I see there are $28 rear caliper brackets on Rockauto. (A-1 CARDONE Part # 141257). Are these sure to be better than the original Chrysler brackets? Our van had worn out rears at 30K, and a near $750 5 Star dealer trip later, all was well. Until the van hit 60K miles, and the rears are shot again. Needless to say, that dealer won't be seeing me any time soon. I will do the job myself this time and just want to be sure that if there has been a part redesign or tolerance improvement, I get the good parts.

 

Off course they are more substantial. Like I said, your old 12" brakes were more substantial in size than an 80's dualie dump truck used commercially to haul mountains of dirt...and they were bigger than those found on a 5.7 liter Camaro with the optional 1LE track package. They were further upsized beginning in '12 because the larger system costs them less than $28 extra to manufacture and new Toyota's were a bit bigger lol. The car mags invariably rag on the guys offering smaller brakes. I agree that band-aid fixes will not correct anything. People who throw rotors and pads on again and again are wasting their time. In fact, the problem will only get worse. Mounting parts with poor tolerances and rust from lack of lubrication are the root causes of the problem. Your van had larger brakes than my 2001 and both weigh nearly the same. I have no brake issues and I'm a performance track instructor, not a slowpoke lol.

Brakes are redesigned all the time. Ford redesigned Mustang Fox brakes approximately 10 times from 1979 thru 1993. Dodge used multiple brake systems on EVERY prior generation grand caravan including 2001 thru 2007. Brakes have been progressively upsized since the 1970's as wheel diameters increase. They upsized the brakes once again for the 17's...it's routine. Your brakes are larger in diameter than NASCAR brakes.

EVERY prior generation of caravan had more brake design changes than the current series which began in 2008. The defects plaguing the smaller 12" brake setup involve rusting sliding caliper pins and rear brackets with insufficient pad backing plate clearances. Dodge avoids issuing TSB's for brake part like that because safety will be called into question and they will be forced into a costly recall. The problem just eats pads. These defects do not plague all vehicles because the bracket tolerance issue mostly affected later years when the brake supplier got sloppy. This is why the brakes wear out prematurely and why folks find smoke bellowing out of their rear wheel wells when traveling on level highways. The pictures are found in other threads on the subject. These are the root cause for failure. The vans just need the root cause defects corrected which costs under $100, not $1600. Please don't dismiss the pictures which were posted by folks who experienced repeated failures like yours. The brakes are dragging, not undersized. Larger brakes are always preferred, but they only offer significant gains for extreme loads. Again, your stock brakes were LARGER than those found on '80's 1 ton 4WD work trucks and Corvettes with 455 cu and 425HP, capable of track duty and 150+ MPH.

Here's a fellow cruising down the highway, pulls into his driveway with smoldering brakes and smoke bellowing out:

https://dodgeforum.com/forum/3043690-post129.html

Here's a guy with same trouble on a 2010:

https://dodgeforum.com/forum/3043735-post130.html

Here's another guy with updated part#'s for brackets with additional clearance that prevent binding, stuck brakes:
https://dodgeforum.com/forum/3039908-post119.html

These guys had brake defect issues that have nothing to do with rotor diameter or piston count. Their brakes were on 24/7 while the car was moving.

 

you can buy cardone remanufactured or wagner locally for $35 (O'Reilly's, Auto Zone, Pep Boys, Advance Auto etc). The Cardone is likely milled to proper size & they require a core return. Just stay away from the old dodge dealer part. I'd fix them in 10 minutes with a file, but I can't recommend that for other folks who don't clearly understand the issue or know how to precisely file a flat surface.

If your rear brakes are lasting 30K mi, that would generally be considered NORMAL lifecycle for organic pads on unvented solid rotors..just sayin'..

Guys with legitimate gripes are seeing wearout under 20K mi, some under 10K mi and 6 mo. You might consider simply buying $20x2 for rear rotors and a $40 set of lifetime pads for both sides, doing the work yourself. However I'd also replace the rubber and metal sliding parts for the extra $10 or so. Rockauto's price is lower than that and Autozone pads are about that price and guaranteed for life against wearout. They will replace them FREE an unlimited number of times without protest. Sounds like you paid over 10x more than that. Not sure if the stars would help we feel better.