I had read that the brakes have been completely redone for 2013. That they went to a larger rotor and double piston caliper. I wish that they would replace the brakes on our vans with this at no cost but I am sure we will have to pay big bucks.

 

I felt the same way all the time when a New iPhone release, lol
well, if you alrdy need brake pads and rotors, the upgrade cost shouldn't be too bad. Especially later on when Aftermarket co. comes up with Reman calipers.

 

I brought in my 2011 as there was a grinding/creaking sound from the rear brakes, and the dealer said the rear rotor/brakes need to be replaced. $570 CAD after taxes.
Is this normal wear/tear? The van's at 50800 KM and will be 2 years this May.
The front brakes/rotors were replaced after the first year, luckily this was covered by the extended warranty.

what a headache!

 

There have been a few people on this board (myself included) who have posted about rear brakes not lasting very long on 2008+ GCs. I'm not exactly sure why this is, and I've been told a couple of different reasons. I installed ceramic pads on the rear a year ago (I believe the OEM pads are organic) and they have so far held up pretty well.

 

2011 Caravan Brake issue. Taking mine back to the dealer tomorrow. Rear brakes intermittently drag causing wheel to get warm. I noticed my gas mileage had been dropping. I''l update the forum with dealer recommendations. The last time they looked at it they did not find a problem.

GG

 

You are getting 25K km on fronts and 50K km on rears?? Congratulations!!!! I've been changing front pads every 25K km on my caravans for the last decade. However you might want to check pad thickness once in a while instead of waiting for grinding noises to visit the dealer. Just look inside the wheel or feel with your finger, it takes 5 seconds to see if 1/8" or more pad is remaining. This will save you from destroying your rotors. They get scored in just a few km's when the pads wear worn down too far and make a grinding noise. This about triples the cost of a brake job. If you change pads before they wear out completely the rotors will last for about 3 to 5 sets.

Wear is a function of vehicle weight, brake system design, duty, pad compound and driving behavior. You really can't expect to get more than 30K km out of a set of brakes and fronts generally wear quicker. You might get more if you do a lot of highway driving, but don't count on it. When I take my car to the track for a weekend, I get about 400 km out of a full set of premium high performance semi-metallic street pads. I put 22 sets of brakes on my Corvette in 2 years, and believe me, the design or car is not defective. My BMW eats up brakes at a similar rate. The BMW and Corvette both have massive brake packages, but htey can be overtaxed. Folks putting ceramics and other low dust pads on the front of a Caravan should expect to see accelerated rear rates. They are not for severe duty use on vans, sports cars or trucks. The stock front pads are severe duty semi-metallics so they do produce dark dust. The rears see less heat so they are organic, not semi-metallic.

 

Ceramics may hold up on the rear, but not on the front. The fronts must be semi-metallic like OEM or the wear rate and braking performance will be inferior to stock. The factory rear pads are indeed organic.

Despite what you may have heard, ceramics are not for severe duty use. Pads for track pads, sports cars and trucks are NEVER ceramic. All super duty pads have high metallic content. The sole purpose of ceramics are to reduce dark dust on wheels for people who worry about that sort of thing.

 

Time out. The upgraded 2013 brake system you read about is optional and requires 17" wheels. I am guessing you don't have the 17" wheel option. The standard 2013 brake system is same size as yours. The optional monster brakes for 2013 will not fit inside 16" wheels. Every marque has been increasing brake system size and capacity on a regular basis. This goes for everything from Toyota to Subaru to Mercedes to Honda. My 1979 Mustang has 9" front rotor and 9" drums. My 1983 Corvette has 10.5" brakes. I can't get 2 hours of track time out of a set of full pads on either car and they don't last very long on the street. My 2008 Dodge GC has much larger brakes than my 2001 Dodge GC. The 2008 Grand Caravan brakes are considerably larger than those found on my older Corvette and Mustang Cobra.

I wish Ford, GM, BMW and Dodge would install the latest double piston brakes on all older cars for free, but I'm not holding my breath.

 

I have a 2013 GC - SE model with 17 in wheels. Do you get the bigger brakes automatically when you get the big wheels or do you have to have the 17's to order the brakes?

 

Just got back from dealer. Need new pads and rotors. They said there is an update to the clips that keep the pads in place. They are checking to see if it will be covered under any warranty's

Gg