chalkjhawk79

Let me start off by saying I am by no means a mechanic. However, I'd like to tackle changing the brake rotors and pads on my truck. I happened to run into a Ford master mechanic at my buddy's super bowl party yesterday and the advice he gave me was to go with just a standard set of rotors, and a middle of the road set of pads. I'm trying to determine what I should get (O'Reilly seems to have the best selection in my area). Any suggestions on what to avoid on Brake Pads? My stock brake pads have always left a residue on my rims which look bad and I want to buy new pads that won't allow that. But, I don't need "performance" pads (or Rotors) either. Below are a few options I've been looking at. I'm a little worried about the price jump between the cheapest and the second cheapest set of rotors (goes from $50.99 to $107.99). Any help would be much appreciated!

Rotors:
$50.99
$107.99

Brake Pads:
$18.99 per set
$34.99 per set
$43.99 per set
$49.99 per set

GATORB8

Rockauto.com has a bigger selection on the rotors. You can get the OEM rotors for cheaper than those Wagners.

That said, I've never had a problem with the cheap brakebest rotors on my other trucks.

I've heard a lot of good things about Hawk pads.

foolwitools

I did mine last fall. As I remember the front rotors were about $85 each for better quality rotors.... my total was $345 tax and all from advanced auto parts.

the residue thing on the front rotors is tuff to get away from no matter what pads you put on.

do yourself a favor and take off the rear tires/wheels a while before your gonna do the brakes and use lots-0-penatrating oil where the rotors meet the center hub of the axle. this area usually gets rusty and makes getting the old rear rotors off a real pain.

Bob the Fool

guage

You get what you pay for. Buy a mid to high end set of pads (motocraft) and motocraft rotors. You need pads that have denser metalic compound to eliminate the black rim dusting. Cheaper pads will ruin a new set of rotors in no time and you'll get poor and noisy braking. To get the rear rotors off might be a chore. Remove the backing plate adjuster plug and spray a good rust solvent in there to free up emergency brake adjusters. Due to the rust ridge on inside of drum you have to back off the adjusters all the way to release the rotor from the emergency shoes. Good luck!