Chevy Silverado, Tahoe And Suburban Brake Pads May Wear Prematurely

The 2019 through 2024 Chevy Silverado, 2021 through 2024 Chevy Tahoe, and 2021 through 2024 Chevy Suburban are included in a GM preliminary service bulletin relating to premature brake pad wear reported by drivers of these and other vehicles.

According to Bulletin number PIT6134E, the premature brake pad wear can shorten the lifespan of the affected pads to only a few thousand miles in total.

Affected Chevy Silverado, Chevy Suburban, and Chevy Tahoe units may experience much faster than normal wearing of the front brake pads specifically. The rapid wear occurs when the vehicle is used in driving conditions that cause intense heating of the pads, with GM citing “during mountainous driving or heavy city/stop and go traffic” as examples of these situations.

GM notes that the excessive brake pad wear is caused by a new formulation of brake pad material. The automaker started producing the new pads to reduce the noise created by the pads contacting the rotors. This material helped with quieter braking, but appears to lack the necessary durability for the job.

For the moment, GM has no available permanent remedy to the issue. If excessive brake wear occurs, the only current “fix” is to replace the pads with pads made of the same material. However, The General’s engineers are developing a new pad formulation with superior wear characteristics.

Once the new material is fully developed and new wear-resistant pads are manufactured, GM will update the preliminary service bulletin to show availability of the fix and communicate more information about the process and availability of the remedy.

Notably, the current brake pads appear to be used in the North American market only, which likely includes Canada, the United States and Mexico. Vehicles from Chevrolet as well as Cadillac and GMC are among those affected, including only pickup trucks and SUV models.

Rhian Hunt

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  • From what I hear from 23/24 Canyon/Colorado owners, GM should be adding 23/24 Canyon/Colorado to the list.

    And I'm sure this applies to the GMC full size trucks and SUV as well, but as always, it will be a different article.

  • That was another stupid move by GM. Don’t they ever test anything anymore before making a change like that? Another move by people who know nothing about vehicles! I never heard anyone complain about brake pad noise.

  • I was ready to place the blame for this on an outside brake pad supplier, but, according to the article, GM formulated these pads themselves. Maybe this is an obvious question, but why can't GM engineers simply recommend that owners replace with a longer-lasting brake pad that an aftermarket company creates? Or maybe the engineers can't bring themselves to admit that an after-market brand is superior in this case? What OEM brake pads did they use in trucks and SUVs made before 2019?

  • Another blame the government reason!

    GM (and all manufacturers) have to come up with new materials and manufacturing because copper is no longer allowed in brake pads! First, it was no asbestos, now no copper, so two extremely good and cost-effective heat transfer materials can no longer be used.

    GM will not be the only manufacturer going through this problem. Unfortunately, GM got this mixture wrong and has to go back to the drawing board...

    ... but the blame and ire should be directed at your government officials. The reason your vehicles are the way they are today isn't because of the OEMs!

    *"Reg-u-lation, what's your function"*

    • Asbestos was bad news for the environment and the mechanic. GrandAmGT has is right, just go to the aftermarket and source an appropriate brake pad.

      • Dude, the aftermarket isn't exempt from EPA regulations. How thick can you be?

        In a 2015 ruling, EPA regulations required brake pads use less than 5% copper by 2021, and less than 0.5% by 2025 — so it's here.

        Akebono, Raybestos, etc. can't just skirt the rules. ALL brake pads on the road today have essentially zero copper in them now, or will be once existing stock is removed.

    • yup....instead Toyota makes trucks will frames that rust out prematurely and now 100,000 engines it trucks/suvs that have to be replaced to the tune of over a billion dollars. So you might wanna think twice before commenting on the superiority of Toyota "reliability".....

    • wow. Get of the Toyota bandwagon. Have you heard about the thousands of engine failures?! Jamoke.

  • “ GM notes that the excessive brake pad wear is caused by a new formulation of brake pad material.”

    There we go. Now switch back to the Akebono pads, didn’t need to reinvent something that worked.

  • On a related note, I just replaced the rear pads and rotors on my 2020 Sierra. It will not let me reset the Brake Life monitor. Does anyone know how to do this without a scan tool or taking it to the dealer?

    • Unfortunately, a scan tool or dealer visit is what it will take. I am waiting on a scan tool that will handle new battery registration for my 2021 Sierra when the time for replacement comes.

  • What ever happened to pre-production testing of revised parts before putting them on customer vehicles? This is about as rudimentary screwup as a manufacturer can have.

    And no fix? Ridiculous. What's next? Denying warranty claims due to "owner abuse"?

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