Hi all, I've lurked here for a bit but this is my first post. I bought my 2008 Grand Caravan SE used in early 2010. A couple of months later I was told I would need new front and rear brake pads. Knowing that brake pads weren't covered under the used car warranty I had bought, and not wanting to cough up the nearly $1000 they were quoting I taught myself to replace brake pads and did them myself. I replaced the front pads with Mopar semi-metallic pads and the rear pads with Duralast Gold organic pads from AutoZone. At the time I figured since they were rear pads I could get away with using the less expensive friction material on the rear (my local dealers were quoting me over $100 for Mopar pads when the Duralasts cost me about $50).

Two years and about 20,000 miles later, I inspected the front pads and found that they had at least 50%, maybe 60% of friction material left. I didn't check the rear pads, again because I figured they wouldn't wear as badly. But I took it in to a dealership yesterday to fix an unrelated key fob issue and was told that I would need new rear pads at a cost of $500. I asked the service writer why the rear pads would have worn before the front ones and she said her Durango does the same thing. I checked the pads myself without removing the wheels and found that at least the outboard pads were down to about 1mm.

I have yet to take everything apart to see if there are signs of a sticking caliper or parking brake drag, as I've heard are known issues with 5th gen Grand Caravans, but my question is, is there a possibility that my choice of installing two different friction materials on the front and back lead to the rear pads wearing down that much sooner than the front? I've also heard that the proportioning valve on 5th gens (or at least 2008s) proportions the hydraulic pressure 50/50 instead of some ratio favoring the front. Is this true, and if so could that have lead to this issue? Any help anyone could give would be appreciated.

 

Just make sure you clean the bracket real good, above and under the metal clips. Make sure your pad slides in and out freely, this will make it's life A LOT longer.
most of the problem with rear brake on these Minivan is the pad is sticking on the bracket due to corosion build up.

 

Did you reset the parking brake mechanism to accomodate the new rear pads? Take a look at this Thread: https://dodgeforum.com/forum/dodge-c...e-caravan.html

 

Just wanted to post an update on this topic: I ended up installing Raybestos ceramic pads and a new set of Raybestos rotors on the rear. A year later the rear pads still have quite a bit of pad left, and I'm still running the same OEM pads that I installed in 2010 on the front, also with quite a bit of pad left. I now blame the AutoZone pads for wearing out so soon. I'm pretty sure I didn't have any parking brake drag or sticking caliper since none of the other symptoms were there such as hot wheels or uneven pad wear.

Moral of the story: If you want pads that last, spend the little extra $ on semi-metallic or ceramic.

 

I'm amazed they still make organic pads. They ware twice as fast as semi's or ceramics. Autozone sells all three types.

 

Fixed for you.

 

HA! I've learned that lesson not just with these brake pads but also with an outer tie rod end on my Honda (though in that case the "limited lifetime warranty" came in handy). Boy am I glad I didn't learn that lesson with, say, an alternator.