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Help with emergency service for brakes.

4K views 66 replies 17 participants last post by  MyVolvoS60 
#1 ·
I’m in a bit of a bind but I am hopeful that the Swedespeed community can help me out.

Starting yesterday morning I started getting a terrible grinding sound from somewhere underneath my vehicle (2018 XC90 RD with air suspension and 18” wheels, 40k miles). While driving it’s an intermittent scraping but when turning left or braking it is a continuous loud grinding. It has gotten worse since yesterday.

The problem - I’m 600 miles away from home and must drive home tomorrow evening or very early Sunday morning at the latest.

I called the local dealership here and they told me that they don’t do brakes on Saturdays and there was no way they could even get me in until sometime late next week. That obviously doesn’t work. So I reluctantly decided to take it down the road to Firestone. I figured at the very least have them inspect the brakes.

However, after multiple techs spent an hour trying to undo the electronic parking brake I was told they couldn’t do anything. They informed me that Firestone’s software only goes to MY2017 for the XC90 and that no matter how many times they tried the 2017 software would not release the brake. They even got their regional manager involved but nobody could figure it out. They did offer to disassemble the whole parking brake motor assembly but I opted against that for obvious reasons.

They did let me know that the front pads were at 5 and the rears at 3 but they couldn’t see the back side due to the heat shields being in the way.

So I then super reluctantly called Sears and Pep Boys and was informed by both of them that it would be best to take the vehicle to Volvo as they have never/rarely worked on a SPA platform Volvo.

I am at a total loss. So if anyone out there knows of any national chains that can do brake work on an ‘18 XC90 I would greatly appreciate it.


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#2 ·
There are YouTube vids on how to change the tears with the electronic brake. You do not need software. Some have used a 9v battery to rewind the brake, and others disconnected the electronic brake mechanism and manually rewound it back. Food for thought if you want Firestone to have another crack at it.
 
#3 ·
Is the parking brake stuck on, or caliper seized? If not, you can take the caliper(s) off and simply wind the piston back into the caliper with a $10.00 caliper piston tool from PepGirls, replace the pads and be done. I made my own from some scrap metal I had laying around my garage in about 10minutes (see attachment). You do not need VIDA to do the brakes on the SPA cars. I’ve done rear pads twice on my 2016 XC90 I had. Firestone is probably overthinking this job.
 

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#4 ·
I'm in a bit of a bind but I am hopeful that the Swedespeed community can help me out.

Starting yesterday morning I started getting a terrible grinding sound from somewhere underneath my vehicle (2018 XC90 RD with air suspension and 18" wheels, 40k miles). While driving it's an intermittent scraping but when turning left or braking it is a continuous loud grinding. It has gotten worse since yesterday.

The problem - I'm 600 miles away from home and must drive home tomorrow evening or very early Sunday morning at the latest.

I called the local dealership here and they told me that they don't do brakes on Saturdays and there was no way they could even get me in until sometime late next week. That obviously doesn't work. So I reluctantly decided to take it down the road to Firestone. I figured at the very least have them inspect the brakes.

However, after multiple techs spent an hour trying to undo the electronic parking brake I was told they couldn't do anything. They informed me that Firestone's software only goes to MY2017 for the XC90 and that no matter how many times they tried the 2017 software would not release the brake. They even got their regional manager involved but nobody could figure it out. They did offer to disassemble the whole parking brake motor assembly but I opted against that for obvious reasons.

They did let me know that the front pads were at 5 and the rears at 3 but they couldn't see the back side due to the heat shields being in the way.

So I then super reluctantly called Sears and Pep Boys and was informed by both of them that it would be best to take the vehicle to Volvo as they have never/rarely worked on a SPA platform Volvo.

I am at a total loss. So if anyone out there knows of any national chains that can do brake work on an '18 XC90 I would greatly appreciate it.

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Call Volvo Roadside Assistance. They can tow you to the nearest Volvo Dealership. If the issue is found to not be caused by you, they offer up to $500 trip interruption insurance. And I imagine you'd probably get a loaner.

https://www.volvocars.com/us/own/owner-info/service-by-volvo/roadside-assistance
 
#9 ·
They should be able to remove the parking brake motor to retract the piston. But they also should have been able to figure that out and are clearly not comfortable with the job.

The biggest surprise in this whole situation is that the dealer doesn't do easy brake jobs on Saturdays.
 
#15 ·
What has been suggested so far may be the right course of action, but the resolution may not happen during this weekend.

In the meantime; @ OP, see if you can spot anything around the brake pad and caliper. On one of my vehicles (not a Volvo), we experienced a very loud squealing noise when in reverse, to the point that it feels like the parking brake is on. There was no noise moving forward. It turns out there was this random plastic debris (from what appears to be a small drink stirrer) wedged on the area where the caliper contacts the brake rotor. When moving forward, the debris contacted the brake rotor like dragging a shovel behind you. When moving backward, the debris contacted the brake rotor as if holding a shovel in front of you and plowing it on the ground as you move, apparently making the plastic piece vibrate. As it does that, there was some strong resonance. The remedy was to pull that debris off.
 
#17 ·
Thanks everyone for all the replies. Your help is appreciated.

I should have pointed out that the brakes were replaced several times under warranty due to the squeaking issue. So they only have about 25k on them since the their most recent replacement.

Anyway, I decided to just drive home early this morning as a rotor replacement is mandatory at my dealership when doing pads anyway. I have never had brakes that made any noise but have always been forced to replace the rotors regardless of condition. On my former ‘16 S60 it was recommended that I do rear brakes at the 20k service and although there was no audible or physical warning that they needed to be done I was told rotors were also needed. So I figured to hell with it. If the rotors are ruined then at least I’m actually paying for something that I need and I’m home.

I will say I’m not thrilled about this situation. The XC90 is our 6th Volvo and by far the most problematic and annoying to maintain. For the first time in a long time I will shop around when it is time to replace the XC90. It’s time to see what else is out there. BMW killer? I think not.


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#23 ·
Read carefully....
I should have pointed out that the brakes were replaced several times under warranty due to the squeaking issue. So they only have about 25k on them since the their most recent replacement.
1. Where did I state his warranty work was due to warped brakes?
2. I stated he had been to service BEFORE and during 40K....Meaning the brakes / pads were replaced SEVERAL TIMES before 40K.

What I did state was:

It's a 2018. There shouldn't be a grinding noise......If his brakes / rotors have already warped at 40K, that's pretty bad. Unless OP brakes heavy and abuses his car.

Which we know he hasn't and the car has been in for service several times. And while warranty work was relating to squeaking, and now he has a grinding problem, what the heck is going on then?

25,000 miles is time for a brake job? Guy must be a 100% city driver or rides the brakes like driving Ms. Dasiy.
 
#20 ·
Tech is it common practice to replace the rotors when replacing the pads? Way back in the late 70s a guy I knew who used his 5series BMW in Sales had to do a periodic maintenance and it called for replacing the pads and rotors. I was kind of surprised. I used to take my rotors in and have them termed as long as they met the thickness spec. Maybe the Volvo rotors are on the thin side to start with? I understand that the T8 is easier on brakes? My Prius went over 100,000 miles and still did not need pads.
 
#21 ·
Dealers don't machine rotors, since it isn't cost effective. Rotors have two specs: a minimum thickness and a minimum thickness at pad replacement. If the rotor is above the minimum thickness at pad replacement spec and not otherwise damaged, you can usually put just pads on. However, most will recommend rotors to eliminate liability should a squeak or pulsation develop after pads are replaced.
 
#29 · (Edited)
On a side note... I just replaced all my wife’s 2017 xc90 pads and rotors at 31,000. I took it to a mechanic down the street who regularly deals with Volvo cars. All together, the cost was $1400. Yikes!!! Anyone else get hit for that much?

He did say that rears were metal to metal and were giving off this rusty film which was all over the rims. My wife would have probably driven another 10,000 if she could have. 🏻
 
#33 ·
Yes...but Volvo sells a plan covering two sets of front and rear brake pads and rotors + seven services that covers 100,000 miles. Volvo sells these plans are as a:

Wear Item Coverage**
Wear Item Coverage can be added to most plans and includes wiper blades, brake pads and rotors, allowing worry-free ownership with virtually no maintenance expenses.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=2ahUKEwjWlNi1qonhAhVJrlQKHTI_B98QFjAAegQIAhAC&url=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.volvocars.com%2Fus%2F~%2Fmedia%2Fus%2Fdownloads%2Fbrochures%2Fservice-and-maintenance%2Fvolvo-prepaid-maintenance-plans-brochure-v2.pdf%3Fla%3Den-us&usg=AOvVaw0gZErYxtBfSMGOBUYqjHYS

Implying that this plan is comprehensive and all inclusive...Again, those are VOLVO's Words stating 2 brake jobs + 2 Rotors is comprehensive coverage up until 100,000 miles.
 
#36 ·
I love this - It's like someone says to his buddy that he doesn't care for the taste of his beer and before you know it someone shouts out " lets take this outside".
I love mankind - it's just the people I dislike.
Great input. I'm just trying to shed light on what's really going on vs. things some people state as fact when they have no experience with it. Especially when they incorrectly accuse someone of bsuing their car in doing so.
 
#44 ·
Let's get this straight. I BELIEVE you 100% that brakes wear out quicker on a heavier vehicle. And if not evenly balanced, front / rear might run out quicker.

What I'm arguing is "Volvo's Statements" vs. Real World. You said I have "No Clue". I only parroted what Volvo "Sells to the Customer". So if Volvo is inaccurate, so be it. I truly believe you are 100% right. I'm just SHOCKED 12-25K would be considered "Normal".....
 
#37 ·
It is not uncommon for large vehicles to go through brakes faster than those on cars. Brake wear is also very dependent on how and where you drive. Out MY16 XC90 has around 18k and when I looked recently weren’t even halfway worn on the brake pads. Where we live it is not very crowded so there’s not a lot of stop and go and a large percentage of those miles were highway.

Also something to keep in mind, systems like adaptive cruise control and lane departure use the brakes to maintain speed and assist steering your car back into the lane. If you use those systems regularly your brakes will wear faster.
 
#38 ·
It is not uncommon for large vehicles to go through brakes faster than those on cars. Brake wear is also very dependent on how and where you drive. Out MY16 XC90 has around 18k and when I looked recently weren't even halfway worn on the brake pads. Where we live it is not very crowded so there's not a lot of stop and go and a large percentage of those miles were highway.

Also something to keep in mind, systems like adaptive cruise control and lane departure use the brakes to maintain speed and assist steering your car back into the lane. If you use those systems regularly your brakes will wear faster.
Just a tip- make sure you are checking the inner pads too. They wear out faster. So the outers might have 5mm but the inners could be close to gone.
 
#39 ·
So after reading through the vast amount of replies since yesterday I'd like to set the record straight.

1. I do whatever maintenance or repair my dealer recommends. We have inspection in PA and I was all good to go in December.



2. If I have a problem or notice something obscure I call and schedule an appointment to have it looked at and repaired. As I did when the air suspension failed, rear wiper fluid nozzle failed, fuel filler pipe failed, digital dash failed, when the plastic door parts need to be greased up so the $4k stereo didn't make them rattle and now again tomorrow for reasons laid out in this reply.







3. Adaptive Cruise, in my experience, relies heavily on the rear brakes. I have no idea why this is. On my '09 S80 V8, '16 S60, and now on the '19 XC90 (all with adaptive cruise) I only ever got 25k miles or so out of the rear brakes. The fronts are usually fine and last until around the 40k mile service.

3. I finally figured out what makes this '18 XC90 so vastly different than my '07 S60, '08 C30, '09 S80 V8, '10 XC90, '13 S60 T6, and '16 S60i. All spent very little time at the garage and never had anything replaced under warranty.

Last night I was determined to find out what this issue actually was. So I called a friend of mine who owns a body shop/quick lube and I took the vehicle down early this morning. We took the wheels off and low and behold all the outer pads were fine albeit completely different in their thickness. So we looked at the inner pads. Again driver-front 3, pass-front 5, and pass-rear 3. But then we check the drivers-rear and it was as worn as worn could possibly be. A straight zero and it had gouged the hell out of the rotor.

Now, in my general knowledge and vague mechanical understanding of cars I'd say something isn't quite right. How can a vehicle that is well serviced, well maintained, and cost more than a decent 4 year college education not be apply brakes properly? And how is it that hundreds of different systems split between four different data points (Sensus, Digital Dash, HUD and VOC) not alert the driver to such an issue? It's bewildering that a car can tell when you need some coffee but can't alert you when your entire braking system is destroying specific brake pads selectively for reasons I can't even begin to understand!!!

To me this is a warranty issue. Considering only ONE wheel has worn pads on only one ONE side of the rotor this sounds like Volvo should be on the hook for the repair of whatever has caused this and for the pads and rotors that were damaged by the failure.

However, I now understand why the Volvo Certified warranty had to change from 7 years/100k miles to 5 years/unlimited millage.

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#40 ·
Just out of curiosity, how often do you check your tire pressures? And maybe what type of pressure gauge is there on the pump?

I am just asking this because I have traction issue on my car (2013 S60 T5 fwd). I have noticed the braking force feels quite different for different pressures (subjective I know) and the ABS comes in rather early for higher tyre pressures. Ultimately what I'm driving towards is unequal wear on different tyres may be related to non-uniform tyre pressures across the four wheels, as I've already explained brake force is related to pressure.

I have since learned also that these newer cars can sense which wheel has more traction n a computer calculates accordingly to brake safely and avoid spinning of the car. So another reason for uneven wear across the four wheels that is related to tyre pressures.

The place where I pump my tyres have a digital gauge where and it will pump the tyres with accuracy within 1 kPa. I'm just adding this as food for thought, as if one wheel do the braking more than the others it is bound to have it's pads wear more than the others.?☺
 
#46 ·
Have a simple question as to how Volvo measures brake pad thickness. Is it measured using the outside pad, the inside pad, or the lowest reading of the two? I ask because it appears that inner pads wear faster, but it would seem more difficult to measure the inside pad as don't you have to take the wheel off to measure the inside pad? Thus, if you are only provided the outside pad thickness, it may be less meaningful.
 
#51 ·
I would like to make an observation / ask a question. Let's say you observe the pads at 5mm. That should be a fair warning (verbally expressed) to customer that here very soon you will be needing a brake job. As 3mm is usually when pads are swapped out. So an owner shouldn't be left with a warm feeling leaving that dealer that everything is "OK".

So do you express to customer then that we're at the 20K service. I recommend you come back in 3-5000 miles to have your brakes checked again because I don't think they'll make it to the 10K. Otherwise, you might have metal on metal and need all new rotors, too?
 
#49 ·
Just about any single piston caliper (which is what the XC90 has) will wear out the inside pad first. Not unique to Volvo as the piston pushes the inside pad onto the rotor and that is what then pulls the outside pad in. When I replaced my rear pads, the driver inside was on metal while the outboard had 2 mm or so. It's also not uncommon for one corner to wear faster since most modern cars traction control systems use the brakes.
 
#59 ·
Seems like just front and rear.



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#60 ·
I'm in a bit of a bind but I am hopeful that the Swedespeed community can help me out.

Starting yesterday morning I started getting a terrible grinding sound from somewhere underneath my vehicle (2018 XC90 RD with air suspension and 18" wheels, 40k miles). While driving it's an intermittent scraping but when turning left or braking it is a continuous loud grinding. It has gotten worse since yesterday.

The problem - I'm 600 miles away from home and must drive home tomorrow evening or very early Sunday morning at the latest.

I called the local dealership here and they told me that they don't do brakes on Saturdays and there was no way they could even get me in until sometime late next week. That obviously doesn't work. So I reluctantly decided to take it down the road to Firestone. I figured at the very least have them inspect the brakes.

However, after multiple techs spent an hour trying to undo the electronic parking brake I was told they couldn't do anything. They informed me that Firestone's software only goes to MY2017 for the XC90 and that no matter how many times they tried the 2017 software would not release the brake. They even got their regional manager involved but nobody could figure it out. They did offer to disassemble the whole parking brake motor assembly but I opted against that for obvious reasons.

They did let me know that the front pads were at 5 and the rears at 3 but they couldn't see the back side due to the heat shields being in the way.

So I then super reluctantly called Sears and Pep Boys and was informed by both of them that it would be best to take the vehicle to Volvo as they have never/rarely worked on a SPA platform Volvo.

I am at a total loss. So if anyone out there knows of any national chains that can do brake work on an '18 XC90 I would greatly appreciate it.

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Could be a stone lodged in the brake shield. Common actually. At 40 k your brakes should be fine still.
 
#63 ·
What Volvo sells and what happens in real life are not one in the same. Volvo touts worry free maintenance with 2 sets of brakes / pads / rotors. In actuality, unless you are a highway only driver, you'll never see anywhere near those numbers. And apparently with the XC60s, XC90s, etc being heavier vehicles, brakes wear even faster.

Per tech 12-25K isn't out of the question before needing another set of brakes.
 
#61 ·
I'm in a bit of a bind but I am hopeful that the Swedespeed community can help me out.

Starting yesterday morning I started getting a terrible grinding sound from somewhere underneath my vehicle (2018 XC90 RD with air suspension and 18" wheels, 40k miles). While driving it's an intermittent scraping but when turning left or braking it is a continuous loud grinding. It has gotten worse since yesterday.

The problem - I'm 600 miles away from home and must drive home tomorrow evening or very early Sunday morning at the latest.

I called the local dealership here and they told me that they don't do brakes on Saturdays and there was no way they could even get me in until sometime late next week. That obviously doesn't work. So I reluctantly decided to take it down the road to Firestone. I figured at the very least have them inspect the brakes.

However, after multiple techs spent an hour trying to undo the electronic parking brake I was told they couldn't do anything. They informed me that Firestone's software only goes to MY2017 for the XC90 and that no matter how many times they tried the 2017 software would not release the brake. They even got their regional manager involved but nobody could figure it out. They did offer to disassemble the whole parking brake motor assembly but I opted against that for obvious reasons.

They did let me know that the front pads were at 5 and the rears at 3 but they couldn't see the back side due to the heat shields being in the way.

So I then super reluctantly called Sears and Pep Boys and was informed by both of them that it would be best to take the vehicle to Volvo as they have never/rarely worked on a SPA platform Volvo.

I am at a total loss. So if anyone out there knows of any national chains that can do brake work on an '18 XC90 I would greatly appreciate it.

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Could be a stone lodged in the brake shield. Common actually. At 40 k your brakes should be fine still.
As we already established, no they shouldn't.
 
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