Brake life varies widely with driving habits and conditions. Here is my
story:
1987 Syncro Westy

87K, Front Pads, Installed Beck Arnley Silver Supremes. Didn't cut
drums. No more Dust, but no more friction either. Lousy stopping
performance.

132K Rear shoes worn. Replaced rear shoes with dealer OEM, AEG Wheel
cylinders, OEM Spring kit. Removed outer rear wheel bearing seals,
injected Mobil synthetic grease into bearing cavity. Added 3mm shims to
lower shoe mounts to improve brake shoe to drum contact as originals
only wore top half. Replaced front pads and rotors. Used Repco Metal
Masters for front. Excellent pad, minimal dusting, it stops again.

182K Replaced front pads. Attribute short life to change in usage. Van
used more for local driving. Most extended trip driving now done in
motorhome. Back to OEM pads. Dusting like mad, rims always covered,
great stopping performance.

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM] On Behalf
Of TJ Hannink
Sent: Tuesday, February 04, 2003 9:13 AM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Brake Life

How long do Vanagon brakes typically last?

I had to R&R an outer front wheel bearing last weekend
and picked up a set of disc brake pads just in case I
needed a new set. Goldibox currently has 209,600 miles
on her and I have owned her since 5/00 when she had
149,000 and I had never redone the brakes. It turns
out that they had half their thickness left when
compared to the new pads. The rotor had worn less than
.5mm.

I went through the PO's receipts this morning and
found that all the brakes (new rotors, pads and shoes,
drums turned) had been redone on 4/97 at 116,300
miles. This is the only record I have of any brake
service on this particular van.

Is this typical service life of Vanagon brake
components?

=====
TJ Hannink
Goldibox - 1987 Vanagon Camper, Wolfsburg Edition
Winter Park, Florida
http://home.earthlink.net/~tjhannink/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wolfsburg_campers
http://photos.yahoo.com/tjhannink [Vanagon] Album

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