Parking Break warning light

[baby141]

ok, you might remember my post about this warning light on my dash. Apparently, I needed new brakes. I went to the GMC dealership who charged me $230 (before taxes) for replacing just the brake pads for the front brakes. No rotors where machined. Although he did say they were supposed to be machined because of a lot of rust. Vehcile is 2 years old with only 30,000 km on it. Is it common to have rust at this time and did I pay too much for brake pads?

[AJT1961]

Rust on the rotor braking surface is common if you only drive 15,000 km a year in an area that gets a decent amount of precipitation. Personally, I would just use sandpaper on the rotors, I wouldn't cut them for this type of problem because it will just shorten their life and really isn't necessary. The price ($230) sounds right for a dealer to install brake pads. There are a lot of crappy aftermarket brake pads out there (including everything Midas installs), so brake pads are one of the few parts that are worth paying a high price for at the GM dealer. The real question is whether you really needed new brake pads at all, or if just pulling off the calipers, sanding the rotors and blowing away the dust would have solved your problem. My guess is that you probably had a significant amount of life left on the pads, but since the labor charge would have essentially been the same, it would have been silly to do this without installing a new set of pads in the process.

[AJT1961]

Looking at your post again, I'm perplexed at why your front brakes would have anything at all to do with a parking brake warning light (the title of your post, which I didn't recall while reading your message). The warning light sure sounds like an unrelated minor pedal switch adjustment or cable lubrication problem. The front brake problem was something the mechanic probably noticed during a routine 4 wheel brake check. The parking brake engages the rear brakes only and has nothing at all to do with front brakes. I'd like to see what your old front brake pads looked like. If you live in the city with lots of stop signs and traffic lights, you most likely did need new front pads at 30,000 km. If you live in the country and do mostly highway driving, I doubt it unless you had a front brake noise problem.

[baby141]

Thanks for your reply. I posted earlier about the parking light symbol and also a funny symbol not in the manual (a circle and a squiggly line); which I came to know is the low brake fluid symbol. I did see the old brake pads when I picked up the truck; one looked ok, but the other was really bad. He told me over the phone lots of rust on the rotors and suggested machining them. Because I was at work and had left the truck for repair; I could not take a look at the rotors to see if it was true or not. So, I suggested only change the brake pads. He told me I might get pulsating at high speeds. Is this true?

[AJT1961]

If they are warped you will get pulsating, which is a different problem than simple rust. If they are not pulsing now, the rotors are probably fine. You get warping a lot when you install crappy pads which generate too much heat. Since you installed the GM pads, you should be fine.