2001 Pontiac Grand Am GT from North America - Comments

I noticed a grinding noise in the front end at 27,000 miles.

To all the Grand Am owners out there that are having problems with a grinding noise cause by a tire problem and not a brake/rotor problem, try writing a letter to the BBB and send a copy to GM in Michigan and your local dealer. When I got tired of taking my car to the dealer, I wrote a letter and within a month I got a call from GM wanting to know what they could do to get my case settled. I didn't know that when you write a letter to the BBB, they contact the Attorney General and open a case and will help you resolve the problem. My local dealer only wanted to reimburse me for two tires, but with the help of the BBB, I am getting reimbursed for all four tires. (I went to an independent tire dealer and have had no noise since the new tires were put on my GT. Good luck to all who read this. Hope you have as much success as I did.

You are absolutely right. I experienced the same grinding noise coming from the front of my 02 GT1. Sounds like a brake/rotor problem, but it was the tires. Took it back to the dealer and they replaced all 4 tires for free as my car was still under warranty. Most people would ignore this problem, unfortunately if nobody complains about it, GM would be unaware of the problem. Point is, if you are in tune with your vehicle and you notice something isn't right, take it back to the dealer, no matter how small the problem.

I've also had this problem. But unfortunately mine happened after my warranty went up. So I had to dump 1200 dollars in getting my tires and other little problems the dealer found fixed. I also complained about my brakes making a creaking noise, the dealer told me the brakes are fine and the noise isn't there anymore, but low and behold the noise is still there and I had my brakes replaced over the summer spending about 300 dollars. The car was fine for about two weeks then I had a friend who was sitting in my back seat complain of the same noise coming from the rear tires now. I am fed up with this car, it performs well and looks great, but I've had other problems for the three years I've owned it. I've had water leak in about 5 times, on the sixth dealer visit it finally got fixed. Then my fog lights wouldn't turn off even when the car was off, something about the switch magically got turned to on. My windows get scratched up, the drivers side in particular, I've had them replaced and the problem fixed. But then again the window is messed up more than ever. After the visit I noticed dents along underneath the window that were not there before, the dealer must have done that while trying to fix the window, but that's just my opinion. My air conditioning is also whack, when its on off air still comes out, but when switched to 1 or 2 nothing comes out, but when on 3 it comes out full blast, its really annoying. I just might try this BBB thing and get this settled, I might even get a totally different car.

With response to the A/C fan blowing nothing on 1 and 2 settings, and crazy hard on setting 3, there is a poorly made circuit board that is behind the fan controls. Malibu's, Grand Am's, and Alero's have a high tendency for these boards to fail, and fan settings one and two no longer work because of this. I forget the price of the part, but I do recall it is very annoying to replace the things.

My wife and I had a 2000 Grand Am and the car made the same noise you are talking about. Took it to the dealer and they replaced all 4 tires for free. Great I said. 2 months late my wife got hit by a truck and totaled the car. So we bought a 2001 Grand Am. Car made the same noise. I went to the dealer not knowing that it was the tires. I went for a test drive with a mechanic and he tells me if your tires have small lines that are by the bead your tire are likely to make this noise. The reason I want everyone to find out before there FACTORY Warranty runs out. Your extended warranty won't cover it. Right now I am fighting with GM to get ours covered.

I am amazed at reading everyone's stories because I have had the same problems with my 2001 Grand Am GT. I have been hearing noises that I thought were my brakes for about a year now. I continuously have them checked and am told over and over that the brakes are in good shape. I had no idea what the problem might be until I read the other stories. I refuse to go the dealer where I purchased my car because they just want to charge me for things that I don't feel I need, but never want to fix the problem that I complained about to begin with. I also just had to have my A/C fixed because it did not work on settings 1 and 2. Unfortunately, this was after my warranty had expired and I was stuck for the expense. Thanks for the advice about the BBB, I think I'm going to give it a shot.