OEM Brakes

[chevynut]

I have a 2003 Silverado 2500HD that I've owned since 2005 when it had 43K miles on it. Believe it or not, it still has the OEM brakes on it and it's sitting at just over 140K miles now. I have never had a vehicle get close to this many miles on a set of brake pads. I checked them about a year ago, and they were still good...but my guess is they're pretty much gone now.

I am getting new tires soon, and I'd like to replace the brake pads as well. Since I got such good braking and excellent life out of these OEM pads, I'd like to get the same kind.

I don't want to buy them from the Chevy dealer if I don't have to, because of their high prices. Do any of you know a good place to buy the same (I assume Delco) brake pads for less? I haven't searched yet, since I thought some of you guys may already have experience with this. In fact, I haven't even priced them at the dealer, which may be the best way to go anyhow.

[Rick_L]

On my last truck, a 95, it went over 100k before the first brake job, and one rotor was still pretty good (the other one was gouged up prompting the brake job).

I put some premium Wagner pads on it (not ceramic or anything fancy, just good OE style pads), and it went another 80-90k before needing the 3rd set of pads. I had to replace the remaining original rotor then.

So based on my experience, I don't think you have a narrow choice.

[56-210Sedan]

Yikes not sure about any of the information i am going to give you on OEM, but if you get a chance here are a few places off the top of my head, autopartswarehouse.com rockauto.com gmpartsdirect.com if i get a chance i will try and do a few searches for you but my CPU time has been very limited, which reminds me the new shop should begin at the end of this week, stay tuned for pictures.

[56-210Sedan]

Weird i posted to this thread the other night, with a few links to try and now it is gone.

[chevynut]

I looked at Rock Auto for brakes.....several say OEM. So now I'm even more confused. :(

[56-210Sedan]

this is through gmparts direct http://www.gmpartsdirect.com/catalog/frameset.cfm

[Rick_L]

You are confusing marketing and facts.

But, as I said before, there's no reason to suspect that premium quality semi-metallic pads won't be equal to a factory pad. And a lot cheaper.

[chevynut]

What about the ceramic pads? Are they any good...or better? Is there a brand to stay away from? I see some from Raybestos, AC Delco, and many other manufacturers. I just want to get something that's as good as what I currently have on the truck.

[reborn55]

My experience with ceramic pads has been that the pedal seems softer and brakes do not react as well. Took off wifes van and replaced them with non ceramic.

[chevynut]

Thanks Ken!

I'm getting my tires installed today or tomorrow so I'll check the brakes out.

[56-210Sedan]

I give up, sorry laszlo i found a link for the pads and posted it, but was shown a message that it had to be looked at by the moderator, i see for the second time now my link was not approved???? so i hope you can get this handled with good results.

Visit gmpartsdirect it is kind of a different site to navigate if you do not have part # but type what you are looking for (brakes) and agree to terms for catalog then you can search from there

[chevynut]

Well I had my new tires installed yesterday, and I asked them to check my brakes while they were at it. They told me I still have about 50% of the pads left. WTF? 141K miles and the brakes are still 50%? I must be stopping the truck by dragging my feet on the ground. :)

I'm going to check them myself.

[5Clint7]

Do any of you know a good place to buy the same (I assume Delco) brake pads for less? I haven't searched yet, since I thought some of you guys may already have experience with this. In fact, I haven't even priced them at the dealer, which may be the best way to go anyhow.

I've never bought anything from them. But it says GM Parts.

http://www.gmpartsdirect.com/catalog/frameset.cfm

[5Clint7]

Do any of you know a good place to buy the same (I assume Delco) brake pads for less?
I haven't used them. It says GM parts.

http://www.gmpartsdirect.com/catalog/frameset.cfm

[warren57]

I'm sure they would love to sell a potential brake job. The question is, were they checked by that kid that can barely find his way to work each day or the guy that speaks some language you can't understand!

[chevynut]

That's what I'm worried about Warren. I got the tires at Discount Tire and they don't do brakes. So I figured they would be unbiased, but I'm not sure the guy knew what to look for. The pads have a wear indicator groove in them to show how much is left. I don't have time to check them before I leave for MT, so I hope they are ok.

[P145897]

Try gmpartsdirect.com.

[chevynut]

Three years later and I'm still on the same set of OEM original front brake pads at 171K miles. I checked the brakes last time I did a tire rotation and to my amazement they were still good. I am going to rotate the tires again soon and plan to check the brakes again. Just in case, I went to GM Parts Direct and got the OEM part number for the pads 19210706 Delco 171-0978 and noticed they were $124 there (50% off). I checked eBay (my favorite place to shop ;)) and found an NOS set for $79.99...so I made a $65 offer and got them with free shipping! I know I could probably buy aftermarket brakes for that price, but with the amazing life and performance of these Delco pads I wanted to get another set of the same ones.

[chevynut]

I'm sitting here in disbelief :confused:. I decided to rotate my tires and check my brakes in preparation for my trip to New Mexico next week. I fully expected to have to replace the front brakes, but to my amazement they're still good. The new pads I got are 1/2" thick and the pads on the truck are still almost 3/8" thick with just under 174,000 miles on them. These are the original GM pads that the factory installed on the truck.

I've never seen disc brake pads last anywhere near this long, and this is a 3/4 ton truck. At this rate they should last half a million miles!!! :eek:

The rotors almost look like new as well, with no grooves in them. I checked the rear pads and they're worn a little more than the front ones, and the inboard front pads are just very slightly more worn than the outer ones.

http://www.trifivechevys.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=4916&stc=1


http://www.trifivechevys.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=4917&stc=1

[bobbybelair]

You must be driving on level ground and coasting to a stop!

[Rick_L]

A coworker has an F150 with about 160k miles. It's had one brake job at about 70k. He heard a noise that sounded like the pad wear indicator so he bought some pads, etc. on his way home that night, anticipating doing a brake job. He found the same thing you did and had to look elsewhere for his noise.

He had used a premium aftermarket pad on the first brake job. Was in disbelief.

[chevynut]

You must be driving on level ground and coasting to a stop!

Actually I haul things quite a bit. I often have my ATV in the back of the truck and pull a utility trailer and a travel trailer fairly often. I do a fair amount of local driving as this truck is my daily driver. The brakes have always been great on this truck, a sharp contrast to my full-size Bronco I had before it. I don't remember how many brake jobs I did on that in 195K miles.