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Chevrolet Avalanche Brake Questions

25 messages,  Last post on Oct 20, 2011 at 9:29 PM

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What is this discussion about? Chevrolet Avalanche, Brakes, Truck

Messages Page 1 of 3

#1 of 25 Chevrolet Avalanche: Brakes by KCRam@Edmunds HOST

Oct 18, 2006 (8:50 pm)

Stop here to discuss stopping your Av!

#2 of 25 Spongy Braking by jpringle

Mar 09, 2007 (7:24 pm)

I own a 2002 Chevy AV and the braking coming downhill or on an incline at a somewhat high rate of speed seem to be very spongy where the pedal is pressed almost on the floor. I 've taken my AV to two dealerships and they did not find any problem. I read a service bullentin last year about the braking sensor needing to be replaced? Does anyone else have the same problems with their AV?

#3 of 25 Re: Spongy Braking [jpringle] by jerrywimer

Mar 12, 2007 (4:36 am)

Replying to: jpringle (Mar 09, 2007 7:24 pm)
The 07 Av's have pretty much ironed out "sponginess" issues, with nice solid progressive brake pedal action. But my 04 Silverado had spongy brakes pretty much from the beginning. It's one reason the 1/2 ton trucks switched back to front disc / rear drums on 2005. I think the brake systems on the SUVs (and Av by relation with the 'burb) are / were the same for the 02-04 models as the trucks. If so, the spongy feeling is normal (the first time I had to make a short stop with my 04 Silverado it about scared the crap out of me!), and speaking from experience with that Silverado, the brakes will still stop you well- the pedal feel itself is just scary at times.
 
If on the other hand your brakes haven't felt like this before I'd wonder at the dealerships finding nothing wrong. Except for in vehicles like the 04 Silverado, the spongy feeling usually means air in the brake lines. This requires that the brakes be bled to remove the trapped air. Since that's something that they could charge you money for I'd be surprised if this is actually the case with your Avalanche though. Dealerships seldom miss a chance to make money off of us sheep, er, customers.
 
As far as the braking sensor thing goes- I only know of two sensors related to the brakes (there may be more- I'm definitely no expert):
1) Brake-shift interlock. This doohickey is what keeps you from starting the Av or taking it out of "Park" unless your foot's on the brake pedal.
2) ABS sensors. These detect when one or more wheels loses traction during hard braking and automatically pulse the brakes.
 
I've heard of problems with both on 99-06 GM truck-based vehicles. But if you had problems with 1, you'd most likely be having issues either starting the Av or getting it into gear to actually take off. While problems with 2 range from a light on the dash informing you that there's a problem with the ABS system up to the brakes "pulsing" in situations where the ABS shouldn't be activating, as the sensors incorrectly "read" a wheel slipping. But trust me, speaking frome experience with my 04 Silverado, spongy brakes feel nothing like the pulsing of the pedal caused by the ABS system.

#4 of 25 Re: Spongy Braking [jpringle] by cmarley

Mar 24, 2007 (4:51 pm)

Replying to: jpringle (Mar 09, 2007 7:24 pm)
I have a 2003 Chevy Av that has had brake issues since 2005. At a stop sign I went to apply the brakes and they were not there. The ABS does not work and Chevy attempted to fix this problem. Recently the truck has started to do the same thing and Chevy can not seem to fix the problem whatever it might be. At the time this problem occurs, the pedal goes to the floor and the brakes smell very hot. If any one has a solution to this problem, please e-mail me. If there is anything we can do to get Chevrolet to realize there is a serious issue with this brake system?

#5 of 25 Re: Chevrolet Avalanche: Brakes [kcram] by juanscubaski

Mar 30, 2007 (10:06 pm)

Replying to: KCRam@Edmunds (Oct 18, 2006 8:50 pm)
I am having th same problem with my 2002 Avalanche. When I changed my disc pads, the back discs were completely gone and the front pads were almost new. I don't think it is using the front pads. How can I check this or what should I try to replace. Stopping down hill or at speed is scary. I think this problem has been progressive. I drove the vehicle all the time and did not really notice the decline in braking until my wife drove it and said they were terrible.

#7 of 25 Re: Chevrolet Avalanche: Brakes [juanscubaski] by sgt_blackhawk

Jun 16, 2007 (8:46 pm)

Replying to: juanscubaski (Mar 30, 2007 10:06 pm)
Did you every figure out what happened with your breaks? I have a 2002 Av that I just changed the breaks on and had the same issue. Front pads look new, rear completely gone!! I have 36K on the truck and this was the first set of pads. Please let me know if you got any useful information on what the problem was.
 
Thanks
 
sgt_blackhawkyahoo.com

#9 of 25 Brakes by slvimpala

Jul 29, 2007 (11:31 pm)

Replying to: sgt_blackhawk (Jun 16, 2007 8:46 pm)
Hey i'm and owner of a 2002 Z66 avalanche and it has done very very well cept the brakes where just flat out Bad i Almost made this one guy in a New Bmw have a heart attack when he pulled out in front of me so since i have a baby on the way i dip into my Saveing and put some Very High Performance Brake Disc and pads from Brembo and this truck will stop on a dime if i have to stop it the kit cost me close to 500$ Ebay Gotta Love them the Labor maybe hell but its worth it

#10 of 25 Re: Chevrolet Avalanche: Brakes [sgt_blackhawk] by chadx

Jan 03, 2008 (1:16 pm)

Replying to: sgt_blackhawk (Jun 16, 2007 8:46 pm)
The brakes on my 03 Ave are excellent and have been from day one. I have 72k miles now and am still on the original brake pads. Very even wear front to back. I had the same experience on my 01 Silverado. 60k miles on it when traded and brake pads were still in good shape. Oh, and unlike what someone mentioned about trucks going back to rear drum brakes around '05 (I find that hard to believe), both these trucks were disc brakes all the way around.
 
No complaints with either and night and day better than the '98 Dodge Dakota I had which would activate the ABS even on dry pavement and when it did, it felt like I had totally let off the brake pedal even though it was to the floor. The dealerships response? They all do that and they are known to have bad brakes. My boss went through a stopsign out here a couple days ago because he couldn't stop". They did nothing to fix it. I loved the truck, but it was the last Dodge I bought because of that and other problems.

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