BREMBO PROBLEMS - CONSIDERING LEGAL ACTION

[Smashfist]

Brake shudder is 100% a driving style related concern. Holden generally don't cover brake machines at all so you've already had them go above and beyond. It's not the brakes or the manufacturer's fault that your driving style has caused the same concern on more than one occasion. The fact that the shudder happened after 7,000km of wear and not directly off the showroom floor indicates that the problem you are having is not a manufacturing defect.

Additionally, squeal is a characteristic inherent to performance brakes. There are things you can do to improve it but you will generally never cure it 100%.

Either learn to live with it or stop reaming your brakes every time you use them.

 

[Hyperduc]

A story for y'all.

Bought a new Ducati with Brembos. Bike run in no problems, went for a ride through the mountains and had a couple of corners that i had to brake really hard. 2 kms later I stopped waiting for my riding group to catch up. I rode on a then the next day found a pulsing through the bars from the front brakes.

I went back to the dealer and they told me they also didn't cover the brakes or the discs as they are replaceable parts and could have been knocked. I discovered that after getting the brakes hot from the corners then holding the pads against the discs while waiting the discs got soaked with the heat and 1 of them warpped slightly, causing some pulsing.

Lesson learned was if excessively heating the discs don't sit on the brakes waiting for the lights to change etc.

Not in the manual though and not common knowledge.

 

[zero_tolerance]

Brake shudder has been an issue with pretty much every model Commodore since at least VN. The factory rotors are garbage.
My previous VE developed brake shudder at about 20,000km. Dealer machined rotors under warranty and was all good for a while but the shudder eventually returned. Turfed the factory rotors for DBA's and never had an issue again.

 

[Immortality]

A story for y'all.

Bought a new Ducati with Brembos. Bike run in no problems, went for a ride through the mountains and had a couple of corners that i had to brake really hard. 2 kms later I stopped waiting for my riding group to catch up. I rode on a then the next day found a pulsing through the bars from the front brakes.

I went back to the dealer and they told me they also didn't cover the brakes or the discs as they are replaceable parts and could have been knocked. I discovered that after getting the brakes hot from the corners then holding the pads against the discs while waiting the discs got soaked with the heat and 1 of them warpped slightly, causing some pulsing.

Lesson learned was if excessively heating the discs don't sit on the brakes waiting for the lights to change etc.

Not in the manual though and not common knowledge.

I believe you learn this on HSV drivers days when you are warned not to hold the brakes or use the hand brake after turning a few hard laps and coming in and parking up.

 

[Hyperduc]

immortality, Putting it out there should help others...Thanks.

 

[EternityDre]

I believe you learn this on HSV drivers days when you are warned not to hold the brakes or use the hand brake after turning a few hard laps and coming in and parking up.

This is good advice as I'm about to get my MSE, makes sense not to hold the brakes with the pedal if they're hot.
Question, is it okay to use the electronic park brake or not? Forgive my ignorance as I'm coming from a VE, what does the electronic brake do? Doesn't the e-brake come on automatically when stopped and especially when on an angle i.e. hill assist?

 

[Immortality]

I'd put the transmission in park or leave it in gear if it's a manual but leave the brake off.

Isn't the electronic park brake exactly like a hand brake in operation other than how the user operates it?

 

[Sean880]

The brakes (callipers) fitted to the Redlines are not what I’d call big brakes or race brakes, more a matter of entry level Brembo.
I’d do what arronm has done and ditch the rotors for a set of DBA’s and look into a new set of pads and bed them in.
You’d be better off and as much as I like to stand up for myself and push dealers when I believe I’m in the right (which is all the time) I’m not that silly to throw away good coin just for a principle when the issue is ambiguous at best and the dollar value of arranging your own fix is minor compared to legal action.
.

That's the most sensible option for this guy.

Brake pads and rotors are typically a wear and tear item but Holden have already replaced the front rotors once with new items under warranty. When the brake shudder showed up, machining the rotors to remove the uneven wear (Disc Thickness Variation issue) within the minimum disc thickness is normal practice. This was also done as a warranty job. It seems to me Holden have already done quite a bit at their cost to help this owner.

The front brake shudder problem with this owner's car may be excessive run out on the rotor fitting. It does not matter how good your rotors are, if the run out is excessive with the rotor fitment you will get uneven wear (DTV) on the rotor and the brake shudder will then show up eventually. It's then inevitable.

When replacing the rotors he needs to make sure the fitters check for disc run out and if it is excessive that needs to be corrected or the same issue will return. I am sure for many rotor replacements the fitters don't even bother cleaning up the hub faces before mounting the new rotor or the newly machined rotor and even less will bother to check for run out (and in some cases won't even have the tool to do it).

There are some very good technical articles published on the problem.
Bendix published quite a good one on their site years ago where they discuss all the relevant issues.......here...........
https://www.bendix.com.au/news/brake-shudder-explained-and-how-fix-it

 

[Forg]

Brake shudder is 100% a driving style related concern.
[snip]
Either learn to live with it or stop reaming your brakes every time you use them.

For my info, and not relating to the original post; the brakes on our car get little work at all, it wouldn't get over 50km/h on weekdays & because the lights are easy to see it generally gets coasted up to them rather than any hard braking. I was actually wondering if our failure to bed-in properly was to "not use them enough". But if you're saying hitting 'em too hard is what causes the pulsing, then that's not the cause of the pulsing with ours.

 

[RiCeY]

For the squealing there are revised shims and greasing procedure for front and rear pads, have they done this rework?