I just replaced the pads and rotors on the front end of my van. I got Autospecialty parts; their "911" pads, and the directional rotors for 92 and up Aerostars. Interestingly, one rotor was made in Canada, and the other was made in USA, and had lots more markings on it. Hope they work equally.

The old rotors looked exactly like the orginal FOrd units I removed; they both had turned completely blue, but were surprisingly smooth with the exception of a ridge near the inner diameter of the brake surface.

The calipers slid pretty easily on the spindle mount; probably the result of my last service. I cleaned and relubed the slides with new goop and installed the parts. (It's almost become routine for me, with all the times I've had to work on it.)

I took the van out for some initial burn-in, and tried to set the rear brakes by backing up and slamming on the brakes. It all still feels very mushy and unresponsive (compared to my Mustang, but maybe that's not fair). I got the new pads hot enough to start out gassing. Hopefully, it will feel better as the new parts wear in.

I did not have sealed fluid on hand, so I will have to get some tomorrow and refill and bleed the system.

Then I will take it up and down the mountains again to see if the new parts work any better than the old. I'll be back.

eugene

 

Hey Eugene: I replaced my back shoes six months ago and although the brakes were acceptable, they felt mushy compaired to all of our Transit Supervisor vans which are kept up. I tried theo back & brake trick a number of times with out much improvement. I was told that its better to adjust properly jacked up and from the inside. I normally do all my own work , but for $40. to have someone do it was worth it. When I picked up my van my brake pedal moved only a 1/2 inch unlike the 6 inches it moved before. That was six months ago, now when they start to get a little slack, I do the roll back and brake trick and it works great.