Seized rear calipers - Rivian stuck me with the bill

[Captblue]

Good advice. Do you think weight has to do anything with it. Just to clarify-weight of vehicle and not driver.

Weight would do it, if towing or if you live in an are where you are going down steep mountain roads. Also taking the vehicle to track/drag racing would do it it in a couple of days.

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[cardad]

One of the reason for getting an electric vs ICE vehicle is low maintenance costs. Don’t know every one’s situation, but I have owned multiple teslas with over 100k and never replaced the brakes. I just use high regen on all, including my R1t. Part of learning curves is to anticipate your stop and have the vehicle do the stopping for you. I don’t use brake assistance, and my brake pads are like new. Almost 30k on the vehicle. (I don’t drag race between stop lights, and slam the brakes )

Rivian added this “feature” to mask some kind of deficiency in their regen. Going down a big descent often leads to some kind of regen throttling where it will then limit the regen rate and force you into using more “manual” mechanical braking. There are other instances such as in the cold where the mechanical brakes may be needed due to limited regen.

 

[ClayCollins]

I have a early VIN 2022 R1T Launch Edition with about 35,000 miles on it.

After noticing some squeaking that sounded like the brake pad wear indicator, I had a mobile service technician pay me a visit. He removed the rear wheel and confirmed that the inner brake pad had less than 2mm left on both rear wheels. The outer pads had 8mm each. They should wear at the same rate.

The service center determined that the rear calipers were not floating as they should and said they would grease the caliper (not sure where). They cited the fact that the emergency brake uses the inner pad as the source of the uneven wear.

They recommended four sets of brake pads and four new rotors. After a lengthy discussion, I had them remove the rotors from the work order since the only reason they gave for trashing four good rotors was "they might squeak with new pads". I never asked about the front pads because the rep kept misquoting the work order, saying I needed four new calipers, which confused things quite a bit.

So I'm not too happy about buying four sets of pads because of a design or assembly flaw (either the e-brake eats inner pads or they should've greased the rear calipers when they assembled the truck.) They also gave no guarantee that greasing the calipers would prevent this in the future.

I thought I'd share with the forum in case this information helps anyone else. This is the first time that Rivian has left me with the bill for one of their design or assembly flaws and I hope it's not the start of a trend.

Everyone always wants to sell you new rotors when your brake pad wear out. If the calipers are not badly scored or warped and meet the thickness specs, there’s no reason to replace. I’m not buying the e-brake story. The pads don’t wear when the ebrake is engaged unless you regularly drive with the ebrake on. The basic problem seems to be the brake caliper pins did not permit the calipers to slide on the pins which allow both pads to apply pressure evenly. They may not have been properly greased. The mechanic should be able to verify that after greasing the calipers float on the pins.

 

[jwardell]

I’m back, as the problem has returned IN LESS THAN A YEAR after Rivian charge me over a grand for new pads and rotors. Just 15k mi and inner pads are again worn, squealing, and I even have pulsating braking.
There is no way this is just normal wear.
Has anyone had success with rivian looking into this issue?

 

[JoulesVerne]

I’m back, as the problem has returned IN LESS THAN A YEAR after Rivian charge me over a grand for new pads and rotors. Just 15k mi and inner pads are again worn, squealing, and I even have pulsating braking.
There is no way this is just normal wear.
Has anyone had success with rivian looking into this issue?

That stinks.

Did they grease the caliper pins? Did you have the brake assistance turned on or off?

 

[beatle]

Definitely sounds like they forgot to use grease. My first Model S had issues with the pads seizing in the calipers (the pistons of the calipers themselves were not seized). That car spent the first 4 years of its life in the rust belt so that may have contributed to the early fault.

 

[jwardell]

That stinks.

Did they grease the caliper pins? Did you have the brake assistance turned on or off?

No idea if they greased anything.
I have made every conscious attempt not to use the brakes, and brake assist is disabled. I don’t drive in stop and go traffic. I give the brakes just one good squeeze each morning at the bottom of the hill thinking it might help move calipers otherwise they are hardly touched. And yet the insides wore in just a year.
I put in a service request last week and waiting to hear back. I don’t want to pay $1000/year to keep replacing the brakes

 

[JoulesVerne]

No idea if they greased anything.
I have made every conscious attempt not to use the brakes, and brake assist is disabled. I don’t drive in stop and go traffic. I give the brakes just one good squeeze each morning at the bottom of the hill thinking it might help move calipers otherwise they are hardly touched. And yet the insides wore in just a year.
I put in a service request last week and waiting to hear back. I don’t want to pay $1000/year to keep replacing the brakes

In my experience, no matter how good the brand or the service folks are, it pays to ask questions. You probably have a 2 year warranty on that brake job. I'd schedule a service visit ASAP.

 

[wasabi911]

No idea if they greased anything.
I have made every conscious attempt not to use the brakes, and brake assist is disabled. I don’t drive in stop and go traffic. I give the brakes just one good squeeze each morning at the bottom of the hill thinking it might help move calipers otherwise they are hardly touched. And yet the insides wore in just a year.
I put in a service request last week and waiting to hear back. I don’t want to pay $1000/year to keep replacing the brakes

Where you able to resolve this with Rivian and find out the cause? I only have 42k on my 2022 and I have the squeal when driving (not braking). Rivian said it's time for new pads and rotors on all 4 wheels for $1.8k. Never had to do brake jobs on any of my other EVs before, so this was surprising.

 

[jwardell]

Where you able to resolve this with Rivian and find out the cause? I only have 42k on my 2022 and I have the squeal when driving (not braking). Rivian said it's time for new pads and rotors on all 4 wheels for $1.8k. Never had to do brake jobs on any of my other EVs before, so this was surprising.

Sorry I have had a brake pad video loaded into final cut for editing for...6 months and still haven't got around to making it!

I replaced my rear inner pads this summer, and it looks like I will need to replace them every single year. The inner pads wear fully while the outers are still good as new. Here's a pic:

They will then start scoring your rotors, so if you let them screech for very long, you will then need new rotors too. Even though all your brakes are barely used, the two inner pads will cause Rivian to replace everything, at a cost over a grand. That's what happened to me the previous year, and in less than 10,000mi and 9 months they were cooked again. And I make all effort not to use the brakes at all and maximize regen.

IMO something is wrong with the design, or the software doesn't retract the parking brake enough. But I'm not going to keep handling Rivian thousands.

I just picked up the equivalent Silverado pads, which were in stock at my local rural parts store, and installed myself.

The one gotcha that cost me a lot of time, trouble, and swearing is that the EPB must be electrically retracted. The caliper tool does nothing. I managed to do so with some wires and a power supply, but I am making a cable to do this and will probably sell it maybe through Soonish because this needs to be a cheap easy job for anyone. And I really think Rivian has an issue here but it's going to be hard to fight them.

I'll be back hopefully soon with a video and a harness.

 

[wasabi911]

Sorry I have had a brake pad video loaded into final cut for editing for...6 months and still haven't got around to making it!

I replaced my rear inner pads this summer, and it looks like I will need to replace them every single year. The inner pads wear fully while the outers are still good as new. Here's a pic:

They will then start scoring your rotors, so if you let them screech for very long, you will then need new rotors too. Even though all your brakes are barely used, the two inner pads will cause Rivian to replace everything, at a cost over a grand. That's what happened to me the previous year, and in less than 10,000mi and 9 months they were cooked again. And I make all effort not to use the brakes at all and maximize regen.

IMO something is wrong with the design, or the software doesn't retract the parking brake enough. But I'm not going to keep handling Rivian thousands.

I just picked up the equivalent Silverado pads, which were in stock at my local rural parts store, and installed myself.

The one gotcha that cost me a lot of time, trouble, and swearing is that the EPB must be electrically retracted. The caliper tool does nothing. I managed to do so with some wires and a power supply, but I am making a cable to do this and will probably sell it maybe through Soonish because this needs to be a cheap easy job for anyone. And I really think Rivian has an issue here but it's going to be hard to fight them.

I'll be back hopefully soon with a video and a harness.

Thanks for the info. There must be a design flaw as this doesn't sound normal.

 

[SolartoEV]

https://www.rivianforums.com/forum/...cement-on-a-2022-rivian-r1t-diy-how-to.41831/

 

[VSG]

IMO something is wrong with the design, or the software doesn't retract the parking brake enough.

Most likely something wrong with your Rivian, because if the design or software were bad then this would be happening to everyone. A common problem is the caliper pins weren't lubricated, so the inner caliper doesn't properly retract fully leading to wear on the inner pads. Greasing the pins fixes this. If you have some corrosion and haven't greased the pins, then that could be the issue on your vehicle.

My pads were recently measured at 9mm inner and outer all around after 32k miles of driving.

 

[docwhiz]

Most likely something wrong with your Rivian, because if the design or software were bad then this would be happening to everyone. A common problem is the caliper pins weren't lubricated, so the inner caliper doesn't properly retract fully leading to wear on the inner pads. Greasing the pins fixes this. If you have some corrosion and haven't greased the pins, then that could be the issue on your vehicle.

My pads were recently measured at 9mm inner and outer all around after 32k miles of driving.

Could also be operating your car in an unusually corrosive environment.
Is there any recommendation for periodic inspection and maintenance?

 

[wasabi911]

Could also be operating your car in an unusually corrosive environment.
Is there any recommendation for periodic inspection and maintenance?

I live just north of NYC, so nothing out of the ordinary. at 42k, one of my wheels started squealing and Rivian said it's time to replace all the pads and rotors for $1.8k. My car has been serviced 11x in the past 18 months (drive train replacement, air suspension replacement, wheel rotate, etc), and not once did anyone mention my brakes were wearing prematurely. this something they should have warned me so I could have prevented the premature wear.

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