I purchased a used 2000 Dodge Caravan and am concerned about the braking. When i brake the car does come to a stop but it feels like i have to apply a bit of force to really get the car to stop. I can hear metal grinding coming from the back tires.

Photos from the front and back:




The front brake pads are about 8mm thick and the rear shoes are about 5mm thick.

As you can there is lots of rust and the front rotor seems very scratched up. Can any of this be machined or should i purchase new front pads and rotor AND new rear shoes and drum?

The brake fluid is topped up.

Thanks.

 

my 02 jeep was doing acting similar, I went ahead and replaced front disk/pads, and brake hardware, improvement, but still lacked some braking,

I then replace the rear drums/shoes and all hardware,
I found that the one star wheel for adjusting my rear brakes was bad (was free spinning in either direction)

I wouldn't look at getting them turned, just replace, rotors are cheap enough

 

One thing I want to confirm is the front rotor. I have the caliper off and am staring at the rotor. The rotor refuses to slide off the knuckle bolts. Is it just rusted in place requiring a good hammer WACK or is there some latch holding the rotor in place?

You can see the rotor in Photo #1 - #4, just minus the caliper assembly.

Thanks

 

It probably is just rusted on, I don't see one of these in your pics

this is on my rear , but see the metal tab on the wheel stud, it has to be removed and then discarded

 

and here is where mine was rusted on (rear again), doesn't look as bad as yours, but it still took a few wacks to get it to break loose, mine was stuck on the center round part

 

Thank you. I will give it a good wack.

What lube do u use on your parts to keep the rust at bay? I am installing all new parts for the front rotor and pad and the entire drum assembly + shoes in the rear

 

I didn't use any, I try to wash my van after it snows, and my van is garage kept

of course spray everything down with some brake cleaner, and spray brake cleaner on on the new rotors

and grease the caliper slide pins

I would think you could put a small amount of anti-seize on the surface(not the rotor part that meets the brakes, and not gloobs of it)

 

Thanks for the info.

Lastly, what the heck is the purpose of the abutement clips? They came with the new front brake pads. You can see the old brake pads + the new abutment clips:



The old pads had nothing like this on them. Are they necessary to install? How are they installed correctly?

For the record, the new pads and old pads are identical in size.

 

I have not done my front brakes (I had the caliper off to do a wheel stud, but don't rember any shims on the pads) maybe they are still on the caliper?

my jeep used them on the front pads

have you inspected and tried compressing your calipers yet, making sure they slide in well,

sorry not much help on the front, as I haven't done them

 

Some new issues have creeped up. I'm now dealing with my rear brake drums - shoes. I've removed the entire brake assembly but an issue with the Wheel Cylinder and Leading Brake Shoe.

Leading Brake Shoe. I removed both brake shoes as instructed by the service manual but the final step it states:



The diagram shows a retaining clip is holding the actuator plate on the old leading brake shoe. Here is a photo of my old brake shoe:



I'm assuming the retaining clip is the semi-circle flatter clip. I have no clue on how to remove this retaining clip. Does it rotate around the center axis, yank off, or what? I tried sliding it and prying it but it is a rock refusing to budge. I accidentally chipped the center piece trying to pry the clip off.


Wheel Cylinder. I am also replacing the wheel cylinder. The manual stated i should disconnect the rear brake hydraulic tube from the wheel cylinder. I did this by unscrewing it. It eventually came off but i notice a piece of the tubing is still inside:



To me this seems like the existing hydraulic tubing wont be able to fit back into this screw. What do i do to resolve this?


Thanks for any extra help here.