Bad Brakes

[Joe Johnson]

I just had 900 dollars of work done on my front brakes. Supposedly Ford put higher end equipment on the S/T when they built it but I do a lot of mountain driving and my mechanic who I've trusted for many years told me that the heat from braking basically ruined everything, the pads were crystallized, the calipers were seized and the rotors were blueish from the heat. So, my question is, now that I have new everything on the front, how do I keep this from happening again since I drive up and down the mountains a lot?:angry:

 

[Ed Fenwick]

Hi Joe, do you use the transmission to help slow the truck downhill?

 

[Vic Sorlie]

Use a higher quality brake fluid and have your brakes inspected more often.

 

[Joe Johnson]

Well I started using the transmission to slow the vehicle down the other day. never really knew that before i started talking to one of the locals. What is a higher quality brake fluid? I'm pretty sure I use a national brand.

 

[Vic Sorlie]

You can compare the boiling points of your current brake fluid to that of the AMSOIL products. Whatever fluid you use should be changed every two years or more often with heavy use; from your post I'd recommend annually. Your real issue however is brake use in severe service, which is why you should look at them more often.

 

[Richard L]

You never said how many miles you have on your "New" brakes or how long ago the brake job was done?



Of course driving in the mountains is going to be much harder on the brakes, and if you are riding the brakes going down hill it will cause the brakes to get very hot.



Also, if you have a caliper sticking it will cause the brakes to get too hot and glaze the pads and overheat the discs.



It's also possible that the mechanic goofed up the install? or perhaps overlooked something. Perhaps he put the wrong brake fluid in, or failed to flush out the old fluid? Maybe he just used cheap brake pads and rotors, designed for normal driving and they were not up to the task of your mountain driving?



If you did not have anything wrong with your factory brakes, then I suspect that your mechanic accidently missed something, used the wrong parts, or did not replace "Everything" he said. Maybe he bought cheap parts or took some shortcuts to enhance his profits. I think it's one or a combination of the them.



...Rich

 

[EddieS'04]

I agree with Richard. Standard pads and rotors, dont cut it for severe service.

The extra heat is also what damaged the caliper piston O-ring. Causing the seazing. Along with boiling the fluid.

Hawk brand possibly has the widest selectin of pads. For severe service as yours. Some of them are designed to disapate heat better. Yours might be a service for slotted rottors.

 

[Joe Johnson]

Thanks for the help everyone... It all works good right now, guess I'll have to learn how to mountain drive a little better.:driving:

 

[Johnny O]

Downshift out of OD when going down long hills.

I've had good luck with NAPA Ultra Premium rotors and their ceramic pads.

 

[Gavin Allan]

Be careful. Brake pads are a lot cheaper than transmissions...