ELF150

Coming up on 50K miles. Going to replace brakes with Powerstop Z36. The economical side of my brain questions wether or not to replace the rotors since it doubles the price (over
$500 for all 4). School me up with science and experience. There is no warpage or gouging of the factory rotors. I do tow and some mild off roading but otherwise drive like a grandpa (%75 of the time).
Also, battery recomendations?

robbgt

I had the "base" power stop kit on my last f150 and was very happy. Will do the same when this truck needs brakes. The base kit Doesn't have the cross drilled and slotted rotors, but you don't actually gain anything from that on these trucks...

Keep in mind there is a procedure to put the electric parking brake in service mode to replace rotors. Something to keep in mind.

As for battery - East Penn / Deka OR Odyssey / Northstar.

kkonyha

Why fix what isn't broken?

Pikapp

Agree, spoke to a friend of mine who's a Ford Tech about upgrading the pads and rotors due to the 8K towing I do each year. Was told the MC pads and rotors are more than adequate to handle my towing, no need to spend $$ needlessly.

Napalm

Are they worn out. Ie pads to wear indicators?

If not leave them a whil. Get your money out of them

Rotors today tend to have thinner margin on wear so when the pad is shot the rotor is at or near minimum. Hence the common replacement. Also I hate drilled rotors with a passion. Looks but no real performance. Slotted are great but add noise

Frankenstien907

My front rotors were warped pretty good at 25k miles, they don't handle high speed heavy braking very well. I replaced mine fronts with a kit from EBC, the yellow pads with dimpled and slotted. Followed break in instructions, so far so good, did some heavy braking from high speeds, they do well.

Taggart

Dealerships and some shops will try to tell you machining the rotors back to a perfect surface is necessary, and if they're too thin to machine they must be replaced. Not true. As long as they aren't warped, gouged, or worn too thin (which is unlikely at 50K), the rotors don't need to be machined or replaced.

tvsjr

If you don't care about a minor braking performance upgrade and minor improvement in heat dissipation, running the Z36 pads on OEM rotors will work just fine.

FordGate

If you aren't getting any pulsation on braking I would leave them until the next time.

C17chief

I’d leave them if they are in good shape. Check them with a micrometer if you want that warm fuzzy. Lots of variables with just how far they’ll go like rotor quality, pad composition, typical braking style/application, etc so lifetime is all over the map. I think most that aren’t cheap/thin rotors to start with and/or used hard will survive a second set of pads just fine, sometimes beyond, without exceeding spec.

Changing them out just because when decent ones were like $30ea is one thing, but @ over $100ea these days, maybe not so much if they are still in good shape. It’s just a chunk of metal when it comes down to it after all. Def change them if they are at or exceed min thickness when changing pads tho regardless how they look.