Brakes

[Greenman]

Is there any real difference between the super heavy duty from power stop and others and standard OEM pads and rotors?
I drive an F150 with tool boxes, lumber racks, and often pull a dump trailer (around 7k pounds loaded). I've never gotten more than 30k miles out of a set of pads, and often warp the rotors. I'm wondering if it makes any sense to buy the aftermarket stuff that's supposed to exceed OEM specs. I tried powerstop once, got the same 30k out of them. I have no problem spending money on brakes, if the parts cost a thousand bucks then they cost a thousand bucks, I just need my truck to stop and not have to replace them every eighteen months.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

You need a better trailer. I'm assuming you know how to balance the load on the trailer. F150s are a poor tow vehicle.

 

[mindless1]

30K mi. is all I would expect when hauling or towing with an F150 unless they were all easy highway miles.

Were you experiencing brake fade? Are there long hills where you're using brakes most of the time to slow down?

Heavy/severe duty is more about how the material responds to elevated temperature, and some won't stop as well until they get hot, and some eat up rotors faster. Often when they state longer lasting they mean specifically in a severe duty, hot running scenario.

Are you in a salted winter road area? Coated rotors can help there to reduce rust buildup rate in the cooling vanes.

Slotted rotors can reduce the rate of warpage (often hard areas on the rotor rather than the whole thing warping) but at the expense of shorter lifespan.

Is it the time or the expense doing the brakes every 18 months? Personally I would get a set of lifetime warranty ceramic pads from Autozone and their 3 year warranty rotors. At least then you only have the hassle rather than the expense... unless you won't DIY, then ask local shops if they have a brake service package that includes lifetime labor too.

 

[Greenman]

You need a better trailer. I'm assuming you know how to balance the load on the trailer. F150s are a poor tow vehicle.

It's a pretty good trailer. Tandem axle, 10 ply tires, hydraulic dump and electric brakes. Tows like a dream. The truck has never had an issue pulling it or stopping it, it's just that my front brakes wear out a lot.

 

[Greenman]

30K mi. is all I would expect when hauling or towing with an F150 unless they were all easy highway miles.

Were you experiencing brake fade? Are there long hills where you're using brakes most of the time to slow down?

Heavy/severe duty is more about how the material responds to elevated temperature, and some won't stop as well until they get hot, and some eat up rotors faster. Often when they state longer lasting they mean specifically in a severe duty, hot running scenario.

Are you in a salted winter road area? Coated rotors can help there to reduce rust buildup rate in the cooling vanes.

Slotted rotors can reduce the rate of warpage (often hard areas on the rotor rather than the whole thing warping) but at the expense of shorter lifespan.

Is it the time or the expense doing the brakes every 18 months? Personally I would get a set of lifetime warranty ceramic pads from Autozone and their 3 year warranty rotors. At least then you only have the hassle rather than the expense... unless you won't DIY, then ask local shops if they have a brake service package that includes lifetime labor too.

Brakes work fine, they just don't last. The cost of replacement isn't the issue, it's just having to do it, or paying someone to do it.
No salt where I live, so rust isn't an issue at all. I'd be thrilled if I could spend six or eight hundred on parts and get three years out of them, but it looks like that isn't going to happen.

 

[mindless1]

Most places can do a pad and rotor job within an hour, for $300 or less per axle. Depending on the specific parts you can DIY for $200 or less per axle (the first time, then free parts if they're wearing out in 18 mos but have a longer warranty, unless it's pro-rated and that's still something), in half an hour if there's no rust issues.

That does not seem like it's that big a deal. It could easily coincide with one of your tire rotations so you have to have it jacked up or on a lift with the wheels off anyway to rotate them, effectively making a pad and rotor swap only ~15 minutes more work.

While I was at it, I'd also inspect the suspension, grease the ball joints and tie rod ends if they are greaseable (Ford factory parts probably aren't, but you could have upgraded aftermarket by now if you're putting on 30K mi every 1.5 years), and check everything else in the vicinity that's easier while it's lifted and the tire is off.

 

[boomerang]

It would be helpful to tell us what year the truck is so that more specific research could be done for you. But lacking that, here goes.

You need to research if somebody makes a brake kit that includes larger diameter rotors. You need more breaking area. Larger rotors will more than likely mean having to change out the calipers too. The idea is to allow for larger pads. The limitation, assuming someone makes a kit, is going to be clearance on the inside of the wheels.

The second thing to tackle would be getting more braking force transferred to the rear wheels. What comes from the factory is a compromise and it's not working for the way you use your truck. Tool boxes, lumber racks and the tongue weight of the trailer are putting a lot more weight on the rear of the vehicle than Ford likely set the truck up for from the perspective of brake bias. The solution could be a proportioning valve that would be installed to allow for adjustment for more rear brake bias when the truck is loaded. You would adjust that for less brake bias when the truck is not loaded as heavily. I am assuming that the trailer is not always being towed. They typically have a knob that can be turned in the direction needed but there may be other solutions. ABS may mean that installing one would be an impossibility.

You might want to call Wilwood or Summit Racing or even a local reputable shop that does performance work.

 

[Greenman]

It's a 2014.
Oversized rotors and calipers seems like overkill. The system works fine, even pulling the loaded trailer I never have fade or unreasonable stopping performance, it just wears out quickly.
I looked at a complete Brembo system, $5k, and no guaranty the brakes would last longer than 30k miles.
I thought that better quality components might last longer, but I haven't found anything or anyone to suggest that might be the case.
Looks like I'm stuck on the 30k treadmill.

 

[Sgt. York]

I thought you just bought a new puckup or was that five years ago?

 

[Greenman]

I thought you just bought a new puckup or was that five years ago?

It was 5 years ago. Time moves a lot faster as you get older.

 

[herm0016]

is your truck drum rear brakes?

i just did brakes on my gmc, i dont tow much, maybe once a month or so. got the oem stuff as it lasted 90k on my last truck. the stuff that was on it was some cheap junk from the PO.

are your trailer brakes working properly? if you use it all the time, may be time to check those pads. also, does it have brakes on both axles or just one?

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Although I originally bought my Trooper to pull a 1,800 lb camper-trailer and various 4-wheelin' adventures, it doesn't get that sort of workout these days.

I had the ball-joints (upper and lower) and the shocks (KYB MonoMax) replaced last year, on top of a CV-Joint for the torn boot and a sway-bar bushing. For whatever reason the repair shop gave in regard to my own inconvenience, they replaced the front brake pads with the "Heavy Duty" variety -- ostensibly "for free", but they were cheating me by overcharging labor by $250 and marking up each and every part unit by $30 over their competitor price for the same brands and models.

For my SUV, there's not that much difference in the outlay for the heavy-duty versus the standard. I always get heavy-duty models, including the shocks, even if I don't need 'em.

 

[Greenman]

is your truck drum rear brakes?

i just did brakes on my gmc, i dont tow much, maybe once a month or so. got the oem stuff as it lasted 90k on my last truck. the stuff that was on it was some cheap junk from the PO.

are your trailer brakes working properly? if you use it all the time, may be time to check those pads. also, does it have brakes on both axles or just one?

Disk brakes all the way around. Trailer is single axle brakes, I've thought about adding them to the second axle, but it's rare that I load the trailer to capacity.

 

[Meghan54]

Ran a set of EBC Yellow Stuff pads on the front of my '03 Silverado that I tow with quite a bit. After 5 years, I dumped the pads....not because they were worn or didn't stop well any longer. They still had excellent cold and hot bite. What made me change to another pad (Hawk LTS) was the damned EBC's dusted like nothing else.

And while the Hawk pads are doing quite well, they don't have quite the cold bite the EBC's had. Then again, they don't dust nearly as bad as the EBC's.

 

[JCH13]

Yes, different pads will work differently than OEM pads.

I'd put $1 on you're not actually warping the rotors, just getting spotty pad material transfer if you're holding the brakes at a stop after they get hot. If your F150 is in tow-haul mode you won't need brakes to stay still at a stop sign or red light, usually. How do I know these things? I tow and haul with a 2014 F150. The brakes currently 'feel warped' but are just spotted with brake pad material.

Go get some Wagner OEx pads. They were developed on the F150 and they are a really nice pad for not a lot of money. Supposedly lasts up to 2x longer than conventional pads. I haven't used them long enough to comment on that, but I put them on my GX470 (which I also tow and haul with) and they've been wonderful.

 

[Greenman]

I'll look into the wagner and ECB pads.

JCH13, your right about the rotors having crap stuck to them. Sometimes I get a lot of shimmy when stopping, other times none at all. Has to be buildup.

 

[Greenman]

The Wagner pads seem to have a lot of noise complaints.

 

[JCH13]

The Wagner pads seem to have a lot of noise complaints.

Amazon.com

It's interesting that 3/27 of reviews complain about lots of noise while more reviews say 'quiet' or 'silent' which makes me think some people are not installing them properly. Maybe messing up the guide clips? I can't say for sure. Like I said, I have had them on my GX470 for 15k miles, no noise at all for me.

*shrug*

 

[WackyDan]

2012 F-150 here with 42k miles... Nearly 15k of those miles towing - though many of those towing miles are long distance versus short around town heavy braking. 8000 pound trailer, and I'm pretty close to needing new rotors (turned once already) and new pads. *Live salt free in NC foot hills.

I too thought about the Power Stop brakes but I just don't think for the money they buy me a whole lot of function. I think in specific braking scenarios they might be better, but I don't tow like a moron so there's that.

There are some rotors and pads on Amazon that people are really happy with that are rated heavier duty than OEM and for the same price. I'm likely going that path.

 

[Greenman]

2012 F-150 here with 42k miles... Nearly 15k of those miles towing - though many of those towing miles are long distance versus short around town heavy braking. 8000 pound trailer, and I'm pretty close to needing new rotors (turned once already) and new pads. *Live salt free in NC foot hills.

I too thought about the Power Stop brakes but I just don't think for the money they buy me a whole lot of function. I think in specific braking scenarios they might be better, but I don't tow like a moron so there's that.

There are some rotors and pads on Amazon that people are really happy with that are rated heavier duty than OEM and for the same price. I'm likely going that path.

I tried the powerstop setup, rotors and pads. They made 32k miles and were done.
I just ordered the Wagner OEX pads, need to figure out which rotors to go with if mine are toast.

 

[JCH13]

need to figure out which rotors to go with if mine are toast.

Anything you want. The conventional wisdom is that there are only a couple brake rotor foundries, so whatever you get is likely to be just as good as anything else as far as material quality goes.

I typically get Autozone lifetime rotors or inexpensive ones on RockAuto. Never been disappointed by either.