Brake sticking issues on P3 Volvo's.

spinall4 · Dec 16, 2017

Ok, I don't usually post out side of the R forum, but I bought my wife a 2010 Volvo XC60 T6 about 6 months ago. Now I'm almost 100 percent sure than the XC60 and S60 share a ton of parts(besides the body). Trying to cross post this to see who has had to deal with these issues.

I remember some one saying that sticking brake calipers was pretty common issue for P3's along with the other issues like the engine oil consumption issues. Now that I'm working on my wife's brakes, I can't find any info anywhere about the caliper sticking issues.

Right after we bought the car, the back brakes started sticking and ruined one of the back rotors/pads. Probably 90,000 miles on the odometer. Now here we are six months later and I have to do the Front brakes because one of them is stuck on and grinding the rotor and pad down to nothing.

What's happening to the brakes is the caliper gets to the point where it says stuck on and won't release the brake rotor. After a while the sticking gets worse and turns into straight up grinding. It gets worse and worse until the brake rotor and pads are worn down and ruined. When I did the rear brakes about 6 months ago, it was the worst I've ever seen a brake pad and rotor worn down. The pad actually broke in half and got stuck.

Is there some sort of TSB from Volvo on the P3 brakes getting stuck and grinding down and ruining the rotor and brake pads? The last thing I want to do is put the car back together after doing the brakes and find out there was something I'm supposed to do that I missed.

When I did the rear pads and rotors about 6 months ago, I just followed the All Data DIY info I have and did the brakes with new Centric rotors, Akebono pads, a bunch of the CRC Silaramic silicone brake grease. I cleaned every thing up super clean and put it all back together. When I had the calipers off the car, I couldn't find any thing wrong with them. The caliper seals all looked in good shape. I cleaned them up super good and put them back on the car. Used the wire brush on the 18v Milwaukee Impact. Torqued every thing to Volvo OE specs listed in AllData DIY. Reset the electronic parking brake ect.

https://www.amazon.com/CRC-05361-Silaramic-System-Grease/dp/B0091KCG0W

I've spent time searching Google, Swede Speed, All Data DIY, ect. I couldn't even find one mention of the P3 Volvo's doing this.

Is this just one of those things that there is no "fix" for yet and I will just have to live with the car wearing out the brake pads and calipers way faster than it should?

william9 · Dec 16, 2017

How stuck are your brakes? Mine are nearly constantly making some sort of noise or another. Ranges from squeaking/squealing to a light rubbing sound. Whatever is making the noise is clear enough from the rotors to drive normally. Just really annoying. I’m planning on bringing it in to the dealer to have them looked at after the holidays.

krn · Dec 16, 2017

The two problems I have seen mentioned most often here seem to be:

Rocks under the water shield on the front brakes causes squeaks and scraping sound.

Rear pads wearing fast and the inside wearing faster (which is hard to visually check).
Rear rotors sometimes ruined when the pads wore out faster then you would expect.

I've not really seen anything about stuck brakes. I've had the rock problem but no other
problems and coming up on 60K with original pads and rotors, front and rear -- will be changing soon

troach · Dec 16, 2017

spinall4 said:
Ok, I don't usually post out side of the R forum, but I bought my wife a 2010 Volvo XC60 T6 about 6 months ago. Now I'm almost 100 percent sure than the XC60 and S60 share a ton of parts(besides the body). Trying to cross post this to see who has had to deal with these issues.

I remember some one saying that sticking brake calipers was pretty common issue for P3's along with the other issues like the engine oil consumption issues. Now that I'm working on my wife's brakes, I can't find any info anywhere about the caliper sticking issues.

Right after we bought the car, the back brakes started sticking and ruined one of the back rotors/pads. Probably 90,000 miles on the odometer. Now here we are six months later and I have to do the Front brakes because one of them is stuck on and grinding the rotor and pad down to nothing.

What's happening to the brakes is the caliper gets to the point where it says stuck on and won't release the brake rotor. After a while the sticking gets worse and turns into straight up grinding. It gets worse and worse until the brake rotor and pads are worn down and ruined. When I did the rear brakes about 6 months ago, it was the worst I've ever seen a brake pad and rotor worn down. The pad actually broke in half and got stuck.

Is there some sort of TSB from Volvo on the P3 brakes getting stuck and grinding down and ruining the rotor and brake pads? The last thing I want to do is put the car back together after doing the brakes and find out there was something I'm supposed to do that I missed.

When I did the rear pads and rotors about 6 months ago, I just followed the All Data DIY info I have and did the brakes with new Centric rotors, Akebono pads, a bunch of the CRC Silaramic silicone brake grease. I cleaned every thing up super clean and put it all back together. When I had the calipers off the car, I couldn't find any thing wrong with them. The caliper seals all looked in good shape. I cleaned them up super good and put them back on the car. Used the wire brush on the 18v Milwaukee Impact. Torqued every thing to Volvo OE specs listed in AllData DIY. Reset the electronic parking brake ect.

https://www.amazon.com/CRC-05361-Silaramic-System-Grease/dp/B0091KCG0W

I've spent time searching Google, Swede Speed, All Data DIY, ect. I couldn't even find one mention of the P3 Volvo's doing this.

Is this just one of those things that there is no "fix" for yet and I will just have to live with the car wearing out the brake pads and calipers way faster than it should?

Hmm interesting. My wife has an XC90 that's almost 2 years old. It had the back brakes break off on one side and damage the rotor. Volvo charge me $800 and said it's not covered under any kind of warranty since it's a wear and tear part. I should go post over there and see if people are seeing something similar. Not sure how many parts are shared but design principals are usually very similar.

Oceans60R · Dec 16, 2017

The brakes don't get stuck so to speak but the characteristic wear of the inner pad on a parking brake equipped caliper is probably what you are referring to. Frequent use of the parking brake will accelerate wear of the inner pad even quicker.
In a market where you may drive on treated roads in the Winter, it's also more likely to have corrosion form between the pad and caliper guide and will cause the pads to "stick" in the guide thus accelerating wear. Caliper guides can also get a buildup of brake dust making the pad move less and increase wear. Proper washing of the vehicle including the brakes is a good idea.
I've also run into on more than one occasion, rusty brakes on one side and accelerated wear on that side. My first question is do they park on their driveway and do they have lawn sprinklers? Usually the answer is yes to both but one lady wanted to argue that but admitted that there are sprinklers at her work next to her parking spot.

As for noise, Volvo Genuine Pads will be your least likely pad to make noise. If you don't like brake noise, don't cheap out on pads or buy Ceramic pads. Rotor composition can also have a large effect on noise so going with the rotors that were engineered for your vehicle would be a wise choice.

Hope this helps

spinall4 · Dec 17, 2017

Oceans60R said:
The brakes don't get stuck so to speak but the characteristic wear of the inner pad on a parking brake equipped caliper is probably what you are referring to. Frequent use of the parking brake will accelerate wear of the inner pad even quicker.
In a market where you may drive on treated roads in the Winter, it's also more likely to have corrosion form between the pad and caliper guide and will cause the pads to "stick" in the guide thus accelerating wear. Caliper guides can also get a buildup of brake dust making the pad move less and increase wear. Proper washing of the vehicle including the brakes is a good idea.
I've also run into on more than one occasion, rusty brakes on one side and accelerated wear on that side. My first question is do they park on their driveway and do they have lawn sprinklers? Usually the answer is yes to both but one lady wanted to argue that but admitted that there are sprinklers at her work next to her parking spot.

As for noise, Volvo Genuine Pads will be your least likely pad to make noise. If you don't like brake noise, don't cheap out on pads or buy Ceramic pads. Rotor composition can also have a large effect on noise so going with the rotors that were engineered for your vehicle would be a wise choice.

Hope this helps

I have heard the noise you are are talking about before from noisy brake pad or the squeaky pads that sometimes happen. What I'm experiencing is most definitely not that. Those while annoying, are really not THAT bad. What I'm getting is an awful metal on metal grinding noise from the brakes once they wear down through the friction material of the pads. It's to the point that It's embarrassing to pick my kids up from school in my wife's car.

I've been working on the front brakes on the XC60 today, I will post some pictures up later when I have some more free time.

Just looking at the front brake calipers, I see exactly what you are saying about corrosion being an issue. While I have it all apart I'm going to spend some time cleaning up all of the parts of the caliper with the wire brushes in my drill. We live in northern Utah so not only do we get salt everywhere 6 months out of the year, we have salt in the air just from being around the Great Salt Lake. Things seem to rust here faster than any other place I have ever lived.

Bunnspeed · Mar 5, 2019

spinall4 said:
Oceans60R said:

The brakes don't get stuck so to speak but the characteristic wear of the inner pad on a parking brake equipped caliper is probably what you are referring to. Frequent use of the parking brake will accelerate wear of the inner pad even quicker.
In a market where you may drive on treated roads in the Winter, it's also more likely to have corrosion form between the pad and caliper guide and will cause the pads to "stick" in the guide thus accelerating wear. Caliper guides can also get a buildup of brake dust making the pad move less and increase wear. Proper washing of the vehicle including the brakes is a good idea.
I've also run into on more than one occasion, rusty brakes on one side and accelerated wear on that side. My first question is do they park on their driveway and do they have lawn sprinklers? Usually the answer is yes to both but one lady wanted to argue that but admitted that there are sprinklers at her work next to her parking spot.

As for noise, Volvo Genuine Pads will be your least likely pad to make noise. If you don't like brake noise, don't cheap out on pads or buy Ceramic pads. Rotor composition can also have a large effect on noise so going with the rotors that were engineered for your vehicle would be a wise choice.

Hope this helps

Click to expand...

I have heard the noise you are are talking about before from noisy brake pad or the squeaky pads that sometimes happen. What I'm experiencing is most definitely not that. Those while annoying, are really not THAT bad. What I'm getting is an awful metal on metal grinding noise from the brakes once they wear down through the friction material of the pads. It's to the point that It's embarrassing to pick my kids up from school in my wife's car.

I've been working on the front brakes on the XC60 today, I will post some pictures up later when I have some more free time.

Just looking at the front brake calipers, I see exactly what you are saying about corrosion being an issue. While I have it all apart I'm going to spend some time cleaning up all of the parts of the caliper with the wire brushes in my drill. We live in northern Utah so not only do we get salt everywhere 6 months out of the year, we have salt in the air just from being around the Great Salt Lake. Things seem to rust here faster than any other place I have ever lived.

Bringing this back from the dead. Did you resolve your problem? I've been getting a similar grinding sound all the time, especially audible at low speeds without applying the brakes. Judging by fresh visible wear on the driver side rear rotor, I'd say it's probably coming from that brake dragging. A quick look at the pad with the wheel still on suggests there's meat left on the pad, so I don't think the sound or wear on the rotor is due to worn out pads. Thoughts?

TnoV60 · Mar 5, 2019

I like this thread a lot and yes I read too about the brake/pads issue.

Mine is quite the same. I noticed that I have more brake dust on my rear wheels to an extend that my rear left rim was even darker than my rear right.
I asked Volvo and for them there is nothing to worry. This is normal --'

Anyway, I am good to unmount my 2 rear caliper, clean them and put them back

FYI: I read on this forum that some volvo's owner even paint their caliper to protect from rust.

Dyno · Mar 5, 2019

I have two cars, a Pontiac and a Volvo. In both cases, a thin film of rust can build up on the rotors after being exposed to water from washing or from a driving rain. A grinding noise will occur until the car is driven a little. This is normal

Both cars (and several before them) exhibit higher wear on rears compared to front. This is also normal.

Brake sticking issues on P3 Volvo's.

spinall4

william9

krn

troach

Oceans60R

spinall4

Bunnspeed

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