# Brake replacement - long term owner's feedback



## paf (Dec 6, 2010)

For those who have set themselves free of the OEM curse of rear brake pads - what did you choose and how many miles so far? Did it work for you?

I see that major contenders for the replacement kits are EBC and Brakeperformance.com. What other ones have shown success? It's time to do do my brakes as I can't take the vibrations any more and the car is out of warranty (no more whining to the dealer).

So what do I put on the rear axle and live happily ever after? (I'd like to bring the scattered threads into one here for successful brake replacement options).


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## Zambee500 (Jun 23, 2011)

If you've got a lot of vibrations, might be your fronts. Main problem with these minivans is with front rotors warping.

I replaced rears with Raybestos Advanced Technology rotors and pads. 21 months ago and close to 20k miles. 15-20% wear so far, and all seems fine. Good prices on them at Rock Auto (and you can google for a 5% discount code). I could not find these same brakes available for the fronts though. 

For fronts, I most recently went with the BrakePerformance dimpled & slotted with their premium semi-metallic pads. So far so good, but it's only been 3 mos and 3k miles, so way too soon to tell. They are somewhat loud though, as far as brakes go.

The Napa "ultimate" line is no better than OEM on the fronts. Only good for ~10k miles both times I tried them (free warranty on second set is only reason I tried them twice).

If I have to do fronts again I'm going to look into the upgrade to the late 2012 model year brakes with the larger rotors and dual-piston calipers. You can search here for a thread w/ part numbers. You may try the Chrysler minivan boards or Dodge forums to see if anyone there has done it and what the result has been. That seems likely to be the best solution to the front brake problems though. The original design is just too small for such a heavy vehicle.


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## 58kafer (Jun 27, 2007)

I had the brakperformance.com dimple and slotted with their free pads all the way around and the rotors were vibrating at highway speed braking coming off an exit with less than 100 miles on them. They warrantied them for me without any issues, but the noise, UGH I couldn't get past that. I actually slowed my driving do to just about sub-speed limit so I could almost coast to a stop-- I HATED THE NOISE. So on my warranty exchange I asked for cross drilled rotors all the way around and gave up some warranty to get them, oh well, but they are soooooo much quieter. Also not to forget that in like 4500 miles the front "free" pads were almost gone, yes GONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So I put AKebono ceramics all the way around and we probably have like 5K to 6K miles on them and they are so nice and the pads are still like new. Personally I would not go for the dimpled and slotted, I could hear the "card in the spokes" driving down our rural back roads echoing of the gutters. I will say that the customer service I got from Brakeperformance was awesome.


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## cscsc (Jun 14, 2009)

My Brake Chronology is as follows: Bought the Routan new in July of '09. Front Rotors were replaced due to warping by the dealer at about 8000 miles. 

They were replaced again under warranty at about 30,000 miles. 

The rear brakes never gave me any problem, but the pads were worn out at 54,000 miles, so I replaced them with Raybestos pads & Rotors - so far, so good.

Just beyond 60,000 miles, I felt the vibrations from the front brakes returning. I put up with it for a while and researched which product to try. I finally chose Bosch Rotors and Pads, changed them at 65,000 miles. Shame about the OEM Pads as they were only about 1/4 worn in 35,000 miles. 

We just came back from a 3000 mile trip and the brakes were wonderfully quiet and smooth, so much so that you don't feel like you're stopping, but you are!!! They had lots of use on our return trip, as we were stopped in traffic due to accidents and rubbernecking no less than four times in one long day! 

The Rotors are coated in a silver color which Bosch claims will remain so. After almost 3500 miles, the non-friction areas still look like new. Wish I had known about these when I did the rears. We'll see what effect the Maine winter has on them.


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## Steveaut (Sep 16, 2010)

Pads: EBC Green Stuff
Rotors: EBC Utlimax USR (Black Rotors that are Slotted)
Miles: about 10k

I had two sets of replacement rotors and pads to about 55K miles; original set plus two additional. So at 55K I decided to research and go with something that I would hope could address my following concerns, in order:

1. Improved braking performance, safety;
2. Prevent Rotor Warp on front;
3. Improve rear rotor life; and
4. Improve rear pad life.

What I discovered is two problems with the Routan's brakes. First, the front rotors warp very easy, however, the pad life was just fine. The pads had plenty of life left every time the front rotors warped. Second, the rear pads wore out very fast and the rotors were out of spec. The rear rotors were eaten up to the point that they could not be turned. Visibly worn. 

My first priority was improve performance, even if it meant the same interval of replacements. If I could improve the safety of the vehicle, then that was job one. In terms of performance, hands down a night and day difference with the EBC Green Stuff Pads and EBC Slotted Rotors. Amazing difference over stock. It was worth the expense to add significant stopping power. Accomplished first goal.

Second was to prevent front rotor warp. No sign of any warping on the rotors. Stops the same; consistently great performance thus far. Accomplished second goal.

Third was to improve rear rotor life. After all, it's easier to replace just a pad than a rotor. With my OEM rotors, at this point you could see and feel the wear on the rear rotors I am at 10k miles and the rotors look and perform like new. My EBC Slotted/USR rotors have no signs whatsoever of any wear. Very impressed with those rotors. Third goal accomplished.

Now for what appears to be the tradeoff. My fourth goal is to improve rear pad life. I just walked outside to see, and they are probably half. Will that rate of wear slow? Probably not. So the pads will require at least the same replacement interval as before. It maybe possible to go a ceramic pad or harder pad that would improve pad life, but that may degrade performance.

As it stands, I expect to replace pads on all four wheels every 20k or so. Am I satisfied with the choice? Yes, absolutely. I would do I again and in fact I will buy green stuff pads again and accept that they have to be replaced. But to have rotors that perform and don't warp or wear fast, is worth the trade off. Pads are a lot cheaper than rotors and easier to change. 

One last thought, I remember someone saying that slotted and drilled rotors aren't better for vehicles and that's why no companies put them on. Not true. In addition to motorcycles and four wheelers, I was at a Mercedes dealer the other day and noticed they had brand new vehicles with drilled rotors. It was an upgrade option. Thought I would share that.


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## Steveaut (Sep 16, 2010)

Advice for front brake pads for Slotted EBC Rotors? I have eaten up the Greenstuff pads too quickly; less than a year. I need something that will hold up longer, but still provide improved braking performance over stock pads. Recommendations? Good news is that the rotors are not warped.


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## Volvos Rock (Oct 13, 2011)

Brakeperformance.com slotted and dimpled paired w/Akebono ceramics here on all 4 corners. Huge performance improvement and no warp after a year and approximately 10 k miles. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Ondaora20 (Apr 19, 2010)

*Brake Replacement: Long-Term Owner's Feedbac*

I just went through the unpleasant process of upgrading my entire 2011's brakes to the larger 2012/13 brakes. I say unpleasant because there were a fair number of listed part numbers that were wrong; both fronts and rears. The rear emergency brake cables were also different for 2012/13 and required being replaced. All in all getting the correct parts was a huge PITA!!!! And the installation was a challenge with the rear emergency brake cables, because they no longer go through a bracket at the rear as the previous year's did. I ended up pulling the rear wheels off of a 2013 Caravan to see how the emergency brake cable was installed.

But I felt this was the best route for me to go, as I tow a trailer frequently. And I also didn't want to mix the two different brake systems (i.e., go with the newer front brakes while leaving the previous style rears).

I will post the proper and complete list of parts to do this upgrade in the next few days. Unfortunately, I lost my camera over the Christmas holiday, so I can't post any of the pictures I took of the install :-((


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## kctdi (Jan 24, 2004)

Thanks for the info on your complete swap. Even though I have a 2012 with the larger brakes I am still looking forward to you posting the part #'s. Too bad about the camera though.

KC.


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## Steveaut (Sep 16, 2010)

After having the EBC Greenstuff and EBC Slotted Rotors for less than a year, probably about 7 months, I am swapping out the front pads tomorrow. I decided to go with Akebono ProACT Ceramic pads. Folks on here have recommended them and my research seemed to indicated they would be a good fit for slotted rotors. I only picked up front pads thus far. I still have pad life left on the greenstuffs on the rear. Any thoughts on putting ceramics on the front while still having the EBCs on the rear?


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## Zambee500 (Jun 23, 2011)

Ok, update for posterity's sake. I am at 109k miles and 'finally' had to do front brakes again. Previous fronts were BrakePerformance dot-com premium semi-metallic pads and premium dimpled & slotted rotors, which have a lifetime warranty on warping but limited to one warranty replacement. These rotors were very noisy overall, but I got 37k miles over 2 yrs + 7 months our of them. I've been getting the steering wheel wobble and brake pedal pulse for a few months so my plan had been to replace now and send the rotors back for warranty replacement to have an extra set on-hand for next time. But in just the last couple of weeks I've scored the rotors up pretty bad and I was starting to feel some grinding when I was stopping the last few days. The pads were close to shot, but none were quite metal-on-metal. Anyway, I'm thinking with scored rotors that they would probably deny warranty replacements for warping, so I'm inclined to think it's not worth the hassle or shipping cost to return them. In any event, this set-up went 3-4x farther than the Napa Ultimate set-up I previously used twice, although that's not saying much. If I were to purchase from BrakePerformance again, which I might, I would likely get the drilled/slotted instead of dimpled/slotted due to the excess noise on the dimpled rotors.

This time for the fronts I went with PowerStop Z36 carbon-ceramic pads and Extreme Performance Drilled and Slotted rotors. The Z36 pads are designed for "severe duty truck & tow" and claim to have 17% more friction material than OE. So far they are very quiet and work great. Overall, PowerStop mostly gets great reviews online for their top-line performance pads/rotors kits, including from some truck/SUV forums for the Z36 pads, so I am optimistic. We shall see how long they last, and I will report back. The Z36 were $158 for the rotor/pad kit from Rock Auto, but could be had for $115 buying the pads & rotors separately.

Also, update on the rears which are Raybestos Advanced Technology rotors and ceramic pads. I've now got 53k miles on these after recently passing the 4 years mark, and the pads have maybe 15-20% material remaining. I would also consider these for the fronts if they were more widely available for the fronts on our vans.



Zambee500 said:


> I replaced rears with Raybestos Advanced Technology rotors and pads. 21 months ago and close to 20k miles. 15-20% wear so far, and all seems fine. Good prices on them at Rock Auto (and you can google for a 5% discount code). I could not find these same brakes available for the fronts though.
> 
> For fronts, I most recently went with the BrakePerformance dimpled & slotted with their premium semi-metallic pads. So far so good, but it's only been 3 mos and 3k miles, so way too soon to tell. They are somewhat loud though, as far as brakes go.
> 
> The Napa "ultimate" line is no better than OEM on the fronts. Only good for ~10k miles both times I tried them (free warranty on second set is only reason I tried them twice).


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## cscsc (Jun 14, 2009)

Just a brake update:

The front brakes are still going strong at 95K. The Bosch rotors still have no rust on the non-friction areas and the pads have more than half their thickness left. No noise and it stops reliably.

As for the rears: At 54k, I discovered a stuck brake caliper on the right side, causing me to replace the caliper. The rotors and pads were replaced with Raybestos products. At 86K, the left caliper was stuck and the rebuilt caliper on the right was incredibly rusty as were the rotors, so, I replaced the pads and rotors with Bosch products and the calipers with A1 Cardone rebuilt units which are powder coated. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THESE CALIPERS FOR THE FINISH. Now, at 95K with a very salty winter behind us, the rears look almost like new. The calipers are available from CarID.com - great price and free shipping both ways.


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## audiophiliac (May 22, 2004)

cscsc said:


> Just a brake update:
> 
> The front brakes are still going strong at 95K. The Bosch rotors still have no rust on the non-friction areas and the pads have more than half their thickness left. No noise and it stops reliably.
> 
> As for the rears: At 54k, I discovered a stuck brake caliper on the right side, causing me to replace the caliper. The rotors and pads were replaced with Raybestos products. At 86K, the left caliper was stuck and the rebuilt caliper on the right was incredibly rusty as were the rotors, so, I replaced the pads and rotors with Bosch products and the calipers with A1 Cardone rebuilt units which are powder coated. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THESE CALIPERS FOR THE FINISH. Now, at 95K with a very salty winter behind us, the rears look almost like new. The calipers are available from CarID.com - great price and free shipping both ways.


Thanks for the update. I am looking forward to a full brake job this spring and was looking at the Raybestos stuff. Which line did you use on the rears? Advanced? Premium?


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## Zambee500 (Jun 23, 2011)

cscsc said:


> The front brakes are still going strong at 95K. The Bosch rotors still have no rust on the non-friction areas and the pads have more than half their thickness left. No noise and it stops reliably.


95k on the front brakes, or on the van?

I looked at some Bosch and seriously considered it for the fronts, but was reading some comments/user reviews that they were now coming from China (the QuietCast line). Bosch makes good stuff though. I also like that you can have solid rotors turned if needed.

I also found the Raybestos Advanced Technology somewhere for the fronts, but can't remember where. Perhaps even Amazon maybe. But had to search for DGC or CT&C to find them for the fronts. They were more expensive than the PowerStop kit though. Not that that means anything.


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## cscsc (Jun 14, 2009)

audiophiliac said:


> Thanks for the update. I am looking forward to a full brake job this spring and was looking at the Raybestos stuff. Which line did you use on the rears? Advanced? Premium?


To clarify: The Raybestos pads and rotors were only on the van for about 32K. Replaced with Bosch components and Cardone calipers due to lots of rust and a frozen caliper


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## cscsc (Jun 14, 2009)

Zambee500 said:


> 95k on the front brakes, or on the van?
> 
> I looked at some Bosch and seriously considered it for the fronts, but was reading some comments/user reviews that they were now coming from China (the QuietCast line). Bosch makes good stuff though. I also like that you can have solid rotors turned if needed.
> 
> I also found the Raybestos Advanced Technology somewhere for the fronts, but can't remember where. Perhaps even Amazon maybe. But had to search for DGC or CT&C to find them for the fronts. They were more expensive than the PowerStop kit though. Not that that means anything.


95K on the van. The front brakes have about 30K on them.


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## paf (Dec 6, 2010)

So finally i found the answer to Routan's brake issues thanks to many here. If you want to get rid of the nasty brake problems that plagued the OEM brakes, your answer lies in investing in a good set of brake pads.

After many combinations that never worked and always left my steering wheel vibrate I decided that I will be the one doing my brakes, not a dealer or a repair shop. I ended up getting plain 'ol regular rotors (no upgrades) from O'Reily with a set of Wagner ceramic pads. That was 15K ago and I've been never happier. I had the performance brake pads and rotors and they did not hold up well not to mention that they wore out quickly. In terms of braking distance -- Wager does a great job. Highly recommended at 64 bucks a set with of 40 dollar rotors. Total win.


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