I did the brakes, and the pads I got from Advanced would not stop the car. I had the rotors turned, and the new pads sounded like they were grinding. I put the old pads on, grinding noise went away, and then the car would actually stop. I ended up taking the pads back to Advanced and upgrading to the organic Wagner pads. I have not changed the pads again, since there is still some life in the old pads.

BTW, I did the brake job in the first place since there was a shimmy in the front end when I would use the brakes after about 10 miles of driving. I also thought it would be a good idea after reading about the brakes wearing out quickly in these cars. the shimmy went away, but I will probably change the pads to new upgrades this weekend.

 

My '09 sonata developed a brake squeak maybe 6 months ago. About a month or so ago, as I sat at a traffic light at the interstate offramp, I noticed smoke coming from the rear driver's side.

When I got home, I jacked it up, pulled the wheel and had a look. The pad was almost down to the metal. This is after 23K miles. The passenger side looked near new, which is what a 23K miles rear pad should look like.

I called the local hyundai dealer and explained what I found. He said that brake pad wear was not covered under the warrantee.

This is BS.

I don't expect a warrantee to cover normal wear. This is not normal.

Rather than let them rape me for an overpriced repair, I replaced them with a set of pads from NAPA for about 23 bucks.

I checked the slides. The boots were fine, they were well greased.

I brought it in anyway for some software recall. I told them what I found with the caliper. He said there was probably a burr on one of the clips causing it since the slides were OK. He told me he could have his techs check it out and fix it for a "brake cleaning fee" of about 50 bucks.

I refused this. It is BS.

One of the reasons I bought this car is it's excellent warrantee or should I say allegedly excellent warrantee. It is garbage and will not buy another new hyundai again if they do not fix this obvious deficiency with their product.

 

Your pads were stuck in the mounts due to normal exposure to the elements (rust)..

So you just removed the old pads and stuck new pads in ??? Did you have to beat them into the mounts ?

Correct procedure is to remove the mounting bracket, pop the shims off, and knock the rust off down to bare metal.. ( usually spray some under coat on the fresh metal as we have it currently for recall cars), re-install the shims and pads.. pads should flop around freely so they release from rotors when pedal released..

 

You should dig out and read the warrenty information that came with the car when you purchased it. The documentation explicitly states certain wear items, including brake pads and rotors, are not covered by the warrenty. Hyundai makes a good product and their warrenty is good, but like all warrenties offered by a car manufacturer, the devil is in the details.

 

My 2009 Sonata at 20K miles is having a squeal from rear and only on free-way smooth road driving. Went to dealership today to make an appointment for "warranty repair", the service tech told me it sound like rear brake not fully released and overheat the brake. It is a wear out item and only cover up to 12K miles. What a bull ****. The right rear wheel does feel hotter than the others. I am going to check it myself this weekend. Any TSB out on this matter?

 

There is no TSB for rust.

Pop the pads out, remove the mount, and grind away the heavy/thick/chumky rust that has growed under the shim and effectively locked the pad in place.

Warranty does not cover exposure to elements.

 

I agree that it is riduculous that it is not covered by warranty. I had many other brands of cars and this never happened. I sent emails to head office and they were looking into it and would get back to me but eventually they stopped responding when I followed up. It ended up costing me $700. I buy new cars to avoid these types of expenses.

 

Checked my brakes this morning. The right rear disc brake does show significant rust. I still can turn the wheel by hand but decided to see if brake pads can move freely. They bind. Took them out and removed the shim to clean out the rust then coated the surface with brake grease. The brake pad still have 6.8mm thickness and rotor is good. Put them back and they move freely now. I had the car parked outside past winter and only drove once every couple weeks, that maybe why rust developed so soon, but I did not have any problem until now (Fall). Never had any problem like this with any of my cars before. I always drive Chevy. My 99 Malibu rear (drum) brakes are still doing fine at 135K miles. This is my first Hyundai.

 

Sorry, you can't compare rear drums to rear discs. If you do some research you will see that lots of cars have issues with their rear disc brakes if not properly maintained. These isues are not confined to Hyundai. The secret is just to do regular maintenance on them. You should be servicing the brakes regularly anyway.

My 2006 Sonata has 123,000 kms on it at present and still has the original rear brake pads and rotors. I've got no problem with the Sonata's brakes.

 

If a brake locked up as low as 20K miles. It is not normal. I happen to be a person always do brake jobs on my own and happen to work with a brake company before and have access to GM and Chrysler warranty system and aware of the issues. A brake problem this early is not normal. Yes, it is always nice to send your car to dealership to check and service brake regularly, but if a brake is designed to rely on it and failed this early, it is a problem. I do know the difference between drum brake and disc brake by the way.