Best Minivan Brakes?

Even though I am still working on getting the Sedona up to snuff, we took it for a Father's Day trip. I was hesitant because it carries no inspection yet and I have not had the chance to poke around underneath, but it runs great so I said what the heck. We went to Ohiopyle, and as we descended into the town down a MASSIVELY steep hill, the brakes started smelling pretty bad and the pedal went pretty soft. I never lost braking completely, but with 6 people and our gear on board, it was scary to say the least.  I parked and let them cool at the bottom of the hill, and man they smelled burnt!  So brakes are on the list to be addressed.  

The question is, what causes this?  Could it be just too much weight?  Would this happen with any pads/rotors? Is it old fluid that got too hot?  I mean, when you smell the brakes on a semi burning, what exactly is causing that?  

I'll pull it all apart this week and replace what needs it, so any advice on brake pads for the minivan set?  I am guessing Hawk Track Pads are out.  

LOL, Tire Rack has Brembo Pads and Rotors for the Sedona, rated for Autocross use. Tempting...

I'd skip rotors. In my experience, rotors have very little to do with any braking performance, assuming they're in good condition. 

On most used cars, I'd do a bleed out of an abundance of caution, and probably replace the pads. I feel like the pads are the one thing that improves braking performance more than anything else.

Brakes work by creating friction and that friction causes heat.  Lots of friction equals lots of heat and that can cause brake fires in extreme situations, but usually just causes some bad smells and maybe some smoke.  This heat can cause the brake fluid to boil, especially if the fluid at the calipers is older and has moisture in it.

Check the pads for glazing/wear, flush the fluid and keep on rolling.  They were working as designed, if not a bit outside of their design parameters, but if the brakes seem to overheat often or fail to work as well, then perhaps look at changing pad compounds or components.

I suspect changing the brake fluid, which likely hasn't been changed recently and is now "boiled" will help quite a lot if the situation occurs again.  Brake fluid needs to be bleed relatively often to ensure fresh fluid is at the calipers, especially after heavy use (which is why many racers bleed their brakes after every event).  A full flush on an unknown car can help quite a bit.

Back in 1987 we did the Mt. Washington descent in my mothers’ 1985 Dodge GC.  Grandpa drove and we were loaded down.  The brakes were never quite right again after that (warped the rotors and probably toasted the pads).

Last summer I did it again in my brothers’ 2012 Dodge GC and it was perfectly fine.  Clearly hot and even smelled a bit but they were (and are) fine.  

My point is that new minivan design is pretty overkill and yours probably just needs a fluid flush to be all good again.

I usually select a lower gear if the decent is very steep.  I did warp the rotors in my 4Runner once driving aggressively in the mountains one day I had to replace them.  

KyAllroad (Jeremy) said:

Back in 1987 we did the Mt. Washington descent in my mothers’ 1985 Dodge GC.  Grandpa drove and we were loaded down.  The brakes were never quite right again after that (warped the rotors and probably toasted the pads).

Last summer I did it again in my brothers’ 2012 Dodge GC and it was perfectly fine.  Clearly hot and even smelled a bit but they were (and are) fine.  

My point is that new minivan design is pretty overkill and yours probably just needs a fluid flush to be all good again.

With our Pacifica Hybrid, we used the braking of the generator/motor to charge the battery (up to 18% on a couple of the hills) instead of overloading the brakes.  We were already at 5000lbs before adding 4 adults, 2 toddlers, car seats, luggage, rooftop carrier, etc.  I'd suspect were closer to 6500lbs than we may have known.  So yeah the improvements in engineering of modern cars is truly impressive.

Are the pads aftermarket or OEM?  Most OEM pads today are ceramic? Correct me if I'm wrong.

So, perhaps a lesser quality pad was installed at some point?  What year vehicle?

I've never had a problem with the MPV, and I've gone down some long, steep grades, but I always shift to a lower gear to control the descent so I'm not constantly applying the brakes.

I'd change the pads as those are likely glazed.  Use a good OEM quality pad of the same formulation as stock.  Change the fluid if its more than two years old.

there always is the question of braking on a long decent.

Interval braking , gives the brake a chance to cool

Steady lite braking just enough to maintain speed.

 which is better ?

One easy check is with the van running and in park put medium pressure on the brake pedal, like the amount you would sitting at a stop sign, for maybe ten seconds or so. If the pedal slowly sinks down you have a bad master cylinder (assuming there are no leaks anywhere) if it holds steady it is good. 

That hill will do that to almost anything.  I downshift for it.

What year Sedona?

Around 2011/2012 i know Chrysler and I think Honda started offering larger front brakes which later became the standard equipment.

Worth checking if there is a later model year upgrade that larger and is simply a bolt on affair with a caliper bracket (and rotors and calipers and pads etc). 

My 2011 "small" brakes are super sucky and I can get get them stinking with the most lightly spirited driving. 

In reply to pinchvalve :

I've had great results with NAPA's Adaptive One line on our bloated pig of a Toyota Sienna. My wife has warped two sets of rotors already....

The Adaptive One pads work well and last well The latest set of rotors are also Napa - their top of the line coated ones, and so far, seem to be holding up. 

And interval braking. PLEASE! Give the brakes (and rotors) a chance to cool, and don't just stand on the brakes once you reach the bottom either (like if there's a stop sign) because the rotor will cool unevenly. 

Thanks for the input. Full disclosure, I was clipping along like I was in the Fiesta and didn't notice that the hill had gotten so steep so fast.  There were some sharp curves that I had to really slow for, so I am sure that driver error was a factor. I went down a few more hills using the manu-matic shifting to hold a lower geat and had no further issues. 

I am pretty certain that the fluid is old and who knows about the pads, so both will get a change. I'll hold off on ordering rotors, but when I pull them if they are bad, they will go too.

The internet seems to agree on Napa pads for bloated minivans, so that may be may choice. 

iceracer said:

there always is the question of braking on a long decent.

Interval braking , gives the brake a chance to cool

Steady lite braking just enough to maintain speed.

 which is better ?

Interval braking.

Steady "speed maintenance" braking, on a bicycle, can get the front rim so hot that the tire blows off.  Or comes unglued, on a tubular.

This is why tandems and even some serious touring bikes will also have a hub brake in addition to the rim brakes.  The one I rode used a shifter type lever to control the hub brake, so you'd just apply it and it would stay "trimmed" at that brake level.

Anyway, this isn't a problem if you brake more firmly and then let off.

Put stainless lines and the powerstop kit from TireRack on the Odyssey.  With the weight up front, combined with some spirited minivan driving, the front rotors have consistently warped - but not anymore.  Stopping distance seems considerably better and pedal feel improved with the stainless lines. Definetly overkill but it works well.

I keep seeing warped rotors mentioned, are they really warped or just material being deposited on the rotors by hot pads?

I went with the full kit from Max Brakes on out 2010 Sedona.  I went with the drilled and slotted top of the line kit. 

Haven’t had it on a Mt Washington type descent, but overall they are holding up well. We did take it to NYC and DC and no issues stopping when confronted with the typical traffic and sudden stops.