Brake Caliper discoloration.

[1badtie]

mine have been faded for a long time I am going to paint them I cant believe they would cover that under warranty?

[Avenging Orange]

Really!? Are you guys serious?! No wonder dealers cringe when people come in for warranty work. Anything exposed to the elements and high heat are expected to fade, discolor or rust. Wow!
I mean, its cool they are replacing them for you, but they dont have to.

[Mr. iNCREDIBLE]

Originally Posted by Avenging Orange

Really!? Are you guys serious?! No wonder dealers cringe when people come in for warranty work. Anything exposed to the elements and high heat are expected to fade, discolor or rust. Wow!
I mean, its cool they are replacing them for you, but they dont have to.

I see, so you would spend $45,000 on a NEW NEVER TITLED vehicle that has a defect in the appearance and not say a word or expect it to be corrected? How is this different from buying a new car that has a serious paint defect, like someone keying it? or maybe a torn seat cover? or a curbed or bent wheel?

Would you buy a car with any of those defects and not expect it to be corrected, or expect to correct it on your dime? I think not!


It's one thing if I did it after I bought the car, something completely different that it was this way before I purchased the vehicle and it was discussed during the deal and agreed upon that it would be corrected by GM as a condition of the deal.

As such YES they do have to fix it..

The dealer attempted to warranty it, which I don't blame them, it is a defect in the quality of the vehicle from the factory, GM denied the warranty basing it on damage done by wheel washing chemicals, as such the dealer being an honest and trustworthy shop is taking care of it on their dime. They are attempting to save money by re-finishing the calipers for probably $200-$300 as opposed to replacing all of them for $2000, I can't fault that line of thinking either. Regardless of what is done, they are holding up their end of our agreed upon deal, and they left the decision in my hands, I can choose to get factory replacements or have my existing powder-coated, the choice is mine, and they will honor any GM warranty if I chose the powdercoat, this has also been discussed.. If something happens to the calipers and they need replacing during the 3/36k the dealer is agreeing in writing to honor the OEM warranty and re-powder the replacements if it is needed on their dime.


I have owned several cars with Brembo OEM brakes and this is the first time I have ever seen this type of discoloration, even after 6 years of ownership my Chrysler Brembos had no discoloration, just a horrible amount of brake dust.. The problem is how GM originally prepared the calipers, there is no clear coat protection on them to guard against this type of problem.


The bottom line here though is that YES they do have to fix the problem, as it was part of the terms and conditions of the sale.

[Avenging Orange]

Is there a hole in your caliper? Is it cracked? Is it broken to a point it does not function? No? Then I believe your comparison doesnt hold water. And I was unclear it was like that upon purchase....You didnt clearly state such. And, if it was like that at purchase (as anal as you appear) then why accept the car to begin with. Brakes are for stopping not a fashion statement. Mine are faded as well......do I care? No. And if I did, I believe I'd simply pain them. If your dealer warrants them, good for you.

[Mr. iNCREDIBLE]

Originally Posted by Avenging Orange

Is there a hole in your caliper? Is it cracked? Is it broken to a point it does not function? No? Then I believe your comparison doesnt hold water. And I was unclear it was like that upon purchase....You didnt clearly state such. And, if it was like that at purchase (as anal as you appear) then why accept the car to begin with. Brakes are for stopping not a fashion statement. Mine are faded as well......do I care? No. And if I did, I believe I'd simply pain them. If your dealer warrants them, good for you.

had you read the first post, it was made very clear that it was like that from the day I picked up the car..

and maybe to you appearance doesn't matter, and if I had solid wheels like the vehicles of yesteryear I probably wouldn't care, but being I have 5 spoke open wheels, that the Brembos are designed for a specific look, and that like most people on this forum I bought the vehicle to mod with appearance in mind, so yup it bothers me.

And my comparison holds plenty of water, scratched paint doesn't affect function, a torn seat doesn't affect function, a curbed wheel doesn't affect function and a discolored caliper doesn't affect function.

But I work hard for my paycheck and forking over $45K for a vehicle with a dealer inflicted flaw that is a result of a factory defect isn't something I will sit idly by and ignore. You might, I won't.

As for why I accepted the vehicle, simple, again as stated it was agreed upon when I picked up the vehicle that it would be corrected. The dealer is standing by their word.

[ayceman]

Delillo Chevrolet I am having their Body shop repair my front end damage and install a 1LE front splitter, since you state that you know the Dealership well how is the service department there? I was thinking of having them look at my lifter tapping issue for my L99 engine as well. I used to own a Dodge Charger did you used to go to the Beach Burger Meets?

[Mr. iNCREDIBLE]

Originally Posted by ayceman

Delillo Chevrolet I am having their Body shop repair my front end damage and install a 1LE front splitter, since you state that you know the Dealership well how is the service department there? I was thinking of having them look at my lifter tapping issue for my L99 engine as well. I used to own a Dodge Charger did you used to go to the Beach Burger Meets?

yup used to go to beach burger all the time.. but not since 2010 when I traded in my 300c.

sent you a pm on the other stuff.

[Avenging Orange]

Just because I like messing with anal people, I'll respond one last time.
A paint scratch is outside appearance and is just that....paint for beauty. A seat torn is again outward appearance and damaged. A caliper is to apply pressure to brake pads and not a cosmetic item. But, yes, I do see your point.
And I will say, you preempted the post with how you never use chemicals on your wheels.....made it sound like it happen after you bought the car.

[Mr. iNCREDIBLE]

Originally Posted by Avenging Orange

Just because I like messing with anal people, I'll respond one last time.
A paint scratch is outside appearance and is just that....paint for beauty. A seat torn is again outward appearance and damaged. A caliper is to apply pressure to brake pads and not a cosmetic item. But, yes, I do see your point.
And I will say, you preempted the post with how you never use chemicals on your wheels.....made it sound like it happen after you bought the car.

I'm not anal, Anal retentiveness is defined as someone who is obsessed with attention to detail to the point of annoyance.

I just take pride in myself and my property.. perhaps it's the several years of being in the USMC, maybe it's being raised by a Lt. Col in the US Army.

This isn't a case of being anal, this is a case a well known cosmetic defect in the GM brand, that for the most part GM feels it needs to blame the customer for the failure. When a dozen people experience it, yeah probably the customers fault, when just about all customers experience it and the dealer has a lot full of vehicles with the issue, at that point it is a manufacturing issue.

I work in an industry where far less than this is considered to be a defect.

But we can agree to disagree, the calipers on these cars are very much a cosmetic item, especially with open spoked wheels. Otherwise GM would not have gone thru the process of coloring them and placing the Chevrolet and Brembo logos on them.

if it was this type of caliper, I concede your point:




but as they are this style, which are designed for form and function, so they are very much cosmetic as well as functional.






and this:






is unacceptable on a new vehicle that had near zero miles on purchase.

[BlackinBlack]

I vote a glossy powder coat. Pick your favorite color. I would avoid Red (looks like an LE1 AKA stock) Black (hard to see) or Grey (again stock looking). Glossy will be easier to clean and will look good for a long time. Matte will hold dirt and be harder to keep clean.

for the dealer fixing this!!!

[Mr. iNCREDIBLE]

They redid them in stock coloring, the point behind that being if there is any further issue they can still be warrantied and replaced and match.

I bought some Camaro SS/Brembo caliper vinyls online and they put them on for me as well. I didn't realize the SS was the silverado SS logo, and not the newer more rounded Camaro SS logo, but it's not that big of a deal to me.. I'm guessing 99% of the people that see it wouldn't even know there was a difference.

[rforbes]

Get with Mike the Powdercoater. He does awesome work!!