[PoManTraverse]

No matter what we run in the rust belt, we're going to get less than half the life out of pads/rotors than non rust belt climates see.

 

[PoManTraverse]

I recommend Drilled and Slotted Rotors to minimize or eliminate Rotor Warping not to increase Braking power. I put 5 Sets of Rotors in 5 years on my Wife’s Minivan due to Rotor Warping including top of the line NAPA Rotors. The first 3 sets were put on by the Dealership under warranty, the other 2 set were out of pocket.

Since I replaced the solid rotors with Drilled and Slotted Rotors, I haven’t had ANY Brake Problems for over 10 Years, so I don’t feel like an idiot, I feel pretty smart, and I have never been in a situation where I wished my Brakes would stop shuddering, because I Fixed the problem with Drilled and Slotted Rotors. I felt like an idiot when I was throwing my money away on OEM (POS) Rotors.

And for what it’s worth, I neither Tow or Plow, but If you do Tow or Plow, do you not have a potential for more heat when Braking? If you experience Brake Shuddering on steep down hill grades or find excessive rotor warping, Drilled and Slotted Rotors may help.

There was a South Main Auto video months ago, where Eric O mentioned your exact scenario. He doubled or tripled the brake life on Mrs O's minivan once he went to drilled/slotted rotors on it. He can't explain it, nor does he run them on customer vehicles unless they supply the parts. He's a typical shop where he uses what he can get and doesn't really endorse any aftermarket parts.

I'd have search his archives to see what make/model pad and rotor kit it was, but I think it was Centric? Not sure.

To me, what works for one specific vehicle and operating conditions, won't work well for another. Same with tires, batteries, wiper blades, etc...etc. All you can do is read poeple's personal experience and hope yours is as good.

 

[PoManTraverse]

I did a little investigation on this issue 10-12 years ago and here’s what I believe the problem is. The Rotors are just plain too small for the Minivan.

It's the same problem for any make/model minivan. I know it was for me and we owned a 2001 Ford Windstar, a 2008 Honda Odyssey, 2013 Grand Caravan and a 2017 Nissan Quest. The windstar had rear drums. The rest were disks all the way around and I'd be lucky to get ~35K miles out of pads/rotors on them.

In the case of the SMA video I mentioned above, that was is a later model Kia minivan.

 

[PoManTraverse]

Inner or the caliper side pads always wear more then the outer side pads.
That's why the wear sensors are on the inside pads.
Initial bite is on the caliper piston pad before it ''pulls over'' the other side so more wear on it. Only difference would be in a caliper with pistons on both sides of the caliper like in certain high performance applications.

When I had to do the fronts on my 2021 LS AWD a few months back at ~52K miles, the squealers were on the outside pads. It may have been left this way from a prior pad slap, or it could be OEM. I don't know. This vehicle saw nothing but frequent/regular dealer maintenance and the rotors/pads sure looked OEM. I bought it as a 3yr/old lease return with ~30K miles on it. The inside pads went all the way to the metal before any noise started (I have a separate thread here on that) Bad thing is, I did the fresh install the same way. Having access to service data is always wise. Here's a pic after I peeled the caliper off.

It makes total sense as to why things went south on me like they did. All these years I've been doing my own brake work, I lean something every time.