Yes, I realize you weren't seeking my seal of approval. Please know that changing your mind wasn't my goal at all. Facts may sometimes interfere with baseless notions, causing opinionated, stubborn people to become offended. I'm not into the clique game, so I don't care what you "say around here" about me.

I was simply trying to provide accurate information to members who are looking for answers to chronic brake dragging issues. Rotors aren't the answer, plus they may not be interested in "seeking" $100+ cryo rotors based upon misleading, super rosy cost estimates and unsubstantiated claims. Bendix rotors costing about $20 offer VERY similar quality and durability.

 

I hope this is the right place for me to post this. I'm new to this forum so I'm not to familiar with its layout. So here it goes...
I own a 2011 Grand Caravan and since July of 2015 I have had to replace the front brakes 5 times and the rotors twice! I am at my wits end as to what the problem is. I have gone to 2 different shops since the brakes were under warranty. Does anyone know what can be causing the problem? I had the brakes done in or around January '13 and didn't have an issue with the brakes until I had them done last year.

 

Hello Betty, this is an easy one. From 2011 to 2015, your brakes wore normally because the sliding caliper pins that hold the calipers were clean, not yet rusted and some factory grease remained in the floating caliper pin assembly. Almost no mechanics are willing to spend the 15 minutes it takes to clean the floating pins and indexing holes, replace rubber bellows and re-grease ALL. The mechanics just throw new pads and rotors on and wait 6 months for you to return to the shop with premature wearout. They spend less time on each job and they basically get 5x more business. With leaky/cracked rubber bellow seals or rusted pins or rusted pin holes or lack of grease, your brakes will continuously drag, as if you are resting your foot on the brake pedal. The gas mileage will plummet and your brake jobs will fail often.


The solution to your recurring failures would be to ask your shop to replace the mounting hardware during every brake job and to grease these pin slider parts. See below, it will cost you an extra $20 for these parts. I just grease the floating caliper assembly every time and clean rust off with a wire wheel and reuse. Most shops won't clean, inspect and replace this stuff when rusted, unless they are super honest and don't care about making max profit. Good luck


Here's the $4 rubber seals that most mechanics are too ignorant or lazy to clean out and re-grease. these rubber seals can crack over time and let water in:
http://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/d...boot+kit,11515
Here's the $8 slider steel pins that tend to rust and stick, if the mechanic is too ignorant or lazy to grease them EVERY time:
http://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/d...uide+pin,10281


To prevent rusting and sticking, these parts need to be removed, cleaned and greased EVERY SINGLE BRAKE JOB. If a shop skips doing it once, you might get lucky. Skip it twice or more, and you will likely experience the symptoms you had.


P.S.: You need 4 rubber bellows, 4 pins and 4 bolts.