Brake upgrades?

[Trainmaster]

Just seems to be hit-or-miss with the cheap rotors. I've been burned too many times. One hard stop and the things warped -- sometimes. The Excursion was the worst. It was awful. They'd last two weeks.

The problem was solved for me with DBA Australian rotors and ceramic Hawk pads. Now on the Excursions I just use Motorcraft (whose rotors are Mexican or Chinese by the way) and haven't been bothered since. With the RockAUto or Tasca prices they aren't too bad.

 

[Munkiebunz3]

I just read his profile he is running a 200+ pound front bumper, 35s on spacers, with factory shocks, and brakes.

Warping should not be of a surprise.

Um, I run stock wheels/tires when I'm not planning on doing any off-roading. I'm not running spacers unless you're calling the leveling kit spacers. Only addition is the bumper. I have the tow package. Yet, since the brakes warp (good amount of vehile shudder when applying brakes) so easily with just a 200lb bumper I probably shouldn't drive this vehicle with a passenger, let alone a 1000lb trailer for a medium length road trip, hm?

 

[Munkiebunz3]

Dont knock it... All 100% essential for navigating the wastes of 21st century Santa Monica CA

Just remember to get wheel spikes too if you decide to brave Huntington Beach in the next county over... longhorn smokestacks wouldn't hurt, either

I'll consider the wheel spikes. Don't see how smokestacks would benefit the vehicle. Btw, I've already put the bumper to good use when someone decided not to shoulder check or signal & needed the passing exit like "right now" even if they had to back up on the freeway. They got a nice hole in their quarter panel and I have nothing. I would have had at least $3-5k worth of damage & paint but instead I have no damage. I also had a grocery store employee quickly push a cart "home" but it turned into runaway downhill cart. The handle would have killed my headlight but the bumper saved it.

 

[Trainmaster]

What bumper do you have? I'd love a nice steel bumper here in New York for the same reasons, but haven't found one that doesn't look stupid.

 

[jeff kushner]

For those interested in the measurable deflection of the rotors you might want to read up on metal deformation. It can be caused by numerous things including heat and pressure so in practice your rotors can get hot enough to glow red, then you clamp them with enough force to stop a 6,000 lb truck! Now if you've nailed down 3 of the lug nuts with 300ftlbs and two with only 50ftlbs and you ran it hard and hot, you would end up with uneven deformation which could cause warping.....interesting stuff actually. I had to get a crash course a couple years ago when rebuilding a blown engine to find out "why".

jeff

 

[Black]

Um, I run stock wheels/tires when I'm not planning on doing any off-roading. I'm not running spacers unless you're calling the leveling kit spacers. Only addition is the bumper. I have the tow package. Yet, since the brakes warp (good amount of vehile shudder when applying brakes) so easily with just a 200lb bumper I probably shouldn't drive this vehicle with a passenger, let alone a 1000lb trailer for a medium length road trip, hm?

Don’t take my comment as a knock. If there was a bumper I found asetically pleasing I would have one as well. There are just other things that do need to be taken into account as well. Look at most lift kits they have a different package for trucks with added bumpers or accessories. Because they use different spring rates and shock valving to accommodate.

Your leveling kit is composed of strut SPACERS you are adding 2.5” of added travel right off the bat. Sure it is in the realm of still working but you are pushing the limits and your components will wear out faster.

As for your comparison of a passenger and trailer Ford has already built those possibilities into the chassis, suspension, and braking components.

What is not built in is having the weight added as far forward as possible, plus you are over extending your front shocks, which are an integral component in how well your vehicle stops.

Example. When pulling a trailer do you put all the weight as far forward as possible??? Nope.

Not a knock at all just when you beef some things up other components need some beef as well.
Some Bilstein 6112 coilovers will give you up to 3” of lift for the front without having to use spacers (leveling kit) as well as a much firmer and better valved shock, add a good set of upper control arms and you will have a solid front suspension that will handle that bumper and anything else you put up front.

Trust me the OEMs are crap mine are leaking at 50k and I have not really even towed with it yet.

As for warping rotors a fully stock setup will warp rotors as well for different reasons you just happened to add a lot of front end weight and geometry changes.
Kind of a perfect storm in the right scenario.

 

[D Derr]

OK, there is NO SUCH THING AS WARPED ROTORS! Figured I would just scream that out there. Please refer to the following link by Carroll Smith, this will explain the myth of warped rotors.

http://www.stoptech.com/technical-support/technical-white-papers/-warped-brake-disc-and-other-myths

 

[Black]

Runout is the true term but people call them warped.
So not exactly a myth just semantics.

 

[JExpedition07]

My last set of rotors warped, yep they warped good. They sure warped not sure if from heat or torque or what but they warped all right. It’s a warped world full of warping rotors.

Lol in all seriousness my old set actually had one with a rust burr that formed which caused the pulsating.

 

[Adieu]

Plus, anything from China is bad! Baaaaaad. LOL!
I'm still mad at Japan for Pearl Harbor too.

Pretty sure the Chinese are still mad at Japan for colonial expansionism, too...

Then again, so are some native Hawaiians, but not so much at Japan as at America. Turns out they were a country, then slowly got blatantly colonized despite keeping up appearances of sovereignty... until somebody landed a detachment of marines during the last days of the Harrison administration, and ended that too.

 

[ManUpOrShutUp]

Virtually every aftermarket rotor is junk. One exception: I've had great results with DBA rotors from Australia using Hawk break pads. Most recently I've used Ford Motorcraft rotors and pads and the truck stops perfectly with no warping in 5,000 miles.

Forget the auto part store crap, it's garbage.

And what J is telling you is true. Use an air wrench on lug nuts and your rotors will be toast.

I've had Motorcraft rotors up front w/ Motorcraft pads for 55K and have had zero issues. In the back I've got AC Delco rotors w/ Akebono pads and probably have about 20K on those. The rotors they replaced were Motorcrafts; no issues with those either.

 

[chuck s]

Our lug nuts require 150 lb-ft of torque, more than 50% more than the typical passenger car. None of my torque wrenches go that high. My 1/2 inch Dewalt impact wrench could not remove them when I put my mud flaps on. PITA.

The tightening pattern is in the manual and with an even number of nuts is not quite intuitive.

-- Chuck

 

[Plati]

Our lug nuts require 150 lb-ft of torque, more than 50% more than the typical passenger car. None of my torque wrenches go that high. My 1/2 inch Dewalt impact wrench could not remove them when I put my mud flaps on. PITA.

The tightening pattern is in the manual and with an even number of nuts is not quite intuitive.

-- Chuck

Interesting, did not know that. Agree, not intuitive. I'm guessing the standard X pattern works pretty well too? I always go around and finger tight everything, trying to rock the wheel on the center ring and make sure every lug slowly gets tighter and is seated in unison before I go for the final torque. Have never used a torque wrench, just a 1 foot ratchet and I lean on it about 150 pounds worth.

 

[chuck s]

Yep, that's the Ford diagram. Torque #1, skip 2, torque #2, skip 1, torque #3, skip 1, torque #4, skip 2, torque #5, skip 3, torque #6. Hard to put this to music. There are other 6-bolt patterns that Google will produce but they're not any memorable.

Not sure if this has any importance in wheel lug nuts but on things like engine cylinder heads the UN-tightening sequence is as important as the tightening to prevent warpage.

I torque anything with a toque specification with a torque wrench if at all possible. This means nearly every nut or bolt in any of my cars. There's a spec for a reason and despite individual's getting away with guessing forever I maintain my practice. I multi-torque things like lug nuts. 50-70-90 for my trailer wheel nuts for example. I had to resort to the same 150 pounds on the 12" handle for my Expedition lug nuts. 150 pounds on a 24" handle for the rear axle nuts on my Honda S2000.

-- Chuck

 

[mwells]

Ever since front wheel vibration on my 2003 Explorer, I have hand torqued, or demanded hand torqued, lug nuts. The result has been no vibrations in my 96 explorer, 2010 Expedtion, and 2014 Expedition. Do not listen to the guy who says he uses a torque stick on the impact wrench.
I hope Trainmaster was joking about the 350#.

 

[NASCAR Mike]

I have Powerstop pads and rotors on my 08 Expy with no issues. I also had Powerstop pads and rotors on my 05 Excursion pulling 12,000 lbs and never had one issue.

I am currently using EBC pads and rotors on my 2017 Expedition. I installed them when I had about 600 miles on the factory brakes. I am at 7,000 miles now and no issues.

I always use a a torque wrench set to 150 lbs to tighten the lug nuts.

All of the above were slotted and cross drilled rotors.

 

[bobmbx]

OK, there is NO SUCH THING AS WARPED ROTORS! Figured I would just scream that out there. Please refer to the following link by Carroll Smith, this will explain the myth of warped rotors.

http://www.stoptech.com/technical-support/technical-white-papers/-warped-brake-disc-and-other-myths

This guy is Clif Clavins' brother, right?

 

[1955moose]

Look on the bright side. On those long trips when your right leg starts falling asleep, the up and down pumping of the brake pedal will keep the blood flowing in that leg!

Sent from my N9131 using Tapatalk

 

[theoldwizard1]

I had horrible problems with brake pad dust and warped rotor on my old E150, until I switched to Raybestos ceramic pads and their better quality rotors.

BUYER BEWARE ! Raybestos sell at least 2 or 3 different "grades" of products ! AVOID their "service" grade. For the Expedition they also have "specialty truck" and specialty Police" grades of ceramic pads. For rotors, either their "Advance Technology" or "Police" or "Performance" (slotted).

Both Rock Auto and Amazon carry these parts.

 

[pdqcarrera]

For my 2010 Limited EL 4x4 I went with Power Slot Slotted Brake Rotors (EBCrotors.com) with Hawk Performance LTS SUV brake pads.* Was a noticeable improvement and still going good after 30+k miles including towing mileage (race car trailer), family ski trips and SoCal stop-n-go traffic. Will say the brake dust is pretty aggressive. Attacked the chrome on my custom wheels when I wasn't paying enough attention. grrrrrrr. Of course YMMV! ;-)

Front - Axle Set (HB672Y.714)
Rear - Axle Set (HB579Y.785)