Haven't done my F150 brakes yet but did the fronts on my wife's Edge this past winter. Got pads and rotors at Auto Zone, pads are lifetime warranty and rotors are two year (no mileage factor) warrenty. Pads and rotors about $150.

:thumbsup:

FYI I have to do this on a pretty regular basis. (1-2 times a month) I'm getting better brakes when I need them. I'm pretty easy on my brakes most of the time. I coast to stop most of the time. (total opposite of my wife)

Maybe their guy ran the lugs downs with a impact gun over torque. Incidentally I hate torque sticks but that's another rant.

anywho - you might have a different issue but try the occasionally hard brake - like doing it in a parking lot or whatever makes you comfortable.

But they did that when I brought it in because of the brakes to begin with, after torqueing them myself. Anytime anyone touches my lugnuts, I retorque them myself. I've been doing it for at least 15 years ever since I had a bolt break off from overtorqued lugnuts on my Volkswagen. Every nut was a PITA to loosen so I brought it back and got the shop to replace the broken bolt and loosen them. The kid doing it probably had the air on max...

Has anyone tried just scuffing their rotors and putting some aftermarket ceramic pads on to fix this issue? I am not opposed to putting some drilled/slotted rotors on with better pads, but it would be cheaper to just sand my rotors which are still in pretty good shape, and put some decent ceramic pads or ebc's or something.

I guess i could just try and let you know, but wanted to see if anyone has tried already. typically I have just used the AutoZone Duralast Gold ceramic pads, and I have had good luck with those. They last a long time, and stop great.

THIS ALL DAY LONG! If you need a quick fix I've used a palm sander to take off brake pad deposits. Not what you really should do but it works OK as opposed to having rotors turned or replaced.......

Just make sure you clean off the rotor surface after sanding them..... :thumbsup:

^^^This is something a lot of people don't think about, the long slow stop might feel smooth but it 'can' cause a lot of heat. If you have that heat and either 'tap' or 'hold' your brakes after this type of stop you can get pad deposits on your rotor as well.

....been there done that lol

Since this thread has had a few new replies, I'll report in on my adjusted driving habits.

I am now braking a little later and a little harder, and it seems to be keeping my brake issues away. It felt like it was only the right front rotor that did it, but it's been mostly staying away when I do this later/harder braking thing. It comes back if I go a day or two without following this new regimen. This lends credence to the suspicion that my brake issues are related to pad material deposition.

-John

further aside - since it was brought up in this thread.

1) not all of what stoptech puts in their myth page is true either. Remember they are selling you on their parts too. Which are made in china - Stoptech is Centric.

2) Drilled rotors. Don't bother. Drilled rotors do little to nothing for modern pads and stopping ability. They might look cool but it doesn't help the pads outgas. Because modern ceramic pads don't outgas. Unless made correctly where the holes are drilled and reamed in 2 operations - they are prone to cracking in extremes.

3) slotted rotors. I recommend these but only to people that race. It isn't really for DD use. SLots if done right - sweep the pad face and help evacuate pad dust off the pad/rotor interface. It can also reduce the chance of pad glazing due to high heat. They make more noise - they eat pads a bit more - and they cost more. Unless you road course your F150 I wouldn't use a set on one. I do however use a set on my 4 door family car.

4) brake fluid - change that rot out after year 2. Brake fluid gathers water vapor once exposed - from there it created organic acids. (I had to ask a chemist - acids that contain Oxygen, Carbon and Hydrogen) Aside from becoming acid and damaging - the boiling point decreases over time to the point where it becomes possible to boil the fluid behind the caliper piston. This leads to spongy brakes and could be a bad day when you need it. I say trade at year 2, and every 2 years after or at the very least - get some test strips and test your fluid. However what's in the reservoir is not the quality of what's in the caliber or worse your expensive ABS control module. I flush mine after 2 years new - then every 2-3 depending on the car. (I use my brakes very hard on my DD)

so do you think getter better pads with ceramic formulation on stock rots will help out? I think I am going to try it and report back, as it's the cheapest option, and my brakes drive me nuts right now.