>Hi guys!
>
>Is anyone aware of a premature brake-pad wear problem on the 4x2 automatics?
>
>I've been driving my '95 for 22 months now and I've only got 22,000 km on
>it. When I went in for an oil change, the Chrysler mechanic recommended
>that I get new front brake pads and rotors, repack the front wheel bearings
>and service the rear brakes. I went in and took a look at it myself and
>noticed that the front brake pad, passenger side was thinner than the
>driver's side, but it still didn't look like it needed replacing quite yet
>and the rotor didn't even look scored.
>
>I went in to the showroom to talk with the sales rep who leased the truck to
>me, who luckily happens to be a friend of mine. She went storming in to see
>the Service Manager yelling that: "This is impossible. I know Norah and the
>way she drives. She's also my best customer and plans on getting her next
>Dakota here. You better check this out yourself!" The Service Manager also
>agreed that the brakes should be fine for another 5,000 km and they'll check
>it on my next oil change. I still don't think they should wear out at
>37,000 km.
>
>I also learned from the Manager, that the mechanics get paid by the job and
>not salary. So naturally they want to get the job in order to get a paycheck.
>
>It just seems a little too soon for this to start happening. Strange thing
>is that the exact same thing happened with my '93 at around the same time.
>The only difference was the the brake pad really did wear down quickly and
>ended up damaging the rotor so that I did have to have it replaced. I
>started to wonder if it was my driving pattern, but then dismissed that idea
>as my '81 LeMans didn't need any brake work for the last 3 years that I had
>it, and I put a hell of a lot more mileage on it than the last two Daks.
>
>Between the 3 vehicles that I've had in the last 7 years. The common
>denominator here is the fact that both brake problems were on the passenger
>side, both were Dakota 4x2 club cab automatics, and both happened around the
>2 year mark with approximately the same mileage - 22,000 on the '95 and
>30,000 km. approx. on the '93.
>
I don't know how true this is, but I worked as a Service Advisor at a local
Chevy dealer (sorry, I repented by buying a Dakota) and the techs uses to
tell me about people making more right (or was it left) hand turns. This
causes one of your brake pads to wear a little faster than the other. For
example, where I live, I make more left hand turns. Thus as I brake and
make the turn, supposingly one pad wears a little more than the other.
Another tech told me that pressure builds on the left pad before any other
due to it being closer to the master cyl. This causes this pad to "grab"
first and thus wear faster.
Could these two explanations both be true??? I don't know, you make the
judgement. To be they both make sense and maybe the combination over
25-30k miles may show uneven wear.
Why wear so fast? Weight of vehicle, driving habits (hwy driving or around
town) (short stops, ease into the brake carefully), type of pads, etc. I
had a Beretta that had 100k miles and the rear had never been changed. The
front lasted 35-40k miles before I had to change them. I have seen trucks
that were worn slap out at 20k. Who knows.
I was always told if the pads lasted more than 20k miles, this would be
normal. Anything else would have to be researched.
Oh, as a word of advice. Mechanics do get paid by the job..For example a
"normal" brake job (turning rotors, replace pads, repack bearings) can be
around 2.5 hours. If a mechanic makes $10 a hour, than he makes $25 bucks
on that job. If he can complete that job in an hour, he still gets paid
the 2.5 hours called by Chilton (or whatever companies books). Chevrolet
normally suggested one time (less) for warr. work and Chilton would be
another (higher). That is why they would rather do that cash sell rather
than the warr. work.
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/ / Rob Robinson \ \
/ / 1996 V8 SC/SB 3.55 \ \
/ /"Meldrum" Air/"Rhino" muff.\ \
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