How're Your Brakes?

My '99 Windstar had a brake job at about 65k miles - I now have 101k and am wondering about how long I have to go. We are taking our usual 2-week vacation trip in August and don't want 'em to go in the middle. No symptoms right now, but coming up on 40k with them. Van is primarily used for daily commuting on both city streets and some highway.

How long have your brakes lasted?

Thx, Dan D

PS Did not want to take it to a shop because, of course, I will need new pads, rotors, drums, brake lines and brake pedal.

Brakes wear differently for different drivers but I realize you are just trying to ballpark it.

You are wise to check your brakes as I discovered oddly enough that there are no wear indicators.

You can always pull the wheels off and check yourself. You normally only need to measure the pad thickness. You also want to look for evenly worn rotors and of course no fluid leaks. The rears (if they are drums) are a bit harder to access but if you had the fronts and backs done at the same time remember that your backs normally last longer.

Dan,

The fronts on our '98 were done at about 50K, and are ready again now at 110K.

The rears needed shoes and drums at 85K.

You can find thickness specifications for the linings at www.autozone.com The Rear shoes last much longer than the front disk pads......if they are not dragging. For disk brakes....you want to inspect EACH of the 4 pads. One thing that can happen, is that 1 pad can wear.....usually caused by the caliper not riding smoothly on it's pins (lubrication), or a warped rotor (disk). If you have a warped rotor.....you should be able to feel it when you brake hard.....the brakes will "pulse".......at the rate that the wheels are turning.

One thing that I have done a number of times is to have a "safety check" done. A safety check includes inspection of all the brakes, suspension, lights, tire wear, fluid levels....and a bunch of other things.
It is intended to find little things before they fail.

But....as you mention....taking it to a shop depends on how much you can trust them. A "free" brake inspection......the only way they make money, is if they find something wrong. A safety check.....they charge around $70 for.....so they take in a bit of money for their work.....even if they find nothing wrong. I would ask around to find a dealer that you can trust. And have a safety check done.....for piece of mind on your trip.
If they say that you need new brakes......then you can always ask to see the bad ones....while they are on the car.

Thanks for the pointers.... I will check the front disks this week-end.

Dan D

Satisfied PR803C for 39.99 they are ceramic pads excellent deal. Advanced auto parts.com has them.. this was a list of the 2001 winnie. But still a great deal on great brake pads.