Time for a brake job?
 

Bonnie has 50,000 miles on her, and on my recent road trip to Dallas I noticed the pedal takes a little more effort for a good 'brake.' Of course I was almost stranded in a blizzard in New Mexico, but I think it may be time. I haven't done a brake job in 20+ years, and thought I'd give it a shot and paint the calipers at the same time. I found a link in a search a while back on a 2000+ brake job, but cannot find it. I do have the caliper painting thread bookmarked. Of course mileage may vary, but when do you guys typically find it prudent to swap pads?

A recent post on replacing the brake pads.
http://www.bonnevilleclub.com/forum/...ic.php?t=93915

Brakes can't always be judged for replacement simply on mileage due to different driving styles, and how much city vs highway driving is done. The best way is to inspect the brake pads by pulling the wheel and taking a look. A good time to do this is during tire rotation.

Ha! Turns out I started that one too :oops:

Thanks for the link.

I wasn't going to point that out. ;) It's really not that tough of job, but as always..have questions...ask and we'll do what we can to help.

My mom's 05' Town and Country needed brake pads by 26,000 mi. I would say at 50k, it's definitely time. Do you feel the vehicle pulsing as you apply brakes? If so, expect to see warped/cut rotors. Can sometimes just have them resurfaced at a shop if there's enough material left to work with. If not, expect to have to buy replacements. Brake jobs aren't hard whatsoever - but they're very important. If you over-torque or under-torque, either situation can be bad. Just go by the book :).

Oh yeah, if you want to avoid having black crap in your hands over the next week or so, I would recommend a set of gloves to work with. It only took me 3 years of votech to learn that.