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Pontiac Vibe Brakes

We recently noticed some new grinding sounds coming from our 2006 Pontiac Vibe when you used the brakes first thing in the morning. The first thing I thought was “Oh Crap.”. The second thing I thought was “Damn, I haven’t done anything with the brakes yet on this car.”.

That’s right folks, our 2006 Pontiac Vibe was over 85,000km on the factory brake pads and rotors. Now, admittedly, we do a lot of highway driving and very little in the way of stop and go driving. Even so, I figured that over 85,000km was a little much for a car to go on factory pads and rotors. We got the car into our local garage for them to take a look and let us know what the damage was going to be.

“There’s nothing wrong with your brakes.”

Yup, that’s what the mechanic said to The Boss. He mentioned that there were a few “hot spots” on the rotors that he was going to grind down but otherwise the fronts still had about 50% and the rears were still about 60%. Even the mechanic was very surprised when he realized these were the stock factory brake pads and rotors.

I really can’t complain about our 2006 Pontiac Vibe. We have only had to pay for a set of winter tires, oil changes and tire rotations. I think we’re in for a new set of all-seasons next spring but the car will be near 90,000km by then and again, I can’t complain about getting that much mileage out of a set of stock factory tires or a set of pads and rotors!

4 thoughts on “Pontiac Vibe Brakes”

    1. It was likely the “hot spots” that the mechanic had to grind down. We’ve also had grinding sounds first thing in the morning or after the car has sat for a while. The bare metal of disc brake rotors rusts quite quickly if it’s damp outside. The first time you brake, you’ll notice some grinding as the surface rust is worn off.

      Note that this doesn’t just affect the Vibe, the other 6 vehicles I’ve owned all experienced the same issue from time to time.

  1. I put over 110,000kms on the stock pads on my VW. To be fair though, it was a manual, so some of the braking was done by the engine, and much of the mileage was on the highway between Ottawa and the east coast (12hrs at a time). I make it a rule not to touch the brakes on the highway unless it’s absolutely necessary – braking on the highway usually gets you into nearly as much trouble as it gets you out of

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