OEM pads on 2000 Concorde lasted 125K miles

[ledslinger]

Put some Wearever Silver semi metallic (FE) pads on my wife's 2000 Chrysler Concorde today. The original pads had about 1/8" to 3/16" of friction material at 125K miles. I got the car with about 55K miles and have been amazed with how long the OEM pads lasted. I'm familiar with the history of the car, got the service records from the dealer who took care of it. I'm confident they were the original pads.

The rotors are almost perfect too. They have always been smooth so I didn't even check them for run out. Only minor small grooves. I sanded them a bit and reinstalled. Silky smooth now.

 

[crazyoildude]

original pads? How many transmissions??

 

[901Memphis]

If you got it at 55k how do you know they are oem pads?

 

[NHGUY]

Originally Posted By: 901Memphis
If you got it at 55k how do you know they are oem pads?

He stated he had service records.

 

[CT8]

Good driving !

 

[mclasser]

Originally Posted By: crazyoildude
How many transmissions??

 

[demarpaint]

That's pretty impressive. You'd never see that in the NY metro area or living on Long Island.

 

[tomcat27]

I couldn't get 125k out of my original LH engine!

 

[montero1]

Originally Posted By: crazyoildude
original pads? How many transmissions??

 

[buck91]

All highway? Also, I'm not familiar with that vehicle; is the braking system a little over-sized compared to the vehicle?

 

[Ram01]

Transmission fluid must be flushed

 

[ledslinger]

The transmission is original and works perfect, always has. I did a pan drop, filter and cooler line exchange at about 58K miles, then two dipstick tube pump outs at about 120K. Valvo ATF4 the first time, Super Tech for the pump outs.

Changed the diff fluid at 60 and 120. Calls for non synth. Never figured out why but I went with dino anyway. Some of them puke diff fluid, so there's a revised vent tube and a lower level fill to fix. I fill all the way with the original vent tube without any puking.

The 2.7 V6 has been completely reliable, started running LL01 5W40 Euro oils when I started getting hot idle oil light. Gets 30 MPG highway when the temps are just below that which require AC use.

Maybe you're amazed at this supposed lemon's reliability, but I seem to able to make any car live.

Mostly short tripped, 8 miles to work for my wife. Some days its 4 miles to the pool, then 4 miles to work after swimming. Lots of Motul, Pentosin and Liqui Moly. Fuchs Titan after the next fill of Motul 8100 Excess 5W40.

The original Goodyear tires made it to 60K and the Yoko Avid Touring S will likely make it to 140K Their wet performance sucks, otherwise they are great. Probably will get Michelin Premier before next winter.

 

[Wampahoofus]

Brakes on LHs seem to hang around. The original owner of my 300M claims he never did them. I changed the fronts at 85k and I'm expecting 125k or so from the rears. I reused the front rotors too, after skimming .010" off.

Side note, the 2.7 was really pretty good if you caught the water pump before it started leaking too badly. With a new pump and timing chain tensioner at 100k most would have been saved. The 30 MPG would be nice too...I can't seem to do better than 26 with a 3.5.

 

[ledslinger]

On the way back from Florida in the RV, my brother was following me in the Concorde at 60 MPH. One tank he got 34 MPG. Steady speed, warmed up engine. This is a great highway car, that's where it really is at its best.

Save for a few mistakes, I give the engineers credit for most of the car. They worked hard and almost did well. Other than the engine sludging, shucking valves and dumping coolant into the pan, it is pretty good.

I did the rears on mine at about 100K miles. Maybe somebody drove with the parking brake on at some point. Rotors were fine.

 

[supton]

Pretty good job, especially considering it's an automatic. I would have gone OEM and hoped for the same sort of life, but odds are--whatever you use will last a good long time.

 

[Nick1994]

Brake pads I'm not too surprised they made it to 125k. The rest of the car, I am.