O9 base Vibe with GT rear brakes

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Vibe2B
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Joined: Wed Jul 11, 2012 3:57 am

O9 base Vibe with GT rear brakes

Post by Vibe2B »

Hi, I have a 09 vibe (1.8L) brought brand-new (@26km) from GM dealer and I do all my maintenance and repair, I just started to replace my rear brakes and noticed that the rotors are smaller and the brake pad surface only contacts the bottom 75% of the pad. After doing some research I found out that the caliper assembly is from GT or AWD (2.4L) model, which has the 11” dia rotors (base has the 10.2” dia). Also my spare tire hits the caliper (found that out the hard way, on side of the highway with a rear flat tire). I guess the factory made a mistake during assembly, anyways I don’t mind the larger brakes but the problem is GT/AWD models has the 5-bolt-4.5” circle while the base has 5-bolt-4” circle.
I guess my question is has anyone had this issue and if anyone knows if the larger 11” dia rotors are available with 5-bolt-4” circle or with duel bolt pattern.
Thanks,
hotbug1776
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Re: O9 base Vibe with GT rear brakes

Post by hotbug1776 »

You could always get a blank rotor and have it drilled for the 5x100. I thought in 09 all vibes were 5x114?
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Vibe2B
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Re: O9 base Vibe with GT rear brakes

Post by Vibe2B »

I wish it was 5x114, any idea where to get blank rotors?
hotbug1776
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Re: O9 base Vibe with GT rear brakes

Post by hotbug1776 »

Wilwood makes two piece brake rotors, you get a blank rotor cap, have it drilled, then, pick the rotor that fits, good to go.
summitracing is where I found the parts.
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Vibe2B
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Re: O9 base Vibe with GT rear brakes

Post by Vibe2B »

Thanks! I'll look in to it
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trb
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Re: O9 base Vibe with GT rear brakes

Post by trb »

That is really strange! Someone was asleep or hung over or something building your car! Who knows, since it was in CA! :D Got any pics?

You can probably just elongate the holes on the 2.4l rotors to fit the 5x100 bolt pattern. It is probably held in place by the center hub, so it will not be off center or anything. Or drill the 5x100 bolt pattern holes in between the 5x114 holes. A good drill press could do that job. Some of the Mustang guys have done that when converting from 4 lugs to 5 lugs. Hopefully the other dimensions are the same and it would just drop into place.
Last edited by trb on Wed Jul 11, 2012 1:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Thomas
the "Mustang Guy"
1987 5.0 LX Mustang
2016 Mustang GT - current daily
2004 Satellite Vibe &
2009 Red Vibe GT -twin's cars
2003 Neptune Vibe GT - prior daily
2010 Red Vibe GT - RIP 6/16/14
2006 Platinum Vibe - son's car
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Vibe2B
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Re: O9 base Vibe with GT rear brakes

Post by Vibe2B »

good idea, but the GT center hole is 2.45" and the base model is 2.17", as well height diference of .97", Theoretically even the GT caliper shouldn’t line up with the Base rotor, but it does! :? I even tried the 2008 rotor, but the height on that is 2.19” so it doesn’t line up with the center line of the caliper, the diameter 10.7” ; ½ “ larger should work better contacting the pad surface. Don’t know what they used to build this brake assembly.
I’ll let GM figure it out; I was looking for an easy fix to keep the larger brakes, but looks like more of a headache. Thanks for all the suggestions
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trb
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Re: O9 base Vibe with GT rear brakes

Post by trb »

Oh, so the hub is different too. I think they design them like that so it is really hard to put the wrong parts on the cars. A friend that is an engineer has designed all kinds of heavy duty brake system kits for retrofit onto other cars, and he makes some hub centric rings exactly for the hub difference problems. We have the same thing on Mustangs and some parts we use. His rings are right at about 1/4" in thickness and fill the gap between the smaller hub and the larger rotor opening.

But yes, I would see about going to GM about it if you don't want to rig it up. If the dealer gives you any slack, take it up the ladder. Sounds like they screwed up on your car and they should make it right, warranty or not. It's not like you would be touching the brakes during the 3/36 warranty anyway, so there is no way you would have known.

Good luck on it!
Thomas
the "Mustang Guy"
1987 5.0 LX Mustang
2016 Mustang GT - current daily
2004 Satellite Vibe &
2009 Red Vibe GT -twin's cars
2003 Neptune Vibe GT - prior daily
2010 Red Vibe GT - RIP 6/16/14
2006 Platinum Vibe - son's car
tpollauf
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Re: O9 base Vibe with GT rear brakes

Post by tpollauf »

Welcome to GenVibe. Even though you are the FIRST original owner is there any way of finding out if it was damaged while on the lot or while somebody test drove it. Then maybe they put "whatever" back on the rear to make it a complete drivable car! Just grabbing at straws there :? Post pics of this strange setup and of your car in general. Also ... love your avatar pic :P It's always nice to have nice admirers of our rides :roll:
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2009 Vibe GT (manual), 2009 G8Gt, 2009 Vibe GT (auto)
2014 Silverado, 2004 Vibe GT

"everything is modifiable"
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vibenvy
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Re: O9 base Vibe with GT rear brakes

Post by vibenvy »

Welcome to GenVibe! That's a really strange messup on the rear brakes! Definitely post some pictures of the brakes and the rest of your Vibe when you get a chance ;)!
hotbug1776 wrote:I thought in 09 all vibes were 5x114?
Nope...

2009-2010 1.8L engine = 5x100
2009-2010 2.4L engine = 5x114.3
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2009 Liquid Platinum Metallic Vibe GT - 5-Speed Auto – Garage
2009 Steel Blue Metallic Vibe GT - 5-Speed Auto – Garage
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Vibe2B
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Re: O9 base Vibe with GT rear brakes

Post by Vibe2B »

Some pic of the existing set up, I had to put the new pads, lost rear brakes because the top portion of the pads are touching when you press the brakes and the rotor is free to turn. Made an appointment with the GM dealer this week, let’s see what they have to say.
Thanks for all the suggestions!
Attachments
new pads with the caliper intalled and same rotor,
new pads with the caliper intalled and same rotor,
WP_000450.jpg (192.58 KiB) Viewed 2968 times
new pads on the old rotor
new pads on the old rotor
WP_000446.jpg (186.1 KiB) Viewed 2968 times
here the old pads on the rotor
here the old pads on the rotor
WP_000451.jpg (161.54 KiB) Viewed 2968 times
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vibenvy
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Re: O9 base Vibe with GT rear brakes

Post by vibenvy »

Hmmm... definitely looks like a GT rear caliper to me :shock:. Here are a couple pictures of the rear brake setup on my 2009 GT for comparison...

Image

Image

Can't wait to hear what GM has to say about this. They'll probably blame it on Toyota :lol:!
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2009 Liquid Platinum Metallic Vibe GT - 5-Speed Auto – Garage
2009 Steel Blue Metallic Vibe GT - 5-Speed Auto – Garage
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trb
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Re: O9 base Vibe with GT rear brakes

Post by trb »

Wow, that wear does look bad! I'm surprised it was not noticed during a tire rotation or something, but then again that amount of wear surface could appear normal if you had nothing to compare it to. I'm guessing the top part only occurred recently probably due to the pads touching at the top, but still having pressure on the bottom half.

Good luck with GM, I don't see how they could deny that something was done wrong on their end.
Thomas
the "Mustang Guy"
1987 5.0 LX Mustang
2016 Mustang GT - current daily
2004 Satellite Vibe &
2009 Red Vibe GT -twin's cars
2003 Neptune Vibe GT - prior daily
2010 Red Vibe GT - RIP 6/16/14
2006 Platinum Vibe - son's car
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