Front Brake pads; '04 Sport Trac

[Adam Smith]

Just got back from shop, tires rotated among other things, and mechanic said I'm down to 5% on right front brakes (25% on left - ?); might have to turn rotor. This is at 34,000 miles. Is this normal wear?

Any suggestions on what kind of pads to get? I'll but them myself and have them install on lift.

BTW, I'm in San Diego, wondering if there is a "best" store to buy them. Thank you.

 

[Rodger Tellefson]

Raybestos QuietStop Ceramic, great pads.

 

[Jeff C]

Friction Master Ceramic

 

[shawn stonbraker 2]

Friction Master Ceramics here also and love them. Got them at Advance Auto.

 

[Adam Smith]

Just checked out the website for Advance Auto, they say the ceramic brake pads wear up to 40% faster than semi-metallic. Is the advantage simply noise and dust reduction? Thanks.

 

[shawn stonbraker 2]

Adam, I didn't see that on there. If it sates that, it's a misprint. They wear slower than semi-metallic. Here is a desciption of brake pads from tirerack.com.

 

[Adam Smith]

Thanks. Any opinions, is it generally best to order online or are prices about the same as walkiing into a shop?

 

[Richard L]

dbk747,

Be sure to check out those calipers. That uneven wear would indicate to me that one of your calipers is sticking. I personally would replace both calipers with remanufactured units. You can get them for about $30-$50 each with 50K mile or even lifetime warranties. I replace the front calipers on every brake job, and I do a front brake job every 50K miles so I can get new calipers for free under the warranty.



If you keep your old calipers, be sure to open the bleed screws before you push the pistons back in. You don't want to push that dirty old fluid back up into your ABS system or you may be in for some expen$$ive repairs. Yes, you will need to bleed your brakes afterwards, but you probably need to flush the brake fluid anyway. Actually you should flush and replace all your brake fluid every 2-3 years. I flush my brake fluid every time I do a brake job since that a very convenient time to do it.



If you are not doing the brake job yourself, find out what the shop is doing in their brake job....Many of them take a lot of short cuts because they know they can slap new pads in, turn the rotors and have you on your way, ignorant and happy .... for about a year and then the problems start.



And for God's sake, don't go to Just-Brakes. They are notorious con men. They may fix your brakes but will charge you a lot more than most other reputable shops will because they often replace parts uneccessarily. If you have any abnormal brakes symptoms, they will automatically replace expensive things like mastercylinders, and ABS units, etc which rarely go bad. They also alway quote you a very low price, but you will never get out of the door with new brakes at the quoted price.



...Rich



...Rich

 

[Adam Smith]

Thanks for that info, Rich, sounds good. I can bring this printout to my mechanic who does all my work (I used to do all my own stuff years ago!). A few questions:

1. could this be a factory warranty issue? 3 yrs since I bought the truck new from dealer.

2. recommendations on where to get remanufactured calipers?

3. I usually bring my own parts to the shop; recommendations on brake fluid?

Thank you!

 

[Richard L]

dbk747,



1. No. Brakes are not covered under the factory warranty after 12 months or 12 miles, and only then if it is not a "Normal wear" issue.



2. I get my remanufactured calipers at the local autopart stores, like AutoZone, O'Reilly's, Pep Boys, NAPA, etc. Check around and compare prices and warranties. You will need to return your old calipers (there is a core charge) so make sure you get them back from your mechanic and return them ASAP to get your core charge refunded. I do not recommend paying more money to get a LifeTime warranty, since I always do a brake job just before the 50K mile caliper warranty is up. Since I always get between 45K and 50K miles on a set of front brake pads, that works out to about 2-3 brake jobs over the life of the vehicle (150K-200K miles)



3. Any brand of brake fluid should be fine for a street driven vehicle as long as it meets or exceeds the DOT specs for your vehicle. If you are going to have your brake fluid flushed, bring plenty. Your mechanic will need close to a quart of fluid. You can keep the rest to top off your master cylinder if the level drops as the brakes wear. However, brake fluid is hydroscopic (absorbs water from the atmosphere) and has a limited shelf life after it is opened. If it's over a year old, I would throw it away. You don't want to put that contaminated fluid into your brake system, it will lead to corrosion forming in your brakes, especially in the calipers since they are the lowest points in the braking system, and that leads to calipers sticking, which is probably your problem now.



Lastly, make sure your mechanic lubes the caliper slide pins and the brake pad tabs that slide on the caliper frame. There is a special grease designed for use on brake components to help keep the moving parts from sticking but does not melt and run all over everything when it gets hot...and it will get very hot.



...Rich

 

[Tom Schindler]

I am partial to Performnce Friction Carbon Metallic pads. 78,000 miles on the original rotors and I only turned them once. The shop removed less than .005" on each side of the rotor. At this rate, my rotors will last the life of my vehicle.





Tom

 

[WXMotorSports DecalsPartsAccs]

Hawk pads and I sell them.