Front brake pads wearing a lot faster

[dpujara]

I have a 99 Windstar. The front pads wear a lot faster than the rear brake shoes. The car has 136,000 miles. The fronts were replaced just 20,000 miles back and have always been replaced around that interval. The rear ones however have hardly worn and were last replaced at 41,000 miles. What could be the problem here?

[northern piper]

well first off, there might not be any problem. As the majority of braking is done by the front brakes they wear faster than the rear. If they are wearing out "too" fast, are they wearing evenly? If not, likely the caliper is jamming or something is leading to the pads not squarely squeezing the rotor. Do you keep your left foot on the brake and right on throttle? If so you may be causing the pads to drag. Type of pad and pad composition also play a role in their life expectancy.

More info needed.

[wiswind]

As Northern stated, it is normal for the front brakes to wear much faster than the rear.
I would say 3 times the front for 1 times the rear was around normal.
The reason is that the front brakes do most of the work.
This is why they use the disk brakes on the front and drum on the rear (disk on the rear is a option, but you will notice that the rear disk setup is smaller than the front).

You can improve things with high quality components.
If you go to the Rockauto website, you will see that you can get pads for very cheap or for a good amount of money.
A quick look at '99 pads.......$6.97 to $59.79......I'm sure that you realize that there is a variety in life of pad in that price range.
I always got the highest quality parts that I could.
I really liked the Raybestos "Advanced Technology" rotors (disk) ($50.79 EACH) and the Akebono Ceramic pads ($51.79 both sides).

Eventually my calipers started sticking.....and I replaced the whole caliper......no getting around it....don't mess around.

Also, from when I first bought the van (mine was a '96) in 1999 with just under 39K miles on it until a couple years before I sold the van, I was real unhappy with the braking performance.
I replaced the front brake hoses....the hose from the caliper to the hard brake line.....and it improved the braking performance beyond belief.
It was a super simple and cheap repair.
I have pictures posted of the process of changing the hoses, as well as complete brake jobs.

Going back to rotors, I'm not a fan of drilled rotors as it can weaken the rotor.
On a Windstar, I do not see the benefit.
If you look at my pictures, you will see that I used Bremo slotted rotors, which were fine.
However I really did not see a great benefit to them over the other ones I mentioned.
They were just fine and lasted just as long, however.

Some things to look for when inspecting your front brake pads......a big difference in wear between the inside and outside pads is an indication that your calipers may be sticking.
Again, once they get old and start sticking.....it is best to just replace them as the surfaces that things slide on often becomes pitted over time.....

I did only 1 rear brake job on my '96 over the years that I owned it.
I did...maybe 3 front brake jobs on the front.....and had 1 or 2 done at a shop.
The ones I did myself lasted MUCH longer than the ones I had done for me as shops compete on price......so they don't use the highest quality parts.
I always replace both the rotors and the pads.
One job done at a shop....2 years later, everything looked great until I notice hairline cracks in the rotors....truly cracks in the steel....even though I still had most of the pad left....I did a complete brake job, pads and rotors.
I bought my '96 with just under 39K miles on it, and sold it with just over 229K miles on it.
As I use my van for my church youth group on mission trips....pulling a trailer, I am SUPER careful to make sure that I can STOP when I need to......too much is riding on it.
When you put 6 kids, from other people's families in your vehicle....it kind of raises the bar.
However.......while it is important for your vehicle to go......is really is MORE important to stop when you need to......so brakes are really important to ALL of us.

In short......you mention 20K on front pads......a LOT....can have to do with the quality of pads that were installed as well at the type of driving you are doing.....city driving will go through pads a LOT faster than long trips on the interstate.