devo13 Posted March 15, 2014 Report Share Posted March 15, 2014 Well I was pretty happy with the overall performance of my 2.4 litre journey, until yesterday I started hearing a slight scraping from my rear passenger-side wheel. My vehicle was new , on-the-road in August 2012 and I had a once-over everything in August 2013 before my basic warranty expired..... Well..!!!!! Peel Dodge took off the rear right, then all the tires and declared that all of the 4 rotors had to be replaced, as well as the pads. Vehicle has 46,000 km on it, I drive like I'm a hyper-miler (90% hwy, 10% city)....coast to lights, etc. I'm blown away...!!!! Does Dodge make such cheap and prematurely wearing brakes..?????? Anyone been through this similar issue and remedies from Dodge Canada or elsewhere..???? Anyone's commnets or assistance is appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FROGBOX Posted March 15, 2014 Report Share Posted March 15, 2014 Very common problem. Firstly, I think most vehicles are sold with soft brake compounds from the factory. It does provide better braking, but the trade off is increased brake dust & shorter pad life. The rears also wear prematurely if they are not serviced regularly. By that I mean removing the components to lubricate the moving parts and sliding surfaces. The rear brakes on my 2011 were worn out at 40k too. When i removed them, the pads were stuck in place by rust buildup under the stainless steel shims. I had to pry them out of the brackets when they should pull out easily by hand. The pads are supposed to be able to slide freely. If they are stuck in place, they don't back off the rotor fully and wear down faster. If you really want to get maximum life out of your brakes, you can upgrade to bigger pads & rotors. However, this also means bigger calipers and carriers, so its not cheap. But the parts are readily available and makes for a good upgrade to the braking system, which IMHO, are too small for the weight of the vehicle in the first place. I upgraded my brakes and am super happy with how they perform. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bramfrank Posted March 16, 2014 Report Share Posted March 16, 2014 I'm confused . . . the 'basic warranty' on the Dodge is 3/60 - you mentioned being below both for time and distance . . . . However the brakes are indeed a bit undersized (remedied on the 2013) - I have about 42K on mine and next week when the snows come off I have new pads and hardware ready for the rears. Note that if you decide to upgrade the brakes and if you have 16" wheels - they will need to be replaced with 17" at a minimum as part of the process. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FROGBOX Posted March 16, 2014 Report Share Posted March 16, 2014 Brakes are not part of the basic warranty. They are only covered for 1 year or 20,000 km. He is out of both. Journey_SeXT 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bramfrank Posted March 16, 2014 Report Share Posted March 16, 2014 And they're only covered for defects, not wear. But even so, the basic warranty is 3/60. I was giving the dealer report a bit of thought. With one pad down to metal he should need to replace just the rear disks (and if cheaping out, likely just the one on the side where he ran out of pad) - easy to tell, just look at the disks through the holes in the wheels for excessive wear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devo13 Posted March 18, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 18, 2014 Thanks for the info....I've been doing a bit of research....and have found that in particular, the rear caliper design prematurely wears out the pads/rotors. In fear of having this happen again in another 30 to 40 thousand km.....what rotor, pad, and perhaps caliper combo would the wise on this site recommend...I'm sure there are superior parts to the garbage that Dodge uses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lobitz68 Posted March 19, 2014 Report Share Posted March 19, 2014 I haven't actually checked to see whats available since my DJ is brand new yet, but I usually switch to EBC rotors and pads when the time comes on my vehicles. Great performance and affordable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devo13 Posted March 25, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 25, 2014 Does anyone know if there is an extended warranty or any kind of relief for the brake issues on the 2012 or earlier Journey's..??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jkeaton Posted March 25, 2014 Report Share Posted March 25, 2014 No. Brakes are considered "wear" parts and not covered by warranty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2late4u Posted March 26, 2014 Report Share Posted March 26, 2014 just replaced the rear pads on my 2011 mainstreet they had about 65k miles on them still had some pad left maybee another 10-15 k. i used wagner thermoQuite pads they were cermanic on the rears and reg pads on the front. my fronts had been changed out at the dealership because of warped rotors at 28k miles and was a good will gesture to try to keep me happy, havent had any problems with the front rotors as of yet. fingers crossed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FROGBOX Posted March 31, 2014 Report Share Posted March 31, 2014 Does anyone know if there is an extended warranty or any kind of relief for the brake issues on the 2012 or earlier Journey's..??? Brakes are covered for 1 year, or 20,000 km. There was an extended warranty issued for the 2009-2010 models due to frequent brake issues in the early models. It was basically doubled to 2 years, 40,000km. As far as I know, the warranty was not extended for the 2011 or 2012 models, even though they have the same parts??? Late 2012 and newer Journeys got bigger brakes which seem to have cured the very common brake warping issues of the earlier models. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devo13 Posted April 8, 2014 Author Report Share Posted April 8, 2014 UPDATE: After I complained to Chrysler Canada....they decided, as a goodwill gesture, to pay for the parts (4 rotors, 4 sets of pads) to the tune of $985.00. I think it is a fair gesture....HOWEVER.....it does NOT solve my perceived problem of a deficient brake design (admittedly changed in the 2013 model)....and possible inferior parts. When this set-up fails again (i'm assuming at another 45,000 km)....I hope by then that Dodge has an extended warranty or the wisdom of this forum can suggest better rotors, pads and even calipers for this under-designed braking system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2late4u Posted April 8, 2014 Report Share Posted April 8, 2014 are you sure you dont want them to give you free gas also ? sorry not trying to be a smartass but how long do you expect them to give you free brake jobs. true the brakes are not the best as ive had problems also and they gave me a goodwill gesture brake job which ive went at least an other 37k ,miles on and havent had any problems from the rotors but when i do ill do my own brake job as i have had other cars where the front pads wear out after about 40k miles. brakes do wear out and rotors do warped at different times for different drivers.. that said good luck and live life to its fullest...... Journey_SeXT 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Journey_SeXT Posted April 9, 2014 Report Share Posted April 9, 2014 Your only real long term solution is to upgrade to the bigger brakes that are installed in the newer Journeys. It is going to be quite pricey to convert as the calipers are also replaced so if you have any experience in installing brakes you could save some cash on the labour. Other than that you will have to buy better quality aftermarket brakes to replace the crappy oem brakes installed on the car and that still might not last that much longer as the brakes are undersized for our Journeys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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