Thread: Brake bias

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I know that vehicles brakes are biased so that the front end does the majority of work. Is that the same on a half ton pickup truck? The rear pads on my 2001 Silverado wear much faster than the front. I'm about to do the rear for the second time while the fronts still have a ton of material left. ---Rich

I have a 93 1/2 ton GMC I think I've changed the rears 3 times and have no idea how many times the front pads and rotors have been changed. They have "life time " pads here and I haven't had to buy any in 10 years. Almost 200K and still running strong

So you are saying you've gone through more front pads than rears over the years? Correct? Is there anything I should be looking at if I'm the opposite? I'd say my rear pads wear just a little bit less than twice as fast as the fronts. My truck does stop fine though. ---Rich

Jersey....you must be driving too much in reverse!!

Seriously, the fronts will wear much faster than the rears
do....I have a 2001 Silverado that has 124,000 miles. The
fronts were replaced at 80K but the rears were essentially
new...this is typical of drum or disk rears.

Do you left foot brake? There must be some reason that the
rear pads are dragging. There is some compensation in the
antilock system to account for the ease of lockup for the
rears....but the pads shouldnt wear......how many miles does
it take to wear them out?

mike in tucson

I'm at 80,000 now. I figure I have a few thousand more miles and the rears will need to be replaced for the second time. I did them the first time about December of '04. The fronts look like they are fairly new. I replaced them about September of '05. I'd say the wear is consistent since I bought the truck new. The system was checked about a year ago because of a front wheel speed sensor recall but I'm sure the dealer wasn't going to any great lengths. While I'm a pretty aggressive driver I don't ride the brakes. Seeing someone’s brake lights on driving down the highway is a pet peeve of mine. The rears are disks by the way with the emergency brake being shoes using the inside of the rotor as a drum. I replaced all four rotors when I changed pads mainly because the center fins on the OEM ones were rusted out. I probably could have had them cut and used them but new ones weren't expensive. Aside from the wear I don't have a problem with braking. The anti-lock system works fine as well as the e-brake. Although I can't say for sure it doesn't feel like the pads are grabbing when not on the brakes. I can't just spin the wheel to tell though. Hmm. Maybe when I change them I'll put both sides of the rear on jackstands and put it in neutral and turn them. Any suggestions on what to check out when I get in there are appreciated. Thanks. ---Rich

Rear discs wear faster if you drive on dirt or gravel roads. GM quit putting them on pickups for just that reason.

Originally Posted by JerseyRodder

I know that vehicles brakes are biased so that the front end does the majority of work. Is that the same on a half ton pickup truck? The rear pads on my 2001 Silverado wear much faster than the front. I'm about to do the rear for the second time while the fronts still have a ton of material left. ---Rich

60% front, 40% rear for any rwd disc/ drum. the truck may have a load sensing proportioning valve causing more braking in the rear than nessasary, they are mounted to the frame with an arm that comes off them and moves with suspension, the more there pushed up, the more rear brake power there is.