2004 Dodge Durango Brakes

I’m the only owner. Since new the rear brakes have never generated even a fraction of the dust of the front brakes. I have replaced the front and rear pads but never had the rotors turned. The rotors aren’t perfectly smooth but they don’t have any deep ruts.

Anyway, my brake pedal vibrates when I apply the brakes. And the rear brakes squeak randomly when braking even though there are new pads. I always felt they squeaked because there is not much braking power in the rear.

My Durango stops okay. I’m worried about catastrophic failure because of the vibrating.

Any ideas?

@JakeEufarly a mechanic needs to measure runout on all the rotors

Most likely the front rotors are warped

Has anybody measured the thickness of the rotors?

Are you using cheap brakes?

FWIW . . . I’ve had my fair share of noises when using aftermarket pads. But almost never with factory pads.

BTW . . . if the brake pedal is pulsating, the truck is not stopping okay. You are taking longer to stop. That might make the difference between rear ending someone or not.

I have never had the rotors inspected by professional. I guess it’s time. But even when the Durango was new the front wheels were always covered in dust while the back were more or less clean. You think this might be a symptom of a poor system?

No. More dust on the front wheels is indicative of a braking system that has front rotors and rear drum brakes. In addition, the front brakes actually provide more stopping power than the rear brakes. On some vehicles, especially motorcycles, the front brakes can provide up to 80% of normal braking. If you want fairly equal dust on all wheels you will have to buy a vehicle with disc brakes on all 4 corners.

@JakeEufarly I would worry more about the pulsating and less about the brake dust

My mom’s Mercedes has always had more dust on the front wheels. It has always used factory brakes and it stops on a dime.

Brake dust does NOT mean the system isn’t working well. It simply has to do with the formulation of the brake pads.