Front Brake Pad Replacement - Gen4

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Overtow

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I'm back with the next installment on how to save yourself $400 by replacing your own brakes - Front Pad edition. This time however I'm only replacing the pads as the rotors were fine.

Like the rears, this is an 8-bolt job - six lug nuts (21mm) and two caliper bolts (13mm). I did the second wheel in <20 minutes from wheel up to wheel down and torqued, mostly because there is no need to mess with the parking brake maintenance mode. Also, I used a regular C-clamp to compress the pistons - no special tools required.

Jumping into the process photos after jacking the car up, securing it with a jack stand, and then removing the wheel:


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Caliper bolts are 13mm:

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Pry the caliper off with a flat head screw driver, preferably something with some strength:

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Now pry the pads out of the caliper. I will note here that on the other (driver) side, my inside pad was stuck. The front pads had lots of material remaining and I was actually going to save them, but I destroyed the friction face on the other pad prying it out.

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5 pic limit reached....continuing in next post...
 
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Overtow

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With the old pads removed, I used one to compress the pistons back into the caliper using a regular 6" C-clamp. Make sure you compress the pistons all the way - I did not on the first try and when reinstalling the caliper over the new pads one of the pistons would not clear a tab that was on the backing plate of the new pads. I had to pull the caliper back off and then compress again to get it to fit over that tab.

PXL_20220618_141903257.jpg


My back brakes were down to metal, but the fronts were still in decent shape. I almost stopped the job and left these on but I figured what the heck, I've got it torn down already, might as well swap them out...

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Pop the mounting hardware out and replace with new:

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After applying anti-seize to the mounting ears on the pads, install them into the mounting slots:

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Overtow

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I noticed that my bottom caliper bolt was a little seized, so I pulled both pins out, wiped them off and then liberally applied anti-seize and reinstalled. #Cleveland
Reinstall the caliper and torque it down, then reinstall the wheel (after liberally applying anti-seize to the face of the rotor so I can get the wheel off in the future without having to sit on my ass and kick it). #easypeasy

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After this, I took it for a test drive and bedded the brakes. I'll post a response in the future on whether I like the pads or not. Here is what I installed, I went semi-metallic because I'll be towing a 7000# boat to Lake Cumberland next month...

PXL_20220618_142106348.jpg

$45 from Rock Auto:

 

HtownHog

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This is wild that the rears west out so much faster than the fronts. Typically you would expect the opposite, wonder why these have such high rear bias.
 

Going_Going_Gone

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Thanks for another illustrated tutorial. Seeing your rusty parts bring back (unpleasant) memories of winters growing up in the Cleveland area and the effects of snow and salt on vehicles.
 

keny01998

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I think Ford Expedition has the easiest brake job than all other brands. I had to replace my rear pads at 28k miles and I'm going to replace my front pads soon. I just hit 37k miles this week and the pads have 5mm left because I tow a boat.
 

keny01998

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This is wild that the rears west out so much faster than the fronts. Typically you would expect the opposite, wonder why these have such high rear bias.
I think it has to do with the adaptive cruise. My rear pads were gone around 28k miles.
 

Zig10

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I think it has to do with the adaptive cruise. My rear pads were gone around 28k miles.
I think it's just the bias. Mine wore out in the same timeframe and I rarely use my cruise control at all, and have only used the adaptive twice in 3 years.

I do tow a pretty heavy boat, though.
 

gural

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I drive in Europe and most on the highways and after 6 k i do not see that the pads are used at all (do not have addaptive)
but in 2 car driven in city after 6k i see at least 20% of pads are used
 

TX-EXPMAX

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Thanks for another great writeup. You've confirmed my suspicion on the front brakes...I can hear my back one squealing at 36k but front seems fine, so i'll probably just replace the rears and keep on truckin
 

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