Rear brake job for 11' caravan

[alzhao123]

Hey guys, got a 11' dodge grand caravan with about 30k and rear driver side brake is worn. Mechanic showed me the pads and rotors and the wear was very uneven on the affected wheel- (the inner pad was much more worn). Independent garage and dealer both recommended new pads and rotors (at 30k- it's ridiculous) but no one has offered to diagnose and fix the initial problem that caused the premature wear. Brakes are not under warranty ( except calipers- another year or so) and quotes for new pads/rotor run around 500.

What bugs me is that no mechanic has explained the root cause of uneven pad wear on a SINGLE wheel. My friends opinion is that it's a caliper seizing and a brake service should solve it. But moving forward, i'll eventually get new pads/rotors but does anyone find it odd that no one commented on the root cause? Should I just do brake service and hope the squealing goes away or bite the bullet for a $500+ repair and hopefully a guarantee that everything's fixed??

Any advice appreciated!!
And any recommended Chrysler dealers around Eglinton? Had a bad experience with Willison today- gunna try Downsview or if anyone can suggest a garage- thx in advance!!

[Maymybonneliveforever]

By the way, welcome to the forum:

Reading over your thread it appears you have two problems, uneven brake pad wear and squeeling.


Since we don't have have the car and used parts in hand we can only assume the possible problem. As brakes pads wear the caliper normally adjust on sliders through guide pins and bushings. There could be several causes of your problem........ to mention a few being sticking or seizing caliper piston/s, sticking or seizing guide pin/s, emergency brake cable hanging, defective pads etc. If it were me I would want to know the route cause as you say, since you should not need replacement with low klms and you don't want the problem to reoccur.

The sqeeling is another issue and fairly simple to repair but we don't need to go into that since your brakes will be replaced anyway and we can only assume this problem will be corrected at that time.


In conlcusion I would get another estimate so that you can find the cause of the problem, if in fact it is the caliper, then as you say it's covered under warranty.

Good luck.

[skwigglyline]

not sure about the issue you're having but a rear brake job should cost you around 200 not 500!

[Maymybonneliveforever]

not sure about the issue you're having but a rear brake job should cost you around 200 not 500!

OP has OEM parts and if they're replacing the rear brakes with oem parts then parts alone would cost around $200.00 for a set of pads, two rear rotors etc. Normally on brake parts there are the so called good, better best aftermarket pricing,... for $200.00 and non oem parts you won't get best replacemnt parts including labour for $200.00 on rear brakes for the Caravan.

[BDSL]

Hey guys, got a 11' dodge grand caravan with about 30k and rear driver side brake is worn. Mechanic showed me the pads and rotors and the wear was very uneven on the affected wheel- (the inner pad was much more worn). Independent garage and dealer both recommended new pads and rotors (at 30k- it's ridiculous) but no one has offered to diagnose and fix the initial problem that caused the premature wear. Brakes are not under warranty ( except calipers- another year or so) and quotes for new pads/rotor run around 500.

What bugs me is that no mechanic has explained the root cause of uneven pad wear on a SINGLE wheel. My friends opinion is that it's a caliper seizing and a brake service should solve it. But moving forward, i'll eventually get new pads/rotors but does anyone find it odd that no one commented on the root cause? Should I just do brake service and hope the squealing goes away or bite the bullet for a $500+ repair and hopefully a guarantee that everything's fixed??

Any advice appreciated!!
And any recommended Chrysler dealers around Eglinton? Had a bad experience with Willison today- gunna try Downsview or if anyone can suggest a garage- thx in advance!!

There are serveral locations where the caliper can seize causing uneven wear...the sliding pins and/or the piston.
From a few vehicles that I have worked on, I have seen worn brake pads at 24,000km...it was a Honda Odsessy.
It really depends on the driver, driving style, city/highway driving, etc.
It can even be a faulty / bad brake design.
The squealing noise can be caused by seized sliding pins, brake pad material, etc....

[macnut]

Driver's side disc brake at rear may get more road crud thrown at it than any of the others. Open disc brake lives in a harsh environment.

Most likely caliper slider pins or the emergency brake (don't know what design the Caravan uses though).

Should be addressed during a routine brake pad replacement (unless it's one of those $150 cash only pad slaps sought out by some RFD'ers).

Frustrating to need replacement of both rear brakes at low kms. even though other side is still good, but you don't have much alternative.

Will likely occur again - one preventive measure might be to have a small mud flap installed on the leading edge of the wheel arch (like Saab, Volvo, and some others).

Alternatively, plan to have a simple brake service (check, clean and lube) done every year or so.

Blame it on all the salt and grit used in winter.

[alzhao123]

thanks so much for the advice everyone! i've been long-time lurking around the forums and everyone's been super helpful so far!! i've also read up on brake issues with caravans on other sites and unfortunately- it's an all-too-common occurrence :S

will see what they can do for me today and hope this thread can help others in future!

[raptors88]

yeah make sure that the e-brake isn't down at all but if that's not the case - probably caliper issue

Driver's side disc brake at rear may get more road crud thrown at it than any of the others. Open disc brake lives in a harsh environment.

Most likely caliper slider pins or the emergency brake (don't know what design the Caravan uses though).

Should be addressed during a routine brake pad replacement (unless it's one of those $150 cash only pad slaps sought out by some RFD'ers).

Frustrating to need replacement of both rear brakes at low kms. even though other side is still good, but you don't have much alternative.

Will likely occur again - one preventive measure might be to have a small mud flap installed on the leading edge of the wheel arch (like Saab, Volvo, and some others).

Alternatively, plan to have a simple brake service (check, clean and lube) done every year or so.

Blame it on all the salt and grit used in winter.

[DavidY]

See if there are aftermarket brake parts that exceed OEM...OEM doesn't seem to cut it. May have to hunt around some Caravan forums.

Dave

[iHop]

Had the same problem on my 2010, get it warrantied because Chrysler increased the brake warranty to 40k for the Caravans from a letter I got, at least for the 2010s.

[kellya]

I had a similar problem with my '10 GC although in my case only the fronts were covered under the extended warranty. We had to pay for the back brakes. This was when our vehicle was 18 months old. Apparently the brakes are a common issue with these vans. My husband doesn't think these "improved" brakes are going to last much longer than the originals at which time he is going to replace them with better aftermarket brakes himself. It is one of the things that I dislike about this van

Kelly

[tkyoshi]

Had the same problem on my 2010, get it warrantied because Chrysler increased the brake warranty to 40k for the Caravans from a letter I got, at least for the 2010s.

A portion of early production 2011's were involved as well in the extended warranty.

I had a similar problem with my '10 GC although in my case only the fronts were covered under the extended warranty. We had to pay for the back brakes. This was when our vehicle was 18 months old. Apparently the brakes are a common issue with these vans. My husband doesn't think these "improved" brakes are going to last much longer than the originals at which time he is going to replace them with better aftermarket brakes himself. It is one of the things that I dislike about this van

Kelly

When did you get the brakes done, Chrysler has released updated parts which have gone onto the later 2011 and 2012 models. The problem appears to be corrected on the newer parts, not sure if yours is using the newer revised parts.

[eng911]

Call Chrysler customer service and complain. Tell them you think it's a ripoff you have to replace brakes with so few km's and mention you are aware of the ongoing brake issues related to the GC and the Journey and the class action lawsuit in the states.

They will most likely approve a warranty replacement. I got my back brakes done for free on my journey out of warranty.

They're having ongoing brake issues.

[kellya]

A portion of early production 2011's were involved as well in the extended warranty.



When did you get the brakes done, Chrysler has released updated parts which have gone onto the later 2011 and 2012 models. The problem appears to be corrected on the newer parts, not sure if yours is using the newer revised parts.

We did get the new brake parts according to the dealer. They were done in January of this year. I will be very happy if it corrected the problem.

Kelly

[tkyoshi]

Call Chrysler customer service and complain. Tell them you think it's a ripoff you have to replace brakes with so few km's and mention you are aware of the ongoing brake issues related to the GC and the Journey and the class action lawsuit in the states.

They will most likely approve a warranty replacement. I got my back brakes done for free on my journey out of warranty.

They're having ongoing brake issues.

It was basically a vendor quality issue, it's been corrected but it really shouldn't have taken so long to get the issue rectified

We did get the new brake parts according to the dealer. They were done in January of this year. I will be very happy if it corrected the problem.

Kelly

Sounds like it if, it was done this year, fingers crossed