Who makes a better van, Ford or Chev? (Venturing into religious fervor territory fearlessly…!)
While it’s hard to give an absolute concrete opinion, as far as brakes go the Ford is far superior.
One of our best clients has a fleet of 15 vans ranging from the late 1990s to brand new. Most are Fords but a few are Chevys. All day long these vans are loaded to capacity and the brakes work hard!
The big difference in the brakes is that the 3/4 Ton Chevy van’s brake pads are small; so small in fact that they are really suited for a mid sized car. The Ford’s pads are a truck sized pad and they last.
With the miniscule Chevy pads our client is lucky if the brakes last 20,000 kilometers before the pads wear out. In terms of the brakes I’d say that “Built Ford Tough” is probably true, at least compared to a Chevy Van.