Issue with the left rear wheel bearing going bad at 60,000 miles. The car makes a loud noise at acceleration and a constant hum at set highway speeds. With the car on a lift, you can place your hand on the hub, and spin the tire you can feel the vibration. The concern is the hub is out of round causing the wheel bearing to prematurely wear out. On-line research indicates this is a major issue with chevrolet malibu owners.
Chevrolet Malibu premature wear problems
123 of the 19,367 owner complaints about the Chevrolet Malibu describe rotors or pads wearing out early, most of them for the 1998 model year.
- owner complaints
- 123
- worst model year
- 1998
- typical repair cost reported
- $600
- typical mileage
- 35,908
Is there a fix? There are 4 recalls for this area of the car. See below
By model year
Often reported together
ABS 8Ball joint 6Grinding brakes 5Overheating 4Jerking 3Harsh shifting 3Brake failure 3Pulling 2
What owners say
Dangerous brake rotor warpage every 16,000 miles like clock work. Causes weak brakes and extreme ware to front end moving parts. New top of the line rotors and pads will not cure problem. It is an engineering screw up. This is an ongoing engineering problem and why gm is going broke.
2006 chevrolet malibu. Consumer complaint on lemon law. Consumer believes his vehicle falls under the lemon law specifications. *kb the consumer stated the defective caliper design caused premature wear of the calipers and rotors. After replacing the factory supplied calipers, the premature rotor and brake pad wear ceased. The intake manifold was replaced several times. Once the new gasket material was implemented the intake gasket no longer leaked. The safety hazard light control assembly on the steering was replaced three times because the dealer replaced defective components with additional defective components it was finally determined the hazard light switch was covered under a special agreement with the federal safety agency, however, gm refused to honor the agreement.
Steering wheel shakes all by itself and was replaced by dealer. Now there is a clunking noise when turning the wheel. Front rotors warped, replaced by dealer, now warped again. Front axle seal leaking on exhaust, replaced by dealer, now leaking again causing a foul oil burning smell in the car.
2004 chevrolet malibu has rusted rotors.*mr the dealer told the consumer the problem was normal.
Dt: chevrolet, malibu 1999, vehicle had brake problem. Consumer took vehicle to the dealer four times over the life of the car. Dealer told the consumer that the vehicle had warped rotors. Dealer fixed the brakes four times at the consumer's expense, gm denied the problem. The first time the brakes only lasted until 43, 000 miles. The second until 71000 miles, the third time until 79000 miles, and the forth time until 91500 miles. *ak there have been numerous reports of this same defect. *sc
The vehicle's rotors warped and the brake pads wore out which caused the brakes to pulsate. *nm the consumer requested reimbursement. This was a recurrent problem.
For some reason the front disc brake pads wear prematurely.(they last about a month or so of in-frequent driving).at about every third pad change,I've had to replace both front rotors.ak
Intermittently when the brake pedal was applied, the brakes grabbed so hard that the entire vehicle vibrated severely. When this occurred, the vehicle failed to stop immediately. This resulted in extended stopping distance. The brake rotors warped. On one occasion this failure caused lost of control, in which the consumer almost crashed into an 18 wheeler, but was able to pull over to the medium. The dealership has acknowledged that there was a problem with the braking system, but was unable to correct the problem, and was now refusing to work on the vehicle. *ak there was a rattle under the hood at the firewall area while the vehicle was in motion, the hose assembly was found rubbing under the vehicle, both front rotors had wore thin, the fuel pump sender did not hold the correct amount of fuel pressure, there was an open circuit in the 24x crank sensor, there was a rattle in the front suspension due to weak front lower control arms which were noisy (the right lower control arm was replaced), the coolant level sensor shorted, the water pump assembly leaked coolant, there was a vibration at highway speeds, hardware was bad and was loose in the caliper, rotor pulsation which was replaced per bulletin, the turn signal was inoperative, and the A/C had internal damage and would cut on and off.
The front brake rotors on my 1998 malibu (with 113,000 miles) are warped and must be replaced. Three prior sets also warped, at 18,000, 29,000, and 91,000. After the first problem I sent a complaint to the office of defects investigation at the federal safety agency. It was assigned odi #735425. I never heard anything back. I note there are over 200 complaints about malibu rotors warping on the federal safety agency website. Isn't there some manufacturer liability for this?
Related recalls
Service brakes, hydraulic: foundation components: disc: caliper
- What is wrong
- General Motors LLC (GM) is recalling certain 2018-2019 Chevrolet Equinox, Impala, Cruze, Volt and Bolt EV vehicles, GMC Terrain vehicles, Buick Lacrosse and Regal vehicles, Cadillac XTS and XTS Professional vehicles and 2018 Chevrolet Malibu vehicles. The rear brake caliper pistons may have an insufficient coating causing gas pockets to form, potentially reducing rear brake performance.
- Risk
- A reduction of braking performance can increase the risk of a crash.
- Remedy
- GM will notify owners, and dealers will bleed the vehicle's brake system, free of charge. The recall began October 11, 2018. Owners may contact Buick customer service at 1‑800‑521‑7300, Cadillac customer service at 1‑800‑458‑8006, Chevrolet customer service at 1‑800‑222‑1020, or GMC customer service at 1‑800‑462‑8782. GM's number for this recall is 18279.
Recall number 18V576000 · Recall details
Service brakes, hydraulic: power assist: vacuum
- What is wrong
- General Motors LLC (GM) is recalling certain model year 2014 Chevrolet Malibu vehicles manufactured June 12, 2013, through May 2, 2014, and equipped with a 2.5L engine with the auto stop/start option. The affected vehicles may experience a complete loss of brake vacuum assist, disabling the hydraulic boost assist. As such, these vehicles do not comply with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) number 135, "Light Vehicle Brake Systems."
- Risk
- If the hydraulic boost assist is disabled, slowing or stopping the vehicle will require additional brake pedal effort and a lengthened stopping distance. Both of these effects increase the risk of a crash.
- Remedy
- GM will notify owners, and dealers will update the electronic brake control module software, free of charge. The recall began on July 3, 2014. Owners may contact General Motors customer service at 1‑800‑222‑1020. General Motors number for this recall is 14201.
Recall number 14V247000 · Recall details
Service brakes, hydraulic: foundation components: disc
- What is wrong
- General Motors LLC (GM) is recalling certain model year 2014 Buick Lacrosse vehicles manufactured January 29, 2014, through March 31, 2014 and 2014 Chevrolet Malibu vehicles manufactured February 7, 2014, through March 31, 2014, and equipped with 17 inch front brake rotors. The affected vehicles may have had brake rotors intended for the rear of the car accidentally installed on the front. The rear rotors, while the same diameter, are thinner and may result in a front brake pad detaching from the caliper.
- Risk
- If a brake pad detaches from caliper, there may be a sudden reduction in braking, lengthening the distance required to stop the vehicle and increasing the risk of a crash.
- Remedy
- GM will notify owners, and dealers will inspect the front brake rotors, and install the correct rotors with new brake pads, as necessary, free of charge. The recall began on June 20, 2014. Owners may contact General Motors customer service at 1‑800‑521‑7300 (Buick) or 1‑800‑222‑1020 (Chevrolet). GM's number for this recall is 14128.
Recall number 14V240000 · Recall details
Service brakes, hydraulic: antilock/traction control/electronic limited slip: control unit/module
- What is wrong
- Some of these passenger vehicles have an electronic control unit (ecu) that may calculate a higher than actual vehicle speed because of an erratic rear-wheel speed sensor signal, and cause ABS activation where it is not needed or needed ABS activation to be extended during braking as the vehicle speed drops to about 3 MPH.
- Risk
- Unexpected ABS activiation could increase stopping distance up to about 11 feet dpending on the grade of the road, increasing the risk of a crash.
- Remedy
- Dealers will reprogram the ABS controller. Owner notification began on june 16, 2004. Owners should contact chevrolet at 1‑800‑630‑2438.
Recall number 04V190000 · Recall details
Questions about the Chevrolet Malibu premature wear
Which Chevrolet Malibu years have rotors or pads wearing out early problems?
The model years with the most reports are 1998 (53 complaints), 1999 (26 complaints) and 2000 (15 complaints).
How much does it cost to fix rotors or pads wearing out early on the Chevrolet Malibu?
Owners who mentioned a price put the repair at about $600 (median of 6 complaints that include a dollar amount). Costs vary with mileage, warranty and where the work is done.
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