2020 Yukon - PowerStop Rotors Warped after 4 months - SOLVED

[2Luckysat]

Follow Up To My Original Post: - Just wanted to take a moment to thank everyone for sharing their knowledge and experience. As it turns out the problem was with the front drivers side rotor (not the rear that I initially thought the sound was coming from). The mechanic indexed it and found the front rotor was wobbling due to rust buildup on the hub assembly causing an uneven surface. He tried to clean and sand down everything but decided to change the hub out and reinstall the PowerStop rotor. I've put about 200 miles of local driving since and the issue appears to have been resolved. I deeply appreciate the help and wish you and your families a happy Easter Sunday.

Hi All,
Changed out my brakes after 65K on my 2020 Yukon 5.3 SLT. After doing some research on the site decided to upgrade to PowerStop Z36 Tow and Performance Brake Upgrade Kit K6560-36 Brakes worked flawlessly and All was well for the first 4,000 miles or so then started getting an annoying squeaking noise out of drivers side rear wheel on partial braking (nothing on full brake or when brakes not engaged at all)... Only squeaking on partial brake pedal pressure... Brought to my local shop, he put the truck on the lift and placed truck in drive. Said with wheels spinning he felt some minor warping with placing a finger on drivers side rear rotor... He said he doesn't like aftermarket stuff and would have suggested OEM rotors and pads because in his experience the aftermarket stuff tends to be lower quality. PowerStop did get some good reviews and stopped better than factory in my opinion, but now I had a problem

Called PowerStop and they were nice enough to Warantee two rear rotors and pads. All was well after those Warantee replacements were installed last week, now the damn drivers side rear squeak is back! Any thoughts from guys that know a lot more than me? Could this possibly be something else? Note: both rear calipers were replaced and bleed out at dealer at 60K truck now has 69,000 miles. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated...

 

[Big Mama]

did the first or second shop check the calipers? The other thing that comes to mind is the guide pins, assuming your newer than mine rig still has them. If they’re not super clean and lubed right the pad basically stays in contact with the rotor which will make it overheat and warp. Usually you can smell brake pad smoking or see the rotor smoking. Getting rid of your truck for a brake problem is going overboard though. It’ll get straightened out.

 

[2Luckysat]

did the first or second shop check the calipers? The other thing that comes to mind is the guide pins, assuming your newer than mine rig still has them. If they’re not super clean and lubed right the pad basically stays in contact with the rotor which will make it overheat and warp. Usually you can smell brake pad smoking or see the rotor smoking. Getting rid of your truck for a brake problem is going overboard though. It’ll get straightened out.

Thank you for the tips... Yes so the dealership changed both rear calipers and bleed the rear brakes only. A few months later, a friend helped me change the rotors and pads on all four wheels with PowerStop equipment. After the squeaking began I took it to my local mechanic to install the PowerStop warranty replacement rear pads and rotors. So I will definitely ask him about the guide pins... Do you think the dealer bleeding the rear calipers only and not the front could be causing them to work harder then the front? Causing the overheating?

 

[Doubeleive]

Thank you for the tips... Yes so the dealership changed both rear calipers and bleed the rear brakes only. A few months later, a friend helped me change the rotors and pads on all four wheels with PowerStop equipment. After the squeaking began I took it to my local mechanic to install the PowerStop warranty replacement rear pads and rotors. So I will definitely ask him about the guide pins... Do you think the dealer bleeding the rear calipers only and not the front could be causing them to work harder then the front? Causing the overheating?

something doesn't sound right or was not explained properly, anytime the brakes are bled the process "should be" performed by bleeding the right rear, left rear, right front, left front. In that order. (farthest to nearest). that really would not explain only the right rear making noise though, sounds like maybe a funky caliper, you could go get a harbor freight cheapy infrared thermometer, go drive it and do a couple back to back emergency type stops then pull over and check the brake temps on the back they should both be around the same temp. if the right is hotter then you know there is a issue.

 

[Joseph Garcia]

Were the new pads and rotors set/broken-in right after installation? PowerStop has specific instructions on setting/breaking-in the new pad and rotor combination. If not followed, the chances of rotors warping is increased substantially.

 

[2Luckysat]

Yes, I made sure to do that. In fact watched a couple of videos on the break in procedure first and did everything verbatim. So thinking/hoping at this point possibly a funky caliper as Tuckerrnr1 had mentioned... The rear calipers did feel pretty lightweight so I guess we'll see

 

[Marky Dissod]

Very generally speaking, rotors with holes in them
(used to call them drilled, but learned that drilling them is not how the holes are supposed to wind up there)
are only a good idea if the rotors STILL have enough mass AFTER accounting for the holes.

Hole-y rotors reject heat better, except that this ALSO requires supplemental air aimed at the rotors.
Mind that that's IMPOSSIBLE during or immediately after coming to a dead stop.
The larger the rotors already are to start with, the less of an issue it is.
Point is hole-y rotors are better for racing, where there's only one complete stop to worry about,
and you can always do a cooldown lap afterward.

Those rear rotors look like 12", UNvented? Unvented hole-y rotors are a self-contradictory aesthetic extravagance.
An unvented rotor is under 50% of the mass of a vented one.
Even if it is vented, though, rear rotors are nearly always less massive than equally sized fronts.
Mass is always the primary concern if complete stops are more important than racing.

 

[2Luckysat]

Thank you Mark, other people said something similar and to stick with OEM. Fronts are currently working well. Would you recommend replacing the rears with OEM non drilled and slotted? Also could it be a be a problem with a bearing or fitting in the rear axle?

 

[Doubeleive]

Thank you Mark, other people said something similar and to stick with OEM. Fronts are currently working well. Would you recommend replacing the rears with OEM non drilled and slotted? Also could it be a be a problem with a bearing or fitting in the rear axle?

you should not be having any problems running those brakes, my money is on a caliper issue. I would start by checking the temps the thermometer is cheap like $25-30 and you will have it for testing pretty much anything in the future.
I have ran drilled and slotted rotors for decades, normally there should be no problems it is "possible" to make them warped but that can depend on how they were broke in and how you drive. if it just happened without explanation they can be turned and put fresh pads on and break them in correctly again and you should be fine. Some shops might say "those can't be turned" which is nonsense they just need to be turned on low speed.
the rotor does not actually "WARP" it just has uneven pad material on it.

 

[2Luckysat]

Awesome thanks Doubeleive! The truck hasn't been driven hard or beat on it in anyway. I would love to keep the current setup as its been a nice upgrade to the truck which
stops much better with the PowerStop rotors & pads... Hopefully just a bad caliper. Someone else suggested possibly a problem with the rear end or axle bearings but this issue only occurs during braking and not on acceleration so I don't think its that... I'll followup once the issue is hopefully resolved