Hello folks,

I own a 2006 Caravan with 10,000 miles with no ABS. In the last few weeks I have noticed that when I press the brake pedal at higher speeds around 60 - 70 miles, my foot feels a pulsating feedback from the brake and disappears after a second or so. At the same time when at lower speeds when I am pressing the brake pedal I feel that the vehicle does not come to a smooth stop. Not sure how to explain this but what I feel is that the vehicle gets some pulsation at the final moments before coming to a stop speed around 5 mph. I checked and it is not the jerks from the tranny down shifting. Do you think it is pre-mature brake padwear as with all caravans? Mind you, I am not an aggresive driver. I am going to check the brake pads this eveing after I reach home. If it is just a pad replacement, I can do it myself.

Suggestions?
Thanks.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought ABS was standard equipment on all models; especially on an '06 GC.

 

It is just a Caravan not a GC.

 

This pulsation is almost always from the front rotors. To be sure, you can apply the parking brake at lets say 45 or 5omph and see if it pulses with the rears only--if not it is the front. Two things can be going on. The rotors can be warped due to heat--not unusual on these cars but not at that mileage. Many times, some of the resins from the brake pads will build up on the rotors and cause this pulsation--this is common for cars that get very light brake usage. One thing to try is to get it up to about 70 in an area where you can get on the brakes relatively hard but not hard enough to lock them up--do this about 3 or 4 times to get them nice and hot and see if the problem goes away once they cool. This will help remove the buildup from the rotors.