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2008 Chrysler T&C & Dodge Caravan brake life expectancy!

86 messages,  Last post on Dec 06, 2009 at 3:51 AM

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What is this discussion about? Chrysler Town and Country, Brakes, Van

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#70 of 86 Re: BRAKES [kipndebkzoo] by bennett4 Nov 02, 2009 (8:26 am)
Replying to: kipndebkzoo (Nov 02, 2009 8:10 am) Funny thing is after the brakes were completedly replaced front/rear (at 3800 miles), their is a lot more brake dust on the rears than the fronts so I bring it to the dealer as I think the rear pads are "dragging". They check it out and said all is well. My local mechanic feels strongly that they are in fact dragging. Chrysler doesn't care. I too find a drastic difference between "around town" gas mileage and highway mileage and think the dragging pads are one of the causes. I think the other is the gearing of the 6 speed transmission (engine revs too high before shifts).
#71 of 86 08 brake pads by ferd57 Nov 06, 2009 (11:51 am)
My wifes DGC has 19k and brakes are going bad. Just went to the parts place and got rotors and pads for the front. They only have semi metallic pads listed for this van. After reading all the post about ceramic pads Im confused. Will it hout to put semi metallic pads on with new rotors? Replies to this message: abutcher (Nov 06, 2009 9:04 pm)
#72 of 86 Starting the lemon law/arbitration process by yahooligan Nov 06, 2009 (3:32 pm)
Well, today was the last straw. The dealer says the rotors need to be replaced/machined again and we have to pay $400+ for it to be done, they won't cover it under warranty anymore and Chrysler corporate admitted over the phone that there is a known problem but they have no fix and will not continue to cover the rotors under warranty.   Pushing 28,000 miles on this '08 and this is at least the 4th time the rotors have needed to be replaced or resurfaced. The last repair they did were with "updated" rotors and pads that "should solve the problem." Well, this time the pads are actually OK but the rotors are shot.   I've contacted an attorney and will be starting the process to try and get this van bought back. It's quite unfortunate, my wife LOVES her van and would like to keep it forever, but not if we have to have the brakes done 1-2 times a year.   For those of you NOT wanting to try going this route, there is a company called Frozen Rotors that makes a great product and they do have rotors for the 08 Caravan. The reason I'm not going to try that is because I'm not 100% sure it will cure the problem and by doing so I likely lose my chance to file a lemon law suit since the parts on the van would then be aftermarket.
#73 of 86 Re: 08 brake pads [ferd57] by abutcher Nov 06, 2009 (9:04 pm)
Replying to: ferd57 (Nov 06, 2009 11:51 am) No, it will not hurt to put semi metallics on, in fact, they should last longer than the OEM pads, but they could wear the rotors sooner. Here are some characteristics between ceramic and metallic:   http://www.ehow.com/about_5463667_metallic-vs-ceramic-brake-pads.html   I would check with some other stores to get ceramics.
#74 of 86 Add me to the list by ragtop262 Nov 09, 2009 (9:26 am)
Add me to the list of people with premature brake wear on our '08 T&C. We have 30,000 mostly highway miles and the front pads and rotors are shot (our previous T&C got 65,000 mi under the same conditions before brakes wore out). So far the rears look OK - (about half gone).   I'll be doing the replacement myself, with top of the line parts from NAPA costing a little over $200.   The thing I found strange is how deep the pads had worn into the rotors (even though there's no metal to metal contact yet). Way beyond the ability to resurface them. In the past, you could usually get the rotors resurfaced, allowing them to be used with a second set of pads.   One thing the parts guy told me was that the manufacturers used to source brake rotors from US based foundries, but have now switched mostly to Chinese foundries. Unfortunately all the aftermarket rotors they had available come from China as well. Not sure if that's really true or not - but these rotors surely look like a much softer material than in the past. (And if you use a softer rotor, you're forced to use a softer pad to prevent eating them up too fast. And soft rotors + soft pads = frequent brake jobs.)
#75 of 86 Re: Another Update To Our Situation [pschultheis] by pschultheis Nov 09, 2009 (11:23 am)
Replying to: pschultheis (Oct 12, 2009 11:40 am) We received a phone call from the Chrysler Customer Assistance Center in response to the letter we sent asking for reimbursement. They are sending a check for $236.62 to us - we should have it in a couple of weeks. When I asked what the amount represented, the customer service rep mentioned it was for our sliding side door. I don't think he had accurate information though since we have never paid anything to have our sliding side doors fixed (yes, they have been an issue, but so far the service to fix them has been covered by the warranty). I asked if they'd be sending a letter explaining what the $ represent and the CSR said they would be. I am guessing the amount represents the portion we paid to the dealer for the brakes since that is the amount we paid them. The other amounts we paid were to our personal mechanic and I am guessing they won't cover this since we didn't go to the dealer. We will wait and see what the letter/check states when we receive it. I did also file a complaint with the NHTSA, Office of Defects Investigation - it is complaint #10291500 - I hope this helps anyone else who might need it.
#76 of 86 Re: Chrysler Brake Pad/Rotor Issues [janetmfx] by pschultheis Nov 09, 2009 (11:27 am)
Replying to: janetmfx (Oct 02, 2009 8:24 am) Hi there - see my post #75 for an update to our situation . . .   Have a good day and good luck to you.
#77 of 86 Re: Chrysler Brake Pad/Rotor Issues [gunksny] by pschultheis Nov 09, 2009 (11:28 am)
Replying to: gunksny (Oct 05, 2009 5:14 am) Hi there - please see my post #75 for an update to our situation.   Have a good day and good luck to you . . . Replies to this message: gunksny (Nov 14, 2009 12:40 pm) pschultheis (Nov 15, 2009 8:57 am) poorvan (Nov 15, 2009 6:47 pm)
#78 of 86 Re: Chrysler Brake Pad/Rotor Issues [poorvan] by pschultheis Nov 09, 2009 (11:29 am)
Replying to: poorvan (Oct 12, 2009 4:41 am) Hi there,   Please see my post #75 with an update to our situation.   Have a good day and best of luck to you.
#79 of 86 Motor Trend Too by ragtop262 Nov 09, 2009 (8:58 pm)
I just finished reading my November 2009 MT magazine, and came across their long term test wrap up for their '08 T&C. They complained (but not too loudly) about being charged $615 to replace the front brakes with only 19,000 mi on the clock. That included flushing the brake fluid (not sure why you'd need to flush brake fluid on a vehicle that's less than a year old......).

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