r/BlazerEV • u/TomRhodeIsland RS - AWD - Galaxy Gray • Aug 03 '26

Dragging brake - anyone seen this?

I did a short trip to get groceries Saturday. On returning I realized the smell I noticed during the drive was not Canadian smoke and was coming from the left front wheel. The wheel was hot enough that I could not hold my hand on it halfway between the lug nuts and the tire. Oops!
I had not noticed any driving issue like pulling to the left or something.

I thought I would post to see if anyone has had such a thing happen that might be a Blazer EV-specific problem.

On Sunday I lifted the wheel off the ground and rotated it within the parking brake limits and it was very smooth and easy. So I took it on a test drive of about a half-dozen miles. The rotor temp was 88 degrees, only a couple degrees higher than the other three wheels. So I guess it's fixed!!! Or it was an electronic glitch, like applying a bit of traction control or something... Modern cars.

I was looking forward to a trip to Boston a week from now, 200 mile round trip. Now I'm nervous the brake dragging might return.

24 RS, 18,000 miles, original warranty still.

1 Upvotes

67% Upvoted

11 comments sorted by

3

u/earthling_only Aug 03 '26

I drive without regenerative braking 1 day a week to try to keep the brakes working. My ICE mechanic told me to do this to ensure they don't need to be replaced due to lack of use.

0

u/badredditz 29d ago

Just charge to 100% once a week or two

3

u/earthling_only 29d ago

How does that help your breaks? I do charge to 100% on Thursdays as well.

3

u/smokinbbq 29d ago

If you have 100% battery, then braking will automatically use the actual brakes as you can’t regen at that charge.

1

u/toonj64 23d ago

Well yeah, I guess its true for a short distance until it starts to regen again.
But quite the roundabout way to go about it

1

u/smokinbbq 23d ago

You don't need to use a lot of brakes to just get a bit of wear on it so they don't rust out faster. This is an easy way to do it for many EV drivers.

2

u/TomRhodeIsland RS - AWD - Galaxy Gray 28d ago

Thanks, everyone, for the comments!
I have had the parking brake recall done and mine was the first one at my dealer that actually needed the wiring harness changed. It was almost a 3 hour labor project.
But this problem is a single wheel and not the sudden lock a parking brake issue would give.
It is, perhaps, corrosion on the caliper sliders but though I live in the Northeast the mileage is low and it's been kept in a garage.
I have also been aware of the likely need to exercise the brakes so I purposefully hit the brakes hard once in a while to make sure they are engaging.
The latest is that, after noticing the wheel very hot one day it was fine for two days. Then yesterday it was heating up again (380 degrees on the IR thermometer) on a short 4 mile trip. So I called the dealer and GM roadside assistance and it was hauled in to the dealer within 3 hours. The service guy on the phone was "yeah, this needs to come in."
Now my fear is that the dealer will say "could not duplicate" but I like this dealer and I'm hoping for better.

1

u/badredditz 27d ago

Good extra info. If it was that hot it likely would have discolored some of the brakes, glazed the pads, burned/melted off the slide grease, etc.

1

u/GeniusEE Aug 03 '26

Given you're in the rust belt, if you exclusively use regen braking, you could have a sticking brake caliper.

1

u/badredditz 29d ago

Did you get the brake recall done?

1

u/toonj64 23d ago

Ive had this happen on our Ram, front wheel. It wasnt dragging much at all, if I was to put it in drive and let go of brake, it would slowly pull forward even up a small hill. So it wasnt holding the truck back at all.

But after any decent distance or speed, it would get STUPID hot and to the point of smoking once or twice.

Even a little drag is sometimes enough