2008 Chrysler Town and Country Eating Brakes. | Joined: Jul 2020 Posts: 10 stranger | OP stranger Joined: Jul 2020 Posts: 10 | My van has an appetite for front brakes. I have read that Chrysler minivans go through front rotors with them warping. I am wondering if it would help to use heavy duty drilled and slotted rotors with ceramic pads in front. The pads move freely and the hardware moves freely, nothing is getting stuck. the caliper pistons also move freely, it has new fluid too. I do live where there are a lot of hills. all 4 wheels have ceramic Centric pads and Centric rotors. | | | Re: 2008 Chrysler Town and Country Eating Brakes. | Joined: Aug 2005 Posts: 21,211 Likes: 25 Supreme Master | Supreme Master Joined: Aug 2005 Posts: 21,211 Likes: 25 | I had a 2008 Dodge Grand Caravan and I guess I was one of the lucky ones as I never had an issue with my brakes. I have also read where these like to eat up rotors and pads and was an issue on 08-10. (I think the brakes increased in size beginning in '11).
There is a video on YouTube from 1A Auto where they talk about this and mention adding cross-drilled/slotted rotors. Rockauto even has a kit to cover both front and rear.
Nate Breece | | | Re: 2008 Chrysler Town and Country Eating Brakes. | Joined: Jul 2020 Posts: 10 stranger | OP stranger Joined: Jul 2020 Posts: 10 | I had a 2008 Dodge Grand Caravan and I guess I was one of the lucky ones as I never had an issue with my brakes. I have also read where these like to eat up rotors and pads and was an issue on 08-10. (I think the brakes increased in size beginning in '11).
There is a video on YouTube from 1A Auto where they talk about this and mention adding cross-drilled/slotted rotors. Rockauto even has a kit to cover both front and rear. The 2011 - 2016 still used the same brakes, they went bigger in 2017. 1A auto has really good prices on parts and good install videos. | | | Re: 2008 Chrysler Town and Country Eating Brakes. | Joined: Jan 2001 Posts: 2,969 Likes: 64 veteran | veteran Joined: Jan 2001 Posts: 2,969 Likes: 64 | I have heard of various vehicles that eat brakes and rotors. One of the problems is a lot of the rotors are manufactured in China and are basically junk out of the box. My local repair shop has had to true new rotors before installation. I had a 2004 Tahoe, it would need new pads and rotors every 15,000 to 20,000 miles. There was several years of the Tahoe well known for this. Go back a few years and I had a 1979 K5 Blazer and a 1989 K1500 Blazer, each with over 200,000 miles and still running the factory rotors. The good old days of quality craftsmanship. Anytime I do brake work, I try to use Bendix or Raybestos, been several years, so I am not sure how even their quality is nowadays. | | | Re: 2008 Chrysler Town and Country Eating Brakes. | Joined: Mar 2007 Posts: 4,463 Likes: 12 pooh-bah | pooh-bah Joined: Mar 2007 Posts: 4,463 Likes: 12 | Are you lubricating the upper and lower ways (or pins) with high-temperature brake grease, and possibly lubricating the anti-rattle springs as well? If it's eating brake pads, something is catching, dragging, or not releasing.
I've seen a lot of rebuilt brake calipers with badly damaged ways, right out of the box. Several were critically unsafe. The ways should be finely machined, quite straight & flat surfaces. I've also seen the ways almost universally be painted on rebuilds, which is probably not a good idea... Bare greased metal won't gum up like paint at high temperatures, then act like glue once cooled.
If the calipers are in good order and have been lubricated properly, there's a possibility that the rubber flex brake lines may have broken down internally. A situation can arise where they look fine on their outside, but the inside collapses, acting as a one-way check valve, preventing the brake fluid from flowing back to the reservoir in a timely manner once you release the brakes. That keeps the pads engaged for far too long, which burns them up quickly. Typically this doesn't affect both sides simultaneously though.
Once in a while a proportioning valve may malfunction too, though they're generally extremely reliable.
There are different formulations of pads. Not all are compatible with each other. Best policy would be to sand the rotor surfaces to remove deposits from the previous pads, then follow the pad manufacturers recommended break in procedure, which usually consists of a series of near stops at low speeds, followed by a series of near stops at moderate speeds. That heats up the new pads and mates them properly to the rotors.
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