2003 Grand Am Brakes

[fireguy82]

So my wife has a 2003 Grand Am and I'm having some problems with one of her front brakes. I know many of the people on here used to be GA owners so I'm turning to you.

Problem: The inside pad of her front driver's side brakes wears alot quicker than the others. There is a slight pull to that side also. Been to the dealer when it was under warrenty but they told me nothing was wrong. Been to two dealers about 4 or 5 times on this issue. They keep telling me that the slides are going back and forth okay and they can't find a problem.

My issue is that this has been doing this since we bought the car new. I don't think that one pad should wear down to the metal and the other 3 on the front end still have 1/2 inch or more on them. All wear is even across all pads so the pads are not cocked. Put two sets of new rotors on puls the factory ones. Changes brakes about 6 times in the 70,000mi we've put on. Also had it aligned.

I'm toying with the idea of just replacing both front calipers but I thought I'd throw it out to you.

[TLS2000]

I know that the dealership says that they checked the slides, but I think you should check them yourself. Take the slides out, clean them, and then grease them with lithium grease before putting them back in.

Also, grease the shim that is in the caliper bracket where the pads make contact with it. There is also a piece of hardware that is held onto the caliper by friction. It pushes the pads away from the rotor. Grease the area that makes contact with the pads.

Make sure that you don't get the grease on the meat of the pads or on the rotor.

The brakes on the '99+ Grand Ams were horrible. I replaced my front calipers TWICE in the time that I owned mine.

[fireguy82]

Thanks for the info. Looks like new calipers.

[ElecBlueG6GT]

Thanks for the info. Looks like new calipers.

What you've described is best explained by a sticking caliper. Normally, when you release the brake pedal, the caliper pulls back slightly. It would appear in your case, it stays where it is and continues to put some pressure on the pad.

[TLS2000]

Get the calipers from a parts store, rather than a dealership. Remanufactured calipers ran me $60 each w/core return. If I went through the dealership, they wanted $300 per caliper.

[EmersonHart13]

I had a problem similiar to this when I over greased the caliper slide bolt. There was too much grease so it could not fully slide back and forth. YUCK!

[fireguy82]

Thought you could never have too much lube