IronRobi

The time finally came to replace the brakes on my truck. It's a 2011 F150 Lariat with a 6" lift and 35's. Just rolled over 100,000km. After doing the lift and tires I lost a fair amount of braking power but then there started to be obvious signs that the rotors were warped with the pulsating pedal every time I hit the brakes.

Here's a pic of the truck:



I started looking at various options for brakes including powerstop, stoptech, different oem equivalents, etc... Then I happened to notice @r1concepts as a sponsor on this board.

I had heard of these guys many years back when they first came onto the tuner scene. As I grew older, I grew out of that scene and moved on to BMW's. R1Concepts has built an amazing reputation among BMW owners, and believe me when I say BMW owners can be some of the pickiest people you'll come across.

When I saw their flash sale advertised here, I was done shopping and sent off a message to their board rep Kevin.

Kevin was very helpful throughout the process. I was going back and forth between the premium and the e-line. Ultimately I chose e-line because this truck isn't my daily driver, it might see 5,000km per year total. But I wanted something to help give back some of initial bite I lost when I went with the bigger wheel/tire combo. He suggested slotted rotors for that. I wanted a little better cooling as well for the odd occasions when I'm hauling so I ended up opting for the slotted/drilled rotors. Plus, let's be honest... they look cool too! Finally, living up here in Canada, rust can be a real issue. One thing that always drove me crazy about the stock rotors is being able to see where they were rusted through my nice black rims. For this reason I also opted for the black zinc plating.

After making all my choices Kevin processed the order, sent a bill via paypal. The next morning I had shipping notification. Now anybody else from Canada will understand this, anytime you get a shipping notification from UPS on a big ticket item you cringe a little bit. UPS is known to hit us hard on duty/import charges. I've had instances where I paid more in UPS fees than the item itself was worth. Thankfully this didn't end up being the case here, it only cost me $48 when it arrived. For you American's, be thankful you don't have to deal with this! I missed the delivery on their first attempt which was on a Friday. I tried calling to arrange pickup at the depot, but they would not allow me to go get it myself. They insisted next business day they would re-attempt. Well, next business day (Monday), I was gone to work like normal so missed it again. Finally on Tuesday they made an evening delivery, and after some bitching and moaning from the UPS driver about the heavy boxes (128lbs between the 2), I had my brakes.

First impression of the boxes doesn't lead to much. They're plain white boxes with the part number stamped on it. Nothing special here. To me I don't care about big fancy boxes that do nothing but add to the product cost, it's what's inside that matters.



Taking them out of the box, I'm very happy with the initial quality of these brakes. They're big, heavy and look amazing. The sides are stamped with part numbers and minimum thickness which is something you don't always see on rotors.

Here's a look at the front's:





And here's a look at the rear's:







Lastly, here's the stamps I mentioned above:



I should be getting around to having these installed next week and I'll report back on initial driving impressions and some updated installed pictures.

IronRobi

*reserved for installed pictures and driving impressions*

r1concepts

Looking forward to hearing your review on our product!

NastyFFX4

iTrader: (1)

Definitely interested in hearing how they work out. I need to throw the set of Hawk ceramics I've got in the garage and am trying to figure out what I want to do with my rotors. My OEM rotors are in good condition so they might just end up getting resurfaced. Did your rotors need replacement at that mileage? I'm around the same mileage on my 2011 as well.

IronRobi

My OEM rotors are badly warped. Not only do I have a pulse in the pedal when I touch the brakes but everybody can noticeably feel the truck surging to a stop when I'm braking.

Whether they need replacement or not depends a lot on your driving. If the majority of the 100,000km is highway with little to no braking they may be OK. If a lot of that is stop and go traffic in the city, or you're hard on your brakes then maybe not.

I've never had a problem with putting new pads without changing the rotors if they're still good. But every time I change the rotors I always put new pads. With a nice set of hawk ceramics, I'd be a little upset if I put them on 100,000km old rotors and then the rotors needed to be changed 4 months down the road and I needed to shell out for a 2nd set of hawk pads.

Pacific Fisher

A little premature to call your post "A full review"
Come back after 10,000 miles or so.

NastyFFX4

iTrader: (1)

I agree with that and know that. My rotors are in good shape like I said so I don't think I'll be replacing them in four months. No warping, plenty of material left. Either way, looking forward to hearing how they hold up.

Kenferg1

http://www.stoptech.com/technical-su...nd-other-myths

Fischer88

Any update on these? I need to narrow down my choices.

Spiky

Since yesterday morning?