Gary,

My job before my current position was a "lemon-law" arbitrator for Chrysler
corp., so I think I can speak to your problem with a little bit of know-how.

All modern cars have "brake wear indicators", which are little stubs of
metal designed to produce a loud scraping noise when the pads wear down to
the point that they need to be replaced.  If your brakes are scraping, then,
yes, they need to be replaced immediately.

It's likely that your 150, which is built on a full-size truck frame, has
front disk and rear drum brakes.  This is pretty standard.  If you do much
driving in town, braking often for lights, brake pad wear will be faster
than the equivalent number of miles of highway driving.  I would not be
suprised at the need for new pads at 20K miles if you are doing much city
driving---particularly if you have a chair lift.  The added weight means
that your brakes work harder to stop your van, therefore, they would wear
quicker.

I would go ahead and spring for the pads, but insist that the mechanic show
you, if not outright give you, the old pads to show you the wear.  Do
yourself a big favor and have the rotors (front disk brake surfaces) and/or
drums (rear brake surfaces which the pads press against) "turned".  This
means to have them ground glass smooth.  It will increase the lifespan of
your new brake pads many times over.  The additional cost is not bad, and
even will probably be in the mechanic's quote.

Hope this helps.

-Kyle

-----Original Message-----
From: Gary Peterson
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: 7/13/02 3:52 AM
Subject: Daaa breaks on daaa van

Howdy!!!

So godda question for yawl.  Earlier this week, I had my Ford van
taken in for its 2000 mile checkup.

So the guy from Ford called me &said everything was fine, but
that I should think about having my front breaks replaced in
another 1000 miles. When I asked him why, he said the lining or
padding on my breaks was down to 3 millimeters.  He says once
they get down to 2 millimeters, they start to become unsafe.

Based on how much I drive my van (Some days up to 100 miles) I
think he's probably right.  But I wanted to see if all you
vehicle freaks out there had any thoughts or advice for me.  For
those of you who don't know, my van is a 2000 Ford Club Wagon
150.

Thanks!!-Gary