13th Apr 2004, 08:39

We just brought our 2000 Grand Cherokee with 35K miles in to the dealership and were told that the rotors were warped and the front and rear breaks had to be replaced. We were told it was not under warranty (we have the 7/70 extended warranty) and would cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $700. It has nothing to do with how we drive. The jeep replaced a 1988 Bronco II which went 188K miles on the original rotors and only two sets of pads. My 1989 Peugeot has 100K miles on the original rotors, and still has the original rear brake pads (the front were replaced once at 75K miles). The issue is a lack of quality, and I am surprised that Chrysler will not stand behind its products. Needless to say, we are having aftermarket rotors and pads put on.

29th Jul 2004, 10:30

Having brake problems? I have a big issue with Chrysler and the POOR quality of their brake parts. Talking to Customer Care is a joke. Replaced one front set at 13k, and now at 25k it looks like another set. This time I'm buying NAPA heavy duty with a lifetime warranty.

10th Aug 2004, 15:01

Hmmmm, seems to me a lot of people have troubles changing from normal cars to SUVs. I am a long time SUV owner and I now own a 2000 Grand Cherokee Laredo. 57k on the original brake pads AND rotors.

The trick is, use your gears to slow down. Transmissions have gears for two reasons, one is to speed up, and the other is to slow down. The other trick to slowing down is that when you see the sign that says STOP AHEAD, you take your foot off from the accelerator. Then when your RPMs are down some, drop a gear. When they are down more, drop another gear. By the time you need are close enough to brake, you will only need to break for two or three seconds before being completely stopped.

I have seen problems like this on many SUVs. Not just Jeeps. This is all because people don't realize that their new SUV weighs up-words of 3 times (or more for the big boys) more than their old Toyota Camry.

11th Aug 2004, 14:05

Thanks for all of the useful comments about applying the brakes correctly. I am the first-time user of an SUV Jeep Grand Cherokee. My rotors were warped and I have had a lot of problems with noisy brakes. I believe the rotors were already warped when we purchased the Jeep, but the dealer would not address the problem. I did get my rotors turned down and hopefully can avoid further problems with the above advice.

I was interested in the comment from the Hamilton Law Office and I attempted to e-mail my address and apparently this was an invalid e-mail address. Pat, if you come back to this site would you please address this problem. Thanks.

19th Sep 2004, 12:34

Who is the moron? "Laid down a few _beens_", "they even will guarantee _breaks_". Hmmm... Maybe you should buy a dictionary before you belittle others. As far as easy braking goes, I had heard of light duty and heavy duty vehicles, but never gentle duty vehicles. Robust vehicles are designed for the typical driver. This includes the 45 mph freeway gentle braking grandpa as well as the 18 year old kid who out accelerates and out brakes you. That is clearly on the case with the Grand Cherokee. Perhaps we should avoid speed bumps and totally avoid any surface that isn't smooth asphalt or concrete. That is what suvs are for, right? On many Jeep forums it has been suggested that wheel imbalance causes the warping. This includes over and under inflating the tires, so it is not really a braking issue at all. Keep your inflation and balance in check and you should have no problems.

13th Oct 2004, 16:41

My wife and I bought her a 2000 GC to replace her 4wd '92 Aerostar. Previous to that she drove a S-10 Blazer and I've always driven pickups so we're not newcomers to heavier vehicles. We're experiencing brake problems similar to what is discussed. A mechanic friend told me that Jeep rotors are soft and that when rotations or other maintenance are done to the tires, the lugs should be hand torqued to between 85-105 lbs. The important part is not to let some goon with an air wrench crank them down as this will set each nut at a different torque and thus warp the rotors. This happened when I had the garage where we bought it rotate the tires and forgot to tell them about my hand tightening preference. New rotors down the drain. I hand torqued them after and this helped for a while, but the problem returned. What after market brands has anyone out there had good luck with and how much should I expect to spend? We like the vehicle, but this is a pain in the butt. We'll remember this when we go shopping for another vehicle.

27th Oct 2004, 09:02

I purchased a 2000 Grand Cherokee Laredo in March 2003, and I am having problems with the transmission. I have to wait till the car gets to a certain temperature to take reverse. I understand you need to wait till the car warms up, but regardless how cold the car is, there should not be a delay in shifting gears. I have taken it twice and they still do not find anything wrong with it. They told me a the transmission needed a flush. $150.00 than my car was cranking. I had to leave my foot on the pedal in order for it to remain on. They said it was the battery. $290.00 for everything, and my transmission is still delaying. I would like to take care of this before my warranty is over. Anyone please if you have had the same problem and was able to take care of it, could you please let me know. I'm about to contact Chrysler dealer Headquarter to complaint. What should I really do? Thank you very much.

13th Feb 2005, 13:40

There was a TSB issued by Chrysler on this problem.

They replaced the front caliper assy with a heavier duty version. Works great. I'm amazed that so many have replaced their warped rotors without being aware of this, it was issued in 2002.

29th Mar 2005, 15:21

I have the same problem as many others with their Jeep Cherokees front brakes. No help from customer service, basically told me they fixed my brakes twice (using the heavier calipers and still the same problem) and that I should be thankful for that. I feel that I should not have to baby stopping this car... it is a truck. Concerning weight of vehicle, my dads 75 Cadillac Sedan De Ville weighed more than this and it did not have this problem. Something is wrong here, the customer is not to blame and I should not have to go to aftermarket to properly re-engineer an expensive machine. Contemplated that my next vehicle would be a Mercedes, but after this experience (same company) am not impressed.

22nd Jun 2005, 10:00

I work for a dealership and its the brake rotors causeing the problems, but chrysler only wants to blame the owners and the dealership for not doing the job correctly or overheating the brakes. The give us no help at all. and when we try to help our customers they audit us!

Get the cross drilled rotors they will solve this issue.

7th Jul 2005, 21:48

I'm sorry to see that I'm not alone when it comes to brake problems with my 2002 JGC. The dealer replaced my calipers, rotors and pads at 11,800 miles which fixed the pulsation problem for awhile. The problem came back and I had it back to the dealer at 21,200 miles and was told that the rotors were warped again and I should replace them at a cost of about $400.00. The dealer refused to do anything for me other than resurface the rotors. I sent a letter to Chrysler, but even before reading these comments I didn't expect to get much help from them. I just wished I had read this column before I purchased this Jeep, even though this is my third, it will be my last.

31st Mar 2009, 20:27

I've had the brake problem described with my 99 GC. I also replaced the rotors multiple times with no improvement. I also replaced the rotor with aftermarket heavy duty rotors with no improvement. I am at my witts end.

14th Oct 2009, 21:43

2000 Grand Cherokee.

Brake lights, rotors, calipers, driver side door lock, vibrates when you hit the brakes and when you don't, rear end noise, transmission noise especially when you are reverse, transmission sounds like it is going to fall out if you have the Jeep set on cruise going up a hill.

174,000 miles, going to drive it until it blows up, transmission falls out or something.