I just came from the Hyundai dealer, at 76k miles on my 06 Sonata GLS v6, the pads are 35% worn on the rear, and 75% on the front, original everything.

 

Pad life depends on how much you use the brakes, not the mileage. If you do more stop and go city driving you will wear out pads much quicker than if you do more highway driving.

 

I had to add to this discussion since I just experienced the same brake problem with my 07 Sonata with just 43,800 km's (27,200 miles). $400+ and none of it covered under warranty... Not to mention the yearly cost of doing the recommended brake service...

I think this problem is most common to those of us who drive through road salt in the winter time. I live in New Brunswick, Canada, just an hour from the border with Maine, so the weather here is very similar to the previous poster's comments about New England weather.

My local service manager said that unless I get the "brake service" done at least once a year, I'm going to experience this problem repeatedly. Hyundai seems to be getting complaints about it, but no recall yet.

I would suggest that everyone experiencing this problem go to the NHTSA website to register a complaint (http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/ivoq/) Apparently, if enough people complain to trigger the NHTSA to investigate, Hyundai will be MUCH more likely to do something about it. As a side note, while you're at the above website, you can search the complaints that have already been filed for brake problems - there are quite a few people with the same problem, but the more of us who complain, the more likely it will be that Hyundai does something about it.

Since I am in Canada, I filled out the NHTSA form as well as the Transport Canada form which can be found here: https://wwwapps.tc.gc.ca/Saf-Sec-Sur...DPP/Index.aspx

Shneebs.

 

You can complain all you want, but break pads are a normal wear and tear item. Probably they are just using pads that wear out fast. Replace them with some after market ceramic pads.

 

Brake pads wear out. The more stop-n-go driving you do, the faster they were out. Get over it. It's normal and part of owning a car. Buy better brake pads next time.

 

I live in Canada and I have a 2008 Santa-Fe. I did all the maintenance steps, 1,2,3,1,2, etc... Last month I spent over $600 to have my rotors replaced as there was a rusting problem with the calipers. My car went through one winter and was only slightly older than one year with a little over 30,000 kilometers. Apparently it is because of the salt and all brands of cars have this problem. Interesting, I owned Nissan and Mazda and never had such a problem, it is the reason I buy new cars, pay the maintenance and avoid the surprise costs. I think Hyundai has a design or a material defect and are not taking responsibility.

 

Here's something even more interesting. I own/owned 3 Hyundai corporation cars and take care of my mother-in-laws Hyundai. Through a combined 9 Pennsylvania winters (and yes, we use salt in PA) I have never had a rusting problem other than one bolt that broke but that could have been resolved by using antiseize.

If Hyundai had "a design or a material defect and are not taking responsibility" then it would be happening to all Hyundai cars.

 

Do you think a repair this early is acceptable and normal ?

 

If you pound on the brakes, you can wipe out a set of pads in less than 10,000 miles. City driving & riding the brake pedal will cause the need for early replacement also. Forgetting to release the parking brake is also a way to shorten the life of a brake set.

Some surface rust on the calipers and the hat section of the rotors is normal. You may also notice some light surface rust on the face of the rotors on a wet day after the car has set overnite, that too is normal.

If you are having problems with internal corrosion of the piston/bore of the calipers, that lends itself towards contamination of the brake fluid with water. Brake fluid is hygroscopic, and will absorb moisture from the air, so keep the master cylinder cap on tight at all times.

Brake fluid is a light straw color, almost clear in some cases. Dirty brown or almost black fluid, or if you can see particulates floating around in it means it's time to totally bleed the braking system. It'll save you big bucks in the long run.

I live in Indianapolis which salts & drops brine-mixture on it's roads at the drop of a hat. My '09 has only been thru one winter here so far, and I've noticed nothing abnormal as far as corrosion on any brake components.

 

I will be doing the brakes in my 07 Sonata Limited tomorrow. My car has 45k miles on it. It does seem to be a bit soon, since I had an Expedition and an F150, and they both went 60k and 70k miles respectively, on brakes. But, the Expedition stopped like a dump truck, so

I bought ceramic pads from Advance Auto Parts for $35(front), so at least they are not expensive.