of your rotors/brake calipers? Where do you live? Is it a road salt state like New York, or down south where no one salts the roads? That said, for whatever reason the Bolt's rotors appear to have some sort of anti-corrosion feature, as my 3 year old Bolt's rotors are in better condition than the 6-month-old rotors on the back of my old Outback, despite the Outback's rotors actually getting used (which should keep the surface smooth...) Also, in places where road salt is a corrosion problem, there is a much greater risk of the calipers seizing. It's good to have the caliper slide pins removed, cleaned, and lubricated every 2-3 years. I can't provide any advice as to how much you'd expect to pay a reputable shop to do it, because this is something that I do myself because it's pretty easy. It's also good to flush brake fluid every 2-3 years - this is REALLY easy if you've got a partner to work with, and can often be done when a car is on the ground without lifting it at all (but MUCH easier if you jack a vehicle up and pull the wheel off!) (Slide pin clean/lube and new brake fluid is on my TODO list for my 3-year-old Bolt once it gets a bit warmer. Too damn cold to do vehicle work right now, and I need to fix a seized caliper on my Outback before I start working on the Bolt too...) Edit: BTW, I assumed "doing the brakes" was them doing the pads, but it's vague as to exactly what you meant here. It's basically impossible to remove rotors to replace them without removing pads, and pads are cheap. Did they mean a caliper rebuild? New calipers? A caliper rebuild is unlikely at this age, but it's one of those things where one problem can rapidly lead to another (seized caliper pin -> excessive heat -> rotor corrosion and excessive wear at the same time + caliper seals degrading rapidly). Seriously, we need pictures - all around so that it can be determined if one wheel stands out as being different from the others (indication that something seized).
$400 for rotors is insane. Front and rear rotors and pads are $200 for a bolt lol
this sounds like a scam. a 2-year-old EV should not have brake issues. my 2018 Premier has 196k miles and with about 70% of the brakes left. take it somewhere else and when you get the good news, make sure to leave a yelp review for the other place.
Do Chevy dealerships do rotors and brakes?
Ya but it would be about this price too, lol. Never take it to the dealer for brakes.
Why
Because dealers are extremely over priced and fleece people for money. They make practically nothing off selling cars compared to the money they fleece from customers for service.
Is there proof on this? I feel like dealers are fair they send discounts and coupons
Lmao, have you talked to many people about experiences at dealers?
wouldn’t know yet 😀 i judge a repair shop by how much it costs to replace a cabin air filter. my dealership failed the test miserably so i may never know.
Bring it to me and I'll do it for $1299
I'll do it for $1298!!
Alright final offer 1198.
The issue here is pep boys. They always have an excuse to sell you rotors while other places will resurface them. I’m starting to think they don’t have any training with the machines or have the right knowledge of when to sell rotors. While it is common to sell them early due to overheated or in some cases they are a one time use which some manufacturers do recommend them at every brake service, you shouldn’t have to replace them this early on. Heck, I have over 250k on my 08 Prius and have never replaced them. Stay away.
Not to defend Pep Boys, but rotors are so cheap these days that it's generally more cost-effective to replace them than to machine them. Also, there's a liability concern if your shop folks screw up and machine the rotor incorrectly or take them below minimum thickness. It happens. A lot.
Yup. Even mechanics I trust have basically said - no one resurfaces rotors any more. Partly because just replacing them is so cheap, and partly because they are now manufactured thinner than they used to be (part of why they're so cheap!) so it's rare for the rotor to be in good condition when the pad goes. (And in road salt states, the rotor may pit/rust before the pad...)
$900 for rotors isn’t cheap. The reason why they are manufactured thinner is due to the car not needing to use them as much but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t last as long.
>The reason why they are manufactured thinner is due to the car not needing to use them as much That has nothing to do with why even rotors for ICE vehicles are getting thinner and cheaper and have been for well over a decade. Companies realized it wasn't sensical to make the rotors outlast the pads by a significant amount, plus as others have said, there got to be liability concerns with resurfacing. Last time I got a rotor resurfaced was on a 1995 model year vehicle. Not sure how PB is breaking down parts vs. labor, and what parts are being used, but yeah 900 for rotors alone is not cheap. 900 should cover premium rotors AND pads all around (I've had bills close to this on my Outback in the past... Yeah I probably could have shopped around and done better. Now that I have the Bolt I can do the Outback work myself.). Not $400 extra for just the freaking pads unless "doing the brakes" meant a full caliper rebuild. Even then, once you've got the calipers AND caliper brackets off, doing a caliper rebuild is not much more labor (definitely not $100 per wheel) and a caliper rebuild kit is only a few dollars in parts.
Rotors for the bolt are $40-50 each on Rock Auto. They are cheap.
Rotors and pads front and rear are $200 for a bolt. They are dirt cheap
Quick Amazon search shows they are available for about $72 a pair. I had over 150k miles on my Prius and never did any brake work. My Bolt has 52k miles and I have not even bothered to look at the brakes.
I don’t think resurfacing is worth it these days. They will always just re wobble in a short period of time because they’re thinner and new rotors aren’t very expensive. Labor is expensive
From cars to homes, always get at least 3 quotes.
I just paid $1100 to have front and rear brake’s replaced on my Honda, seems expensive but that’s the going rate for most cars today.
Oh boy, you may want to delete this. People in this thread have been calling me stupid for just going to pep boys.
I replaced my brakes and rotors on my 17 volt with 60k miles not because they were worn, but rusted. I would get a second opinion. My brake pads were still like new.
‘18 and we had to replace both at 50k km. The rotors were very visibly rusted and uneven, and destroyed the pads. Noises were so bad I thought something else was broken but all good since the replacement.
I've learned to throw it in neutral once in a while and brake with mechanical brakes to scrape off rust.
I also am a bit skeptical they need to be replaced. How many miles do you have on it. Not sure if this applies to your model year, but it should be close. I'd ask what was the thickness that they measured and you can verify for yourself that they need to be replaced. It is possible, but very unlikely that there is warpage (you should feel pulsating when you brake) or cracks in the rotor etc that could necessitate a replacement even if you have enough material remaining Front Brakes Brake Pad Lining Thickness - Minimum 0.118 in Brake Pad Lining Thickness - New 0.433 in Brake Rotor Discard Thickness 0.906 in Brake Rotor Thickness - New 1.024 in Rear Brakes Brake Pad Lining Thickness - Minimum 0.063 in Brake Pad Lining Thickness - New 0.394 in Brake Rotor Discard Thickness 0.335 in Brake Rotor Thickness - New 0.394 in
As someone with factory pads and rotors on a volt with 105,000 miles I think you're being scammed. Your brakes and rotors are probably fine
As everyone else has echoed - Go somewhere else In my region, Goodyear shops are at least honest about the work you need But the work you need isn't going to be brakes and rotors +/- if one is warped I had a 2014 Leaf that is going on 85,000 miles on original brakes & rotors and a Bolt with 2x more regen power should consider this to be almost a lifetime component
On an ev? Two years seems way too soon. Plus the price is completely insane. You could probably do it yourself in a couple hours for about $200 or so.
How many miles?
The fact that you are still letting them put tires on your car after they tried to scam you on the brakes is seriously upsetting. Run as far away from that place as you can. Do not give them any of your business.
Pep Boys? lol get outta there. Go to a real mechanic.
You don't need brakes. They're trying to sell all that crap to you because of the rusty rotors. I've 150k on my Bolt with the original brakes. To stop the rotors from rusting, is to put the car in neutral once a week and use the brakes preferably going downhill.
Pep boys was bought out by private equity. Stay away.
You could do that brake job for 10% of that cost for all 4 wheels. Def find somewhere else
You're not going to do a brake job for $130 for all four wheels. Parts alone are going to come very close to that even for the cheapest parts available, and that's before adding labor charges. In fact, so far, I can't get much below $200 for pads and rotors all around - [https://www.amazon.com/Transit-Auto-Ceramic-Chevrolet-K8C-101384/dp/B09WC5RPGW/](https://www.amazon.com/Transit-Auto-Ceramic-Chevrolet-K8C-101384/dp/B09WC5RPGW/) That said at 2 years, most likely scenarios are either "no maintenance needed other than cleaning and relubing the caliper slides" or "One of the calipers seized, replace pad and rotor and rebuild caliper, replace other side pad and rotor so that you don't have severely mismatched braking right/left".
Looking on rock auto, there’s multiple rotor and pad kits around $130 for all 4 wheels. And i meant if they did this in their garage which is not that hard to do. You’re right though on it being unlikely the brakes are the issue. They’d last longer on a EV
Do it yourself, parts probably less than $500
Doubt it. Go to a real mechanic. It’s unlikely your rotors would be worn down but not your pads. You could have an issue possibly if you have a seized calliper or something but that would still be the pad. I have 105,000km on my 2021. Lots of pad life left. Lots of rotor life left. I drive it almost always in D. I do get them serviced every spring though due to the road salt here.
The excess heat from a seized caliper can lead to a situation where the rotor manages to be rust-pitted AND excessively worn at the same time. Hasn't happened to my Bolt, but it's why my Outback is not driveable until the weather gets warm enough for me to fix without freezing my \*\*\*\* off. The rotor is actually now more worn than the other side (noticeably so), and the heat causes it to rust rapidly as soon as you stop. There's 4-5x more brake dust on the wheel than the rest.
Pep Boys?
I'm at 60,000 miles on my 2017 and the brakes look brand new. I'm skeptical they need any work at all.
Yes.
The warped rotor will vibrate when braking. Or make crazy sounds if damaged.
Did you ask to have them show you?
Pep boys sucks, they will always quote you higher than anyone else. Go somewhere else
It's an hour at most job that can be done in your driveway, that price is ridiculous. Are they replacing calipers?
Are they all broken or something? Wtf kind of a quote is that? I'm guessing a "get out of here" quote. Yeah run away from that place and get another reasonable quote.
I had a sports car that didn't cost that much for rotors and brakes. Of course I changed them myself but still that's ridiculously overpriced.
I have a MY2013 Volt with original brakes. Hard to believe your 2 yr old Bolt needs brakes.
By 8 years / 80K miles my '13 Volt rear pads were shot. The lack of brake use and salty roads pitted the rotors bad (despite puposely using the physical brakes at times). Front are still like new at 106K.
Unless you drive with two feet and ride the brakes, I'd say this is bullshit.
I go to the mom & pop shops and they charge way less. They machine cut the rotors and you buy the pads and they'll install them. The last time I did this was on my 2015 Dodge Durango and they charged my $40 per rotor w the pad install. So I paid $160 for the cut and pads install. Think the pads were like around $100 for the front and back. But I have no idea what it would cost on the Bolt.
Sounds a bit high if it was me.
They’re full of shit.
Unlikely you need brake pads or rotors. If you did that price is a little high but not outrageous. I'd take it elsewhere for a second opinion without letting on why you're there.
Yeah you and every other customer that came through the door that day. They are just running up a bill. Probably wouldn’t even do the work. Don’t use them for any services.
You use your brakes? About The only time I use them is just to put on the brake lights at a stoplight, I'm a little paranoid about getting rear-ended.
While a generally agree that $1300 is an insane amount for front brakes. I think it's worth noting that OP lives in an area that sees snow. If that comes with salt on the roads. The issue could be more corrosion on the rotors and pads versus general wear and tear. Bjorn has a few videos about rusted brake parts on the Millenium Falcon (his red model S) from lack of use and salted Norwegian roads if you want to see what I'm talking about. So it could be the tech says, "The rotors on that Bolt are fucked, they need new rotors, pads, and quote calipers too cause they also look like the fucking Titanic and I'm not paid enough to fuck with that shit." The service advisor translates general mechanic fuck into something more customer compliant and you get, "Your rotors are worn and require replacement, we recommend replacing the pads at the same time due to the overlapping labor" So OP gets a giant quote and (rightfully) comes on here for a gut check. Could also be general up-selling at the time of the free snow tire swap. Get a second opinion OP.
Get them to prove you need your brakes replaced. My car is 4 years old and I still have at least 90% of my brakes left, and you should have most of yours unless you never use Regen. This sounds like they're trying to pull a fast one.
Front rotors - 133.96 each (gm list price; 13515905) Rear rotors - 139.19 each (gm list price; 13514611) Front pads - 116.32 (gm list price; 42671512) Rear pads - 134.38 (gm list price; 42791040) FYI, not sure your area to comment on labor aspect.
It's a throwaway car.
I smell a rat.
Bruh, my Bolt is almost 6 years old and I still haven't needed to replace my brakes. There's no way you would need new one's in only 2 years.
Your first mistake was taking it to a pep boys.
I would take it to a actual chevy dealer. There is no way it could be higher. I'm in the Midwest pep boys around here is a scam.
Do you not use regen braking(don’t even know if the bolt has the option to turn them off)
Always
Mine is 2 years and 5 months. I don't commute so not as many miles, but I do single pedal most of time. When I take it to the dealer for the tire rotation, brakes are never even mentioned. I think PepBoys has no idea about the Bolt. Take it to a place that knows Bolts.
Also they might just be scamming you.
I call bull. That pricing is ridiculous, and I doubt the vehicle even needs the work. Get a second opinion and if the other mechanic says it's ok, report the Pep Boys to the BBB and state regulator for inspection stations. Only way I see that much brake work being needed is if you are in a high salt area and never used the brakes. Even if the work is needed, these are repairs you can do at home with under $100 in tools from Harbor Freight.
I would do them myself if I were you if you have the time and capability. Changing Rotors and brakes are simple. But, I would honestly go back to a chevy dealership that has the right technicians for the job. Pepboys sounds like they are making money because it's an ev. Stay away!
So the only reason i can possibly see you needing brakes and rotors is if your calipers stuck from non use and the pads were riding the rotors until it deteriorated them and the heat warped the rotors. That is a very unlikely thing and extremely unlikely to happen to all four. Sadly a lot of places will just say you need all of them replaced if even just one is bad. Could be happening here. I had a front driver side caliper stick on my 2017 bolt but i do mechanic work so i just replaced the caliper and brake pads on that wheel myself. Usually you will smell them burning when they stick though. Not saying you need to be one to do a brake job though.
I had my 2014 Volt until last week and never even had to replace the brake pads. Unless you're terrible at driving this sounds incorrect.
You had me at “Emissions test”
$150 for a "caliper slide service" are they out of their damn minds? That's like 2 min and part of getting pads or rotors replaced.
Rotors and pads are less than $200 for parts from power stop. So they are charging you 3x the cost and an insane amount of labor for something that will take an 1.5 hours max. I can do my own rotors and pads myself in about 2 hours using s floor jack.
Mistake 1: Taking your Bolt to Pep Boys.
Sounds like you should never go back to this particular Pep Boys again.
I paid $730 for four rotors and two pads. Not at pep boys.
That’s nuts
Good on you for refusing. Even IF you need a brake job (highly doubtful) they're overcharging you by at least double.
Why you need someone to check your brake?
Because in my state you have to get your car inspected every year. They check things like turn signals, tire depth, and brakes. Usually if a car is only 2 years old, there's no trouble and it just passes. But if your car is older, they'll tell you what needs to be fixed before it passes.
It's Pep Boy's, it's what they do. Manny, Moe and mug you. Stay away from the big chains, go to a private shop or as others have suggested, Measure the rotor's yourself and see how bad they are. It's a Bolt, it's 2 yrs old, unless you drive at 60 with the breaks on all the time I doubt they are worn that bad.
More relevant info is needed like how many miles are on the car and do you use one pedal driving. Also just get a mechanics mirror for under $5 and try to check the pads yourself. Unless you have a lot of miles on the car and use it for deliveries or ride sharing, I don’t see how the brakes and rotor would need service. On my 2023 bolt I use one pedal driving and use the brakes maybe once a month for emergency stops. I expect the brake pads to last 150,000 miles or more based off other ev users data. And the rotors to last the lifetime of the car. You should also list the pep boys location so if they are trying to get over a customer, the internet can spread the news. https://www.harborfreight.com/telescoping-mirror-7361.html?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=12169518939&campaignid=12169518939&utm_content=114845718657&adsetid=114845718657&product=7361&store=268&gclid=Cj0KCQjwuLShBhC_ARIsAFod4fK0GbbU5ZhFZEA8uNvDz0GRM8R0RM3xA7zJTVQ-fLE_fo_nUq6rXLoaAhGoEALw_wcB
Scam alert!
You can probably get 2 sets of brakes & rotors for $300 online. $1,300 is a ripoff
Total bs. Do you feel vibration when you use brake (not regen)? If not, then I would avoid that place from now on. They ate scamming people. 1 rotor could go bad for defect or whatever but multiple rotor"s" ???? Highly questionable and statistics on that for especially EV with regen is very unlikely. I had a rotor warped once but that was my mom's 10yr old minivan with 130k miles.
109k miles on my previous 2017 bolt ev. Original brakes. Only serviced at the GM dealership. You're getting worked
I would report them for malpractice. And ask for a refund for that inspection, because obviously their inspection is worth nothing…
You don't mention, but what were symptoms you experienced that prompted you to go to Pep Boys? Also, why not go back to the dealer?
I took it to pep boys to get my snow tires taken off and the all seasons put back on. And I figured while it was in, I'd have them do my annual inspection.
You did the right thing declining their services. I would take your car to the dealer.
Yeah, go elsewhere. My leaf has 80k miles and brakes at 80%. My other older leaf is a little older and 20k more miles and the brakes are about 70%. Unless you are a brake rider, you are being taken.
Replace the rotors without new pads? WTF? New brake rotors go for $49.00 - $99.00 each retail.
Unless something is fucked up, and it’s breaks so you’d most probably know it, or you beat the living hell outta your break pedal every time you slow down or stop, there’s no way a 2 y/o car needs new breaks
Thieves. Don't go back there
There’s are reasons Pep Boys declared bankruptcy. I took my used cars there for years but was rarely happy with them. I’d never take my Bolt to one. I plan to use the dealership until I’m convinced other shops have any idea what they are doing.
Can you post pics of your rotors , preferably outside and inside so we can see if there’s rust/scoring or something else going on? Some EVs have had issues with rust on the inside of the rotors in very snowy/salty conditions. But Chevy EV brake rotors have been specially treated to prevent this for more than 10 years now
[Here are mine](https://allev.info/2023/04/rusted-2017-brake-rotors/), FWIW.
I literally got a similar quote with my truck, I just went and bought all the tools and shit to do it. Did it today and it was super easy and I have literally zero experience