Brake wear when towing

[jems15]

My 1999 Saturn SL1 has started showing the symptoms of front brakes dragging when it is towed. I tow it regularly behind my motorhome and it did not show the problem until this year. It has the standard Saturn braking system, with no remote brake system installed. It got new brakes and rotors a couple of years ago. The odometer shows about 75000 miles and it has gone about the same mileage while towed. (The odometer does not record towed miles)

The symptoms are that after a few hundred miles of towing, the brake pedal gets gravelly. Also, the motorhome gas mileage has gone down when towing the Saturn. After driving a few hundred miles without towing, the brakes smooth out like normal.

Any suggestions about where to look would be appreciated.

[GMCustomerService]

I am showing that your vehicle can be towed with the front wheels on a tow tolly or with all four wheels on the ground. If you are towing it with these specifications, I can look into this further. In order to do further research, I will need th VIN for the vehicle. Please feel free to contact me via private message if you would like. I look forward to hearing from you.

Tricia, GM Customer Service.

[jems15]

Thanks for your interest Tricia. I never expected to hear from GM.

I tow the Saturn on all 4 wheels. That means that most of the motorhome mileage should be added to the wheel and tire mileage on the Saturn. The motorhome has accumulated about 75000 miles since the Saturn was new. The VIN is 1G8ZH5281XZ298056

I doubt you will get anything accurate from looking at the history of the car. I am the original and only owner. The service I got from Saturn of Albuquerque was unsatisfactory to me. I took the car to them for brake overheating at about 5000 miles and all they did was turn the rotors and sand the pads. The symptoms then were brake vibration which got progressively worse, particularly when being driven at high speed with long periods when the brakes were not applied.

When it was doing the same thing about 5000 miles later, Saturn just wanted to do the same thing and have me pay something like $300 for the priviledge. After a letter to the Saturn CEO they turned the rotors and sanded the pads again and blew me off. They were not even interested in my information about the problem. After it started to vibrate again, I went to Auto Zone and bought the very cheapest rotors and the cheapest pads and put them on. That resulted in squeaky brakes which lasted about 20,000 miles, then they wore out. That confirmed my diagnosis that original equipment rotors and hard non squeaky pads were heating up and the rotors were failing because the brake calipers drag.

After those rotors and pads failed, I tried to do it again, but Auto Zone did not have the really cheap pads any more. I put the cheapest stuff I could get at Auto Zone about 4000 miles ago.

The current funny thing is that the problem is occurring when towed at high speed for a couple of 6 hour days, but that after a week or 2 of local driving the vibration gradually goes away.

Thanks again for your interest.

Jim

[GMCustomerService]

I was not able to find any recalls regarding this concern with your VIN. I just want to be sure that I understand what has been happenning exactly. Am I right to assume that you have visited the dealership a few times regarding this issue without resolution? Did you ever contact Customer Assistance regarding this concern? It may be necessary to set up a case for you. In order to do so, I will need your full name, address, phone number, and current mileage for the vehicle. Feel free to contact me either on the thread or via private message. Thank you in advance.

Tricia, GM Customer Service.