Dodge does NOT have bad brakes. Tell whoever said
that to shove the idea where the sun isn't supposed to
shine =D. They are as good as any others short of
expensive cars like Porche, BMW, Mercedes, etc. Maybe
they ran into a new car that had bad brakes, but all
auto manufacturers have little problems like that from
time to time.
One thing to note is that ALL auto manufacturers are
trying to save money and vehicle weight. One simple
way is to make all the brake rotors as thin as
possible, which makes them "use once, throw away"
items. I don't know if this idea has made it to the
larger cars like the Intrepids yet, but it might have.
If so, this means "turning" (aka machining) the
rotors is a no-no and you can get away with it, but
just one panic stop on a hot day will make a mess of
things.
The shake you get when you push on the brakes is
caused by the rotors warping, which is caused by one
thing; heat. Something is making the brakes get so
hot that the metal is bending in the heat. It could
be normal use, binding brakes, driver riding the
brakes, etc. Also, inferior quality metal will wear
away faster, and is much less resilient to heat and
will warp much much easier. This inferior metal is
often found in aftermarket parts, hence the reason
they are cheaper than the parts at the dealer. To add
fuel to the fire, the original good quality are made
as thin as possible to get by, so the aftermarket
companies make their parts the same dimensions, but
the specs do not include the quality of metal to use
in the rotors, so thin rotor + cheap metal = shaky
brakes.
I am confused by the term "under 1200" Under 1200
miles? Under 1200 miles since the brake job? Did the
original brakes go the full 47500 miles without
problems?
Who did the brake job? I'm guessing they replaced
everything with aftermarket stuff. They almost always
do, even the dealers to save $$$$$. Many times at the
customer's request.
The thing to do is buy the most expensive parts there
are. At the auto parts store, there will be a set of
brake pads for $15 and a set for $70. Plan on keeping
the car? $70 ones. Gonna dump it soon? Get the $15
ones. It will be worth it. These numbers might be
exaggerations. Its been awhile since I've had to buy
brakes.
The warping that causes brake pulsation (shake) cannot
be felt by your bare hands and cannot be seen by the
naked eye. It is a very very small amount of warping
that makes a big difference when you step on the
brakes.
My Lebaron has a persisent front brake warping issue.
It ticks me off, because I do not remember where I
bought those rotors at. If I find out, never again
will I buy them again.
Replacement of all four rotors at 50,000 miles is
pretty normal maintenance by the way.
I can't get it stuck in my head which brake pad
material is best. There is organic, ceramic,
metallic, semi-metallic and probably some that I am
forgetting. I recommend whatever is more expensive. Seriously.
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