Not sure if new rear brakes working properly

[Darryl]

Just had a problem solved on here regarding spongy brakes… With that fixed I am not sure if my new issue is a problem or me being paranoid. I have put about 500km on the van and brakes are still very responsive. However I noticed that the rear rotors show little to no wear. You can see faint radial lines where the pads have been rubbing bit without close inspection the rotors still look new… Is this normal for rear caliper disc brakes?

I do notices when stopping at highway speeds the van seems to pulsate to a stop.

2012 Town and Country Touring.
New rear calipers, new rotors, new pads.

Topic

[Doug Beard]

With all that new rear brake hardware, it seems unlikely your problem would be in the rear. It doesn’t sound like anything out of the ordinary as far as the rear rotors. The cross hatching from the machined surface of the rotors should start to disappear fairly quickly. That’s probably what you’re seeing.

I know I have a tendency to feel funny about work I’ve just done and I definitely feel hypersensitive to noises and things after a job like that. If the brake pulsation was present BEFORE you did all that work and it is still there now, I’d say the signs point toward your front brakes.

If it worries you, safely lift the van, remove the front tires, remove one of the caliper pins on both sides, flip up the calipers and inspect the pads/ rotors. If theres still plenty of pad material and the rotors don’t have deep grooves (some grooving is OK) I say leave it be. No sense in replacing brake hardware over minor pulsation if it’s otherwise still OK.

Those vans are notorious for eating up front brakes. My folks had an 07 Caravan, and I regularly drive a 2013 caravan for work. The company van needed new front brakes at 37,000 miles, but it was driven hard in the city all the time.

Hope this helps.

[Author]

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