My rodeo has 91,000 miles. I had the front and rear brakes repaired at 45,000 miles (2007) and again at 73,300 miles (2010). During my 90,000 mile inspection, my mechanic (used by my wife’s family for 20 years and recommended on car talk) said I again need new front brakes, including new rotors. Does this make sense?
Where and how is the Rodeo driven? Driving around San Francisco every day might take a serious toll on brakes while cruising across Texas would rarely heat the brakes up.
I live in Denver so most driving is done on pretty level terrain. However, I do drive into the mountains a lot so there is a lot of braking, particularly up and down 3,000 foot elevation changes.
Yup, this makes sense. You might be able to extend the time between brake jobs by switching to metallic pads. But as long as there’s no indication that the rear brakes aren’t functioning (and trust that your mechanic would have noticed) than it is what it is. The Rodeo is front heavy and the front brakes do 80% of the work. OEM replacement (organic) pads on some vehicles just don;t last as long as we’d like.In your terrain especially.
Rod, Mountain Bike: Thanks. The mechanic did inspect the rear brakes and said they are showing normal wear and would not likely need repair for another couple of years. Incidentally, I have had a very good repair history with this Rodeo outside of the brakes. I see a lot of comments on reliability but this particular model has been good.
Thanks for posting back. I’m glad to hear you like the vehicle. I almost bought a Rodeo many years ago, but its reputation stopped me.
Can’t say I am in a position to recommend one as this is the only Rodeo I have owned. But as noted, I am quite happy with it and the plan is to keep it for another 75,000 miles if that makes economic sense. This is my first time posting here and it was nice to get 2 quick responses.
I have had several customers with Isuzus and all were satisfied, if not well pleased with the vehicles. Several passed the 200,000 mile mark with no high dollar failures.
Do you take your vehicle out of overdrive when you are on long downgrades?
I find that I have to use the brake much less if I gear down.
Given the miles and some mountain driving the brakes wearing out isn’t excessive. Brake pads come in different hardness and the original pads could have been harder and lasted longer than the replacements. If you want long brake life request harder pads but expect more frequent rotor replacement and perhaps some more noise when braking.
All, thanks again for the input. I’ll definitely come back to this forum if I have questions, and I feel better about the expense of repairing the front brakes. Its a bit of a leap of faith in choosing a mechanic so its nice that it sounds like I am continuing to get fair advice from my guys.
Some good advice for sure…
I wanted to ask you…Do you ride your brakes during long descents? Also and VERY important…Where did your rotors come from? Rotor quality varies WILDLY…trust me. Some are actually made of dog poop…spray painted silver and packaged… Are they made from CHINESEIUM? The latter two are of equal quality…
Brake pads usually last a good long while…check and see what other Rodeo owners are getting from their pads on an Isuzu site…You may be in line with them.
Make sure you arent a Brake Rider…I see this constantly on the road…a nice long downhill descent…and the person in front of me has the brakes on from top to bottom…just heating up the rotors and wasting the pads…there is no need for this at all…so pay attention to that.