Well dang, that sucks. That's a tough decision as well, especially after all the work that just went into the Malibu.
Similar topic, when we got home, pulled the wheel off my son's Mustang, the reason that one wheel was entirely covered in dust.... literally nothing left on the pads. Went ahead and put new rotors and pads on both sides when we installed his coil-overs. He's grumbling now about brake dust on both wheels, I laughed, told him that'll happen with white wheels.