01' dakota - breaks and problems

[Kirbz]

hay people, my roters have become warped and need replacing and i want to do it my self, but i don't know what the best product to buy is ( like rotors and pads )or how to keep this from happening again ( the warping )any help or suggestions would be great. Thanks

[rhandwor]

If you can afford it buy U S made rotors and Bendix pads. Otherwise buy Advance or Auto Zone rotors and pads. I would also buy rebuilt calipers high mileage calipers they tend to stick. Again I put Auto Zone rebuilt calipers on my sons GMC and he got over 100,000 out of them.

[EricinTN]

Don't forget to clean off and add a light coat of high-temp grease to the caliper mount pins. Your rotors won't last another 2000 miles before they warp again if you don't.

[wafrederick]

Do not buy brake pads from AutoZone or Advanced,cheaply made and will not last.Their lifetime warranty sucks too,one time use only and yes,this is their lifetime warranty on brake pads.AutoZone sells the cheapest garbage out there and I have seen it from thier fuel pumps to their plug wires.Advanced is the same way.Wagner makes the best pads,extra quiet is one their line of brake pads that last.Most rotors are made in China and are not made in the USA.

[rhandwor]

I bought bendix brake pads from Advanced for my wifes car. The original equipment pads 22,000 miles. The bendix pads 45,000 and I didn't turn the rotors. I personally don't like store brand.

[jlistunner]

I changed my rotors and pads exactly 1 month ago on my 2000 Dakota. I drive 60 miles a day for work on a 2 lane curvy and hilly highway. This causes me to use my brakes quite a bit and has them warped really bad because they get hot. Plus Dodge is well known to use crappy rotors. After researching, I selected Power Stop cross drilled rotors and Power Stop Z16 Evolution ceramic pads. I chose cross drilled rotors over slotted because they stay cooler. So far they are doing fantastic. My brake pedal doesn't pulse and I don't feel like I am being jarred forward and backward every time I stop anymore. My suggestion is do research and stay away from cheap products. I bought my rotors from www.buybrakes.com and I will say they got me on the price because when the package came in it had the packing slip in it and it showed their cost. I wasn't too happy but I needed to change my rotors ASAP so I didn't call them on it. I paid $114.25 per rotor and their cost was around $65.00. Shop around and research again is my suggestion. One website I used for info was www.powerstop.com.

Good Luck

[wafrederick]

Problem with Advanced and AutoZone is that they care about the lowest price and skip on quality of their parts.That is big mistake and I hate that.Just found out yesterday,a customer put in a new tracking arm in a 4x4 fullsize Dodge truck that is junk already,from Advanced.

[rhandwor]

You saved yourself some big money doing it yourself. I used to have a garage and a young woman asked for a quote and at this time it was around $150.00. All four wheels were pulled and all she needed was front pads. She went to a brake specialty shop for all four wheels at $99.95. When done it was around $1200.00 new rotors,drums,calipers,wheel cylinders,master cylinder,brake hoses,and ect.. This was around 20 years ago. As she was a customer she told me all about it. She never went back but it cost me money as I never got any brake work on this car she had a lifetime warranty.

[Kirbz]

Hay everyone I got the stuff done and the breakes work great, and I haven't had any problems as of yet. Hope I wont for a long time, I just want to say thanks to all that replyed the suggestions were a major help

[jdmccright]

I'm not advocating AutoZone, but their warranty for drums & rotors is 2 yrs. Just change them out every 2 years and you'll never buy them again. You can even change out the pads too to go all-new. A little PITA to keep track of, but I got it marked on my calendar. I haven't bought pads or rotors for years, except for a new aqcuisition. Good luck!

[w9awx]

Like has been mentioned here a couple of times, brakes are one area not to go cheap. The cheap store brand brakes are cheap for a reason. They don't last, rotors warp, pads dump brake dust everywhere. Go with either the manufactures brand, which you can sometimes get at the auto parts stores or go with a name brand such as Bendix, Raybestos, or Wagner. Yes, you will pay more for them, but the quality is double the store brands. Unless the person behind the counter can prove that it is made by one of these manufactures, they were made cheap and made overseas. Now, i am not saying buy American (yes I am) because you will get a better product, but, in this case it will save you money in the amount of time you will have to waste having to re due your brake job in 20,000 miles. yes, all manufacture have to meet the OEM specs, but thats it. As long as they meet them, they can go as cheap as them want. Meeting the specs just means that at the time of the test they met it, not 10,000 miles down the road. I made the mistake of putting on some store brand brake pads on my chevy and I regretted it by the next summer, as I had to re due the job all over again, this time with rotors. Buy American and buy piece of mind.