E-350 Serious Brake Problems- Help!!!

My dad owns a 99' E-350 that got me in an accident a couple of days ago. I was driving down a boulevard and the car in front of me stopped, I was messing with the stereo, so when I saw the car stopping I was kinda close to it, but there was enough space to brake. Problem is when I braked the van just slowed down, but never came to a complete stop 'till the moment when I hit that dam civic. If anybody knows what the problem with those brakes is, please help me!!!, we got new brakes already and still takes forever to stop. Help!!!!

was the brake pad-to-rotor properly "bedded" to the newly resurfaced rotors?

if not, scuff up the rotor surfaces and pads w/ some sandpaper, flush w/ brake clean, reassemble....

properly bed them in again... when installing brand new pads, it'll be worse for a bit until the new pads get "seated" w/ the rotors...

google the process, it's like going up a certain speed, then moderately applying pressure to the brakes & repeat cycle to do it.

depepnding on the pad quality as well... i am successful w/ a wide array of brands from vatozone to pepboys raybestos brands... by making sure i "wear in" the new pads to the resurfaced rotors.

u probably had glazed the rotors/pads, so removing & sanding/reassemble, finally bed them will help.

Do you have drum brakes in the rear? If yes, make sure they are properly adjusted. Do you have anti-lock brakes?

cool! I'll check that out......thanx for the help

Yeah, I'm pretty sure they are anti-lock brakes

werd, i just assumed u got new front brake pads since they're more prone to wearing out 2x faster than rears...

I'm an ASE certified mechanic. If you can't stop a one ton van you have more serious problems than 'seating' brake' pads. Start with brake fluid. Do you have any in the master cyl? do you occassionally have to add brake fluid? Brake fluid doesn't just disappear. It leaks! If you're low or have to add from time to time, you have a leak. You have to find it if it's low or leaking. common locations are rear brake cylinders, rubber hoses, master cylinder, calipers. How many miles on this rig? If you have brake fluid, do an experiment. With the truck running and in park (don't drive it anywhere until you deal with this). Push the pedal all the way down. How far from the floor is it? Now pump the brakes five or six times. Is the distance from the floor greater? If so and the fluid ISN"T leaking then you need at least a master cylinder.

If it has rear drums, you can check the adjustment by trying to stop the rig with the ebrake. Hold out the release handle while applying the ebrake so you don't lock 'em up. If the ebrake doesn't stop the van from 15 mpg or so, then the rear shoes are nowhere near the drums (out of adjust).

You need more info at this point. Check these things out. You can email me at y7704521@yahoo.com when you have done these things.

ok, well i dunno what he did during the brake job...

if you're unsure about your abilities to check these out; goto a place that'll inspect your WHOLE braking system!

YMMV w/ this but my local pepboys will do this FOR FREE!!! (not ALL would do so, some other garages may charge up to $30). Be there w/ the tech, if allowed to be in the garage bay w/ proper safety glasses, to show him/her what you did w/ the brake job & he'll go over w/ it to see if anything is binding/ leaking/ worn/ etc... then, you can go from there...

the local pepboys in moorestown NJ (a service-only store) had done this for free w/ my sis' car when I wasn't available to check out her vehicle (& i perfomed the brake job that was confirmed by the tech later on).