Jeep, Ram and Dodge brake service in Queens, done where the truck is parked

What tends to wear on each one

We confirm the brake package from the VIN before quoting, because a Charger with the Brembo option and a base Charger take different parts at very different prices.

Why these trucks eat brakes

Mass. A Grand Cherokee weighs well over two tons, a Ram 1500 with a crew cab more than that, and every stop turns that weight into heat at four rotors. City driving in Queens is worst for it: stop-and-go on Northern Boulevard, short trips, a lot of braking from low speed, and the rotors never get the highway airflow that cools them. So pads wear faster than the mileage interval suggests, and rotors, which on these vehicles are large and heavy, warp from heat cycling and give you the steering-wheel shake under braking that most owners describe as a warped rotor.

Lift kits and oversized tires make it worse on Wranglers. A bigger tire is a longer lever against the brake, so the stock pads and rotors work harder for the same stop. If the Jeep has been lifted and the brakes have not been upgraded, expect to do pads more often, and expect the rears to go sooner than you would think.

The electronic parking brake question

Newer Grand Cherokees, Durangos, Rams and the Chrysler 300 use an electronic parking brake that lives inside the rear calipers. Before the rear pads can come out, the motor has to be commanded to retract with a scan tool. Push the pads back without doing that and the motor strips, which turns a pad job into a caliper job.

We bring the tool that puts the system into service mode and takes it back out again, and we calibrate it after, so the parking brake holds the way it did before. It is a routine part of a rear brake job on these trucks, and it is the reason a rear pad job on a 2019 Grand Cherokee costs a little more than on a 2012.

What a brake job on one of these involves

Measure first. Pad thickness on all four corners and rotor thickness against the minimum stamped on the rotor, because on a truck this heavy a rotor that measures thin will warp again in a month if it is machined and put back. If the rotors are within spec and true, pads alone is a real option and we say so. If they are thin or warped, pads and rotors on that axle.

Then the job: wheels off, calipers off, slide pins cleaned and greased, new pads with new clips and shims, new or resurfaced rotors, everything torqued to spec, and a bed-in procedure on a road test so the new pads seat evenly and do not glaze. On a Ram or a Wrangler with heavy wheels that is a bigger physical job than on a Civic, and we bring the jack and stands rated for it.

Brake labor starts at $95 and the parts are quoted for your exact vehicle, axle and brake package before we book. The number does not move at the curb.

Dealer, chain, or us

The Jeep and Ram dealers in Queens and on Long Island do fine brake work with factory parts and factory prices, plus the drive there and the wait. The chains that rank for brake repair in Queens tend to quote low and add rotors and hardware at the counter. We come to the truck in Flushing, Jamaica, Astoria, Bayside or wherever it is parked, use quality aftermarket or factory-equivalent parts sized for the vehicle, and the price you were quoted is the price. The truck never leaves your driveway.

Queens, Long Island and the rest of NYC

Jeeps and Rams are everywhere in eastern Queens and Nassau, and a lot of them are work trucks that cannot spend a day at a dealer. We do brakes at the house, at the job site and at the yard, across Queens, Brooklyn, the Bronx, Manhattan, Staten Island and Long Island. Text the year, model, and whether it shakes, grinds or squeals, and we quote the axle that needs doing.

Common questions