2000 Brakes crunching upon applying

Have had new pads (GM) put on car 3 times in 20,000 miles. After 3000 miles, without fail, they begin to creak/crunch while applying at low/crawl speed. Especially noticeable at drive-thru's where sound bounces off structure. I've been told by a service mgr this is typical and no fix is known as of yet. Anyone else experiencing this? Do you know a permanent fix? The front brakes also pulsate when stopping at high rate of speed. 50+ mph. Any ideas?

The pulsation is being caused by warped rotors. You can either replace them or have them turned, but usually turning them is just a waste of money because they will warp again. All GM 'N' bodies experience bad rotors (Malibu, Alero, Grand Am). DON'T REPLACE WITH GM ROTORS. Get yourself a set of good aftermarkets. These will be expensive but worth it. Don't forget, when you replace or turn your rotors, you will also need to replace the brake pads. Because your rotors are currently warped, your pads are most likely also toast, eventhough you jsut replaced them. If you don't replace the pads when you do the rotor job, the pads will ruin the new rotors and you will be back here asking the same questions.

As for the crunching, I know what your talking about. I used to have a 1997 Malibu and the noise was horrible in the rear drum brakes. Do you have rear drum or rear disk brakes? In my 02 Alero now, the sound is hardly ever there and is much, much quieter than the Malibu. It would say it is a common issue and every 'N' body car I test drove before getting this Alero did that. I would ask the service tech to go with you on a drive in another Alero and see if the sound in your car is worse than any other Alero.

Jeremy

BTW, I have four wheel disk brakes.

Jer