This van, with only 20k miles, has what I believe to be the original brakes. I bought the van with less than 17k, and I certainly haven't replaced them.
Anyway, these brakes produce a TON of dust on the front wheels. I've never had a car, truck, or van that put of half as much brake dust.
What do you guys recommend? It's bad enough that I'm willing to replace the pads even if they have life left in them. They're going to permanently damage the aluminum wheels I'm afraid.
The brake dust on aluminum rims is common enough. You may just not be used to dealing with it. The amound of dust correlates to brake wear. If you have that much dust you may have more wear than you believe. You better check those pads, especially the inside ones that probably require wheel removal to inspect. New pads won't solve the dust problem.
Yes, I wash the van at least weekly. I wax it every 6-8 weeks. I use wheel cleaner and a wheel brush every time I wash it. However, within 100 miles, the wheels are noticeably cruddy. If I let the things go for more than a week, they're black. Were talking about within 300 miles I have black wheels. This is city driving we're talking about, but we're not hard on the brakes.
Yeah, at the rate the dust is coming off the wheels, the pads are certainly not going to last too long. I am used to aluminum wheels though, I've had them on a Taurus, a couple Rangers, and even another E series van.
I've heard that some pads produce less dust. I know I'm always going to have brake dust to contend with, but I'd like to get something that's less filthy than what I have now.
My wife's jeep had the same problem after installing a set of front brake pads from Autozone. I went with the cheapest available from them to save money and figured how different can they be? Well, let me tell you, I will never do that again. As you have already said, it is really discouraging to have just gotten the vehicle looking good and after a couple of short trips, the front wheel look like you haven't washed them in months. As anybody can tell, having clean wheels really helps the overall appearance of the vehicle.
Anyway, the next brake job that I did, I went to a better parts distributor (Carquest) and got their middle grade of pad. Let me tell you it made a world of difference. Brakes are quieter, are wearing better, and most importantly, do not produce near as much of that ugly grey dust that seems to immediately bond to the wheels even with the proper dust shields in place. I am still cheap by nature and just couldn't force myself to go with the most expensive but the middle grade (Blue) satisfied my needs.
From the
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website... CARQUEST Friction & Hydraulics are manufactured by Brake Parts Inc., a Division of The Affina Group, makers of Raybestos Brand Brakes and are available in the GOLD, BLUE, and RED brands.
Hope that is more help than just telling you to wash your car.
I too, have a 2003 E-150 van, cargo type with 9K miles on it. I don't have a dust problem that seems more then normal. Also have aluminum wheels on it. The van is normally empty so it's a bit lighter then a club wagon I suspect and has the V6 engine. I also live in a fairly small town (10K) so traffic is much slower and lighter as well.
Learn to accept it. It is probably the material used to make the factory pads. My 2004 F-150 has a lot of brake dust on the front wheels and from what I have been told, this is just the way it is with these pads.
If you saw a vehicle with disc brakes and no dust ever, then there's something to be concerned about. The airflow around the discs moves the dust away and it gets on nearby items. You could put on these funky discs whose job is to prevent brake dust from getting on the rims, but I think they reduce the brake cooling. Just keep it clean. I rinse the wheels down with Castrol Superclean when I wash my vehicles and it makes it go away, unless it's been awhile then a dishwashing brush cleans it right up.
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