1996 Blazer Brakes

I disagree with those who claim poor design by GM or asbestos is better. 80% of braking occurs on the front end. Notice where the center of gravity shifts when you brake, a lot of weight transfers forward.

In 1996 GM was still using rear drum brakes and I would argue that less than 20% of their ability is used Unless you regularly tow, they are too heavy in my oppinion, which is why GM replaced them with disc brakes a few years later. We regulary tow and drive off road (unlike 98% of Blazer owners). I'm always amazed at how many SUV owners do not have tow hitch!

Front pads should be replaced 2.5 to 3 times for every rear shoe replacement. Depending on driving habits, expected life on front pads should range from 25 to 40,000 miles. I started using ceramic pads a few years ago. Lifespan and braking performance increased dramatically. However, ceramic tend to be sqeaky and will cause some owner to prematurely check for wear (not a bad thing).

Yes, check pad wear every 6,000. miles. Do this when tires are being rotated and balance at the recommended 6 to 8,000. miles. Take a flashlight with you to the Tire Store when they service the tires and ask to inspect your brakes. At 157,000 I'm still on my SECOND set of Goodyears with tread to spare! Regularly rotate and balance will save you lots of $$$$.

Have fun with that Blazer!!! Get off the pavement and find some grass, dirt, snow, trails. (sand is not so good) You will not significantly increase operating cost if you follow the recommended maintenance schedule.


1996 Chevrolet S-10 Blazer
4-door / 4 wheel drive
157,000 miles
1 owner - Indiana

Yup. Sad but very true. The brakes on the Blazer's are both
under-engineered, and ware poorly. I think the ABS sucks too..esp. off
road..and on road too, for that matter). Other than the brakes (which
are really quite important) my 96 has been trouble free.

In article <01bcce66$26a40240$ says...

It was typical for me - needed new front pads at 22k miles.
I was very disappointed. I understand it's heavier than the
average car, but 22k. Geez. (1996, 2-door, manual, no towing)
If anyone has direct experience with good alternative brake
pads that will last longer, I'm all ears.

Just got the letter about the recall for the seatbelt too.
Hope that fix goes smoothly.

--
Anthony Tsakiris

The opinions expressed are not necessarily those of my employer.

DABALLARD < <
This is generally consistent with the e-mail responses I've received. I'm
sorry to hear that my case is not unique. I've come to understand that
this applies to other model years than my 1996. It's hard to believe that
this is typical for the line of trucks...

Thanks to everyone for their responses.

Don

Our 96 Jimmy required front pads at 16k. The dealer said we should have
gotten more mileage and did it for free and wrote it up as "warantee work"
even though it's not really covered. Either I've got a great service
manager, or "the word came down" that they've been having problems keeping
pads on this model and to be accomodating whenever possible.

A. Tsakiris < <612pko$ [snip]

I had to change my pads at about 25K miles. They still squeak but I
have heavy duty pads on now and they have gone for the past 30K
without going down at all. I heard that GMC was using crappy brake
pads that would give out no matter what you do. If you happened to
have a nice dealer, they would help you out.

The only thing I have now is a slight buffet but it's not enough to
show up hardly on the rotors.
Whatever it was, it wasn't my fault!
Since I hate junk mail,
replace the "booney" with "boone" to respond.

Don,
Do you have automatic transmission? My experience is that brakes last
about 30K miles on vehicles with automatics. Manual transmission
vehicles will see brake life of about 100K miles under "normal" driving
conditions. Extreme use will reduce that figure (towing, lots of
mountain grades, etc.). Both my old 77 Chevy C10 and 82 Z28 went over
100K before needing front pads. My "new" 96 Chevy K1500 SWB now has
over 26K miles and the pads still look like new (at least at 20K miles,
the last tire rotation).
To say that "It's hard to believe this is typical in this line of
trucks..." is a little unfair when the "problem" is just normal wear
and tear.
My $0.02.
--
Cheers,
Steve
82 Z28
96 K1500
The opinions expressed here are mine alone and do not represent those of
my employer or any one else.
Remove "*" from address to reply.

"It riles them to believe that you percieve the web they weave..."
Moody Blues

There is truely no excuse for such poor brake ware and
performance...esp. in modern vehicles. I've never heard of brakes waring
so quickly in other vehicles, whether auto or manual. Fortunately, GM
has made some modifications on the '98 Blazer brakes, and one can only
hope that they get it right this time.

My dealer sasy it's been that way since they took out the aspestos.
My right front (94 Jimmy) wore out the outside pad at about 33K,
dealer says they usually replace at around 25. I had a sticking
caliper. Make sure you lube or replace the caliper bushings when you
put new pads in.
If the outside pad wears, it is a sticking caliper, if the inside pad
wears it's a sticking piston.
The dealer reccomends checking the calipers and pad wear at 6K mile
intervals.
Dan