If your Journey is getting close to 15K miles: PAY ATTENTION! and save yourself some money and stress of dealing with the dealership.
The wife noticed about a week ago that the brakes were getting kind-of grabby. I had the pleasure of driving it yesterday and they were definitely just that, grabby. It has 24K on the odometer, and I had no idea that this is a problem with all '09's. After a trip to the local parts store, about 90 dollars, and around 2 hours later, no more brake problems.
Now for some tricks: http://www.2carpros.com/how_to/rear_brake_pads.htm
The fronts are a piece of cake. Note how the pad retainer clips come out and put the new ones in the same way. The rears are a little trickier. In the above link, they say in step #7 to: "The reset tool winds the piston back into position so the new brake pads will fit. This style of brake caliper will not compress with a clamp tool; it can only be reset with the proper reset tool." You can make your own from a piece of 1/8" x 1 1/2" flat bar aluminum or steel (preferred). Cut a piece about 6 to 8 inches long. Notch out about 1 1/4 inches from the center of one end about 1/4 inch deep with a file (longer time) or bench grinder (way faster, but remember steel grinding disks are different from aluminum). You may have to use a cresent wrench to turn the caliper in while you hold the bar in place, but nothing too much bigger.
If you're mad at Dodge, why pay 300 dollars plus for a brake job.
Tags: Dodge, Journey, brakes, rear brakes, front brakes, brake caliper reset tool, squeaky brakes, grabby brakes.
I would imagine that the brake system in the Journey is way too underpowered for the size of the vehicle. If you want more miles out of your brakes, go to a quality pad and rotor from a performance brake manufacturer like EBC, BAER Brakes, Summit Racing, etc.
