JTK
$100 Site Donor 2025
I had to do pads and rotors all the way around on my 2021 Equinox AWD a few days ago @ 74400 miles. Normal rust belt blues. The brakes had a horrible pulsation that began two weeks ago, due to the pads being hopelessly fused in place, which chewed up the inside of all 4 rotors. It was a shame too as there was plenty of life left on all the pads and rotors. I believe it would have been an ideal candidate for a "brake service", 6 months or a year ago. The rotors had been supposedly resurfaced/replaced and the pads changed just prior to me buying the vehicle 2yrs ago with 34K miles on it.
All 4 rotors still had the torx screws holding them on. They all backed out easy enough after some hammer whacks, but 3 of the 4 broke off. One required drilling. Lots of rust under the abutment clips on the caliper brackets, etc. Some of the caliper pins had rust starting to form where the boot seals at the head of the pin. I wire wheeled those.
What really fought me were the rear caliper bracket bolts. The lower bolts are deeply recessed into a pocket in the aluminum knuckles, then access is blocked by a suspension trailing arm. You can barely get a finger on this bolt. The trailing arm does have an access hole through it so you can poke an extension and 18mm socket through and get onto this bolt, but there's not enough room for a breaker bar or impact unless you get creative with a wobble, etc. The hole is slightly offset from the bolt. I had to use a 1/2" ratchet with a pipe on it as they were terribly lock-taught.
For the electronic parking brakes, I opted to remove the actuators from the rear calipers. 2 torx screws hold them on, but access to one is completely blocked by a metal brake line. You have to slightly tweak the metal line out of the way to get any type of torx tool on it. Once the motors are off, the E-brake threads in easily by hand with a torx bit and then you can push the hydraulic portion of the caliper piston in all the way with your fingers.
As is my custom, I went all out with a Detroit axle pad and rotor kit for the front and a Callahan kit for the rears. All in was around $190 off Amazon. This job will be easier for me on the next go around. Just thought I'd share as we have quite a few 2018-2023 Equinox owners here.
All 4 rotors still had the torx screws holding them on. They all backed out easy enough after some hammer whacks, but 3 of the 4 broke off. One required drilling. Lots of rust under the abutment clips on the caliper brackets, etc. Some of the caliper pins had rust starting to form where the boot seals at the head of the pin. I wire wheeled those.
What really fought me were the rear caliper bracket bolts. The lower bolts are deeply recessed into a pocket in the aluminum knuckles, then access is blocked by a suspension trailing arm. You can barely get a finger on this bolt. The trailing arm does have an access hole through it so you can poke an extension and 18mm socket through and get onto this bolt, but there's not enough room for a breaker bar or impact unless you get creative with a wobble, etc. The hole is slightly offset from the bolt. I had to use a 1/2" ratchet with a pipe on it as they were terribly lock-taught.
For the electronic parking brakes, I opted to remove the actuators from the rear calipers. 2 torx screws hold them on, but access to one is completely blocked by a metal brake line. You have to slightly tweak the metal line out of the way to get any type of torx tool on it. Once the motors are off, the E-brake threads in easily by hand with a torx bit and then you can push the hydraulic portion of the caliper piston in all the way with your fingers.
As is my custom, I went all out with a Detroit axle pad and rotor kit for the front and a Callahan kit for the rears. All in was around $190 off Amazon. This job will be easier for me on the next go around. Just thought I'd share as we have quite a few 2018-2023 Equinox owners here.
