O9 base Vibe with GT rear brakes

[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]

You could always get a blank rotor and have it drilled for the 5x100. I thought in 09 all vibes were 5x114?

[Vibe2B]

I wish it was 5x114, any idea where to get blank rotors?

[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.

[Vibe2B]

Thanks! I'll look in to it

[trb]

That is really strange! Someone was asleep or hung over or something building your car! Who knows, since it was in CA! 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.

[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

[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!

[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 It's always nice to have nice admirers of our rides

[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 !

I thought in 09 all vibes were 5x114?

Nope...

2009-2010 1.8L engine = 5x100
2009-2010 2.4L engine = 5x114.3

[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!

[vibenvy]

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





Can't wait to hear what GM has to say about this. They'll probably blame it on Toyota !

[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.