1998 Pontiac Grand Am SE review from North America

I just bought this high-mileage V6 car for a deal knowing it needed shocks, rotors, pads, CV joints, and a serpentine belt. But despite the problems I am extremely impressed with the looks, seat comfort, power, and handling in every category, even with very bad shocks. It is a great highway cruiser, with excellent tracking, stability, and passing power. I am an experienced race car driver and suspension engineer (not affiliated with any car company,) so I speak from knowledge of such things.

The car was totally rust free in Ohio where lots of salt is used on the roads. The high mileage engine idles perfectly and runs very strong.

The interior looks good and didn't seem unusually worn for a car of this mileage.

I noted many readers expressed dissatisfaction with brakes, saying the car was "junk." Yet experiences varied widely. When selecting after market pads, I noted that the stock replacement pad was a "metallic" brake pad, meaning along with the other materials in the pads there are fibers of metal. This type of pad is well known for causing brake dust that rusts on your rims, and the metal component causes rapid rotor wear. So it is very likely that only the stock pads are the culprit here and by merely specifying ceramic replacement pads (only about $26 a set for fronts at Advance) the wear problems will likely go away.

While GM may be faulted here, and the average consumer unwittingly cycled back into the problem if servicing the car at a dealer, the reflection on the general quality of the car due to brake problems is probably overstated. Those who merely go to a non-dealer affiliated repair shop and specify ceramic pads ($26 a set) and Bendix rotors (about $46 each at Advance--other after market retailers will have similar deals) will probably pay considerably less and have a good experience.

Brake and rotor replacements on modern cars are a snap and shouldn't take an experienced mechanic more than an hour to perform, and probably more like a half hour. Even at one hour and $80 a shop hour (and surely you can find someone willing to make the repair for far less) the total cost for pads and rotors is only $225. So brakes need not be a costly or frequent repair.

So does a bad stock pad this make the whole car a “lemon?” I would say not. Should you be upset with GM for the pad selection? Probably.

But for me this car is a keeper.