BaBar forward endcap RPCs

The BaBar detector has operated over 2000 m 2 of resistive plates chambers (RPCs) as muon and neutral hadron detectors since 1999. Most of the RPCs of the original production underwent a significant efficiency loss and many are now completely inefficient. During the summer 2002 new RPCs from a recent production were therefore installed to replace the old chambers in the forward endcap. The experience of the first 8 months of operation is described here.