Brake Disc Problems of Chevrolet Astro

At 29,000 miles the front brake rotors, bearings and pads had to be replaced. When I complained that this was low miles for brakes to fail, the manager said the brakes go out early on this model because the back brakes were not so good since the self adjusting was not reliable. I wrote twice to gm asking for clarification. I spoke to the manager;s boss who said I would replace brakes every 30,000 miles because the brakes were light for the van weight. Now at about 43,000 I am again having brake problems. Seems wrong to me. Item 2 -at 35,425 miles I reported when the van was in for service that I push the gas pedal down and the van just did not want to go. Then if you held the pedal down after a bit, the van would jump forward because it suddenly got gas. This was bad when anything was around close because of the sudden acceleration. The shop said they would replace a part under warranty. I think it was called a throttle body, but I am not sure. They repalced nothing. They cleaned the throttlebody plate. The problem is now more noticable. From discussion with other people, it seems this lack of going as you put the pedal down, and then the surging ahead is happening to many people. This comes from an internet car problem chat site.

See all problems of the 1999 Chevrolet Astro 🔎.

Upon MA state inspection the 2 front idler arms were found to be completely gone "typical of blazers and Astros" they said. Independant garage found that the arms were extremely worn for this milage. Also the front disk rotors are worn past the point of safty, and a deteration of the cooling and support fins is noted, this seems odd as the rotor pads show typical and even wear for the milage. The rotors are evenly worn, but excessivly deep cut. At 15000 miles the pedal went completely to the floor at a stop sign, ok on second pump, never occured again. I have heard of this and I am always cautious. Breaks sometimes act oddly but work ok. I still feel great about chev vans though my arm rest fell off ?.

See all problems of the 1997 Chevrolet Astro 🔎.

During a moderate braking the vehicle will pull to the left side. It is very dangerous due to you have to hold the steering wheel while braking to keep from pulling into oncoming traffic.

Brakes didn't "fail" as much as they wore out, what I considered to be "prematurely". Vehicle had about 26000 miles when chatter started, indicating replacement needed. Vehicle driven almost exclusively on freeway in mostly rural area (blythe, CA. ) dealer stated I received almost twice the normal mileage as most Astrovan owners, about 18,000 miles. Front disc pads on my 1990 Jeep cherokee last over 60,000 miles per set, ie current mileage- 189,000 on originals and two sets of replacements. Near identical driving.