My 2003 E-150 Club Wagon has a rotor shake to it when the brakes get hot at highway speeds. Not bad usually, but irritating. The van only has 21k miles on it, and is still under factory warranty, obviously.

I called the dealer, and here's what they said. First, they told me that the rotors wouldn't be warranteed at all, claiming that they're a "wear item," and only warranteed for 12mos/12k miles. I know better than that. Pads fall under the 12/12, but not the rotors. I told the service guy that.

Then he said, that they would only warranty the rotors if the pads were worn less than 50% of their life, as measured by micrometer. I told him that if they weren't going to replace the rotors under warranty, I'd do the job myself instead of paying them to do it. (Their estimate for rotors and pads was over $700!) He then told me that I'd have to pay them just for checking the rotors, which I found silly since they should be under warranty anyway. He finally agreed they'd check them for no charge, but that they still wouldn't replace the rotors if the pads were more than 50% used.

So today, I took the van in. The pads were obviously in need of replacement, but not so low that they'd cut the rotors or anything. Since they were so worn, the dealer refused to warranty the rotors. I wasn't about to pay them over $700 for two rotors and pads, so they put it back together.

At a different dealership where I lived 2 years ago, they replaced the warped rotors on my Taurus at 32k miles, no questions asked (a tire shop had mis-torqued the lugnuts). I've never heard about this 50% wear rule, and I think they're playing games with me. What do you think? Is the 50% wear rule really a Ford directive?

Now to the technical aspects of these rotors, since it looks like I'm doing the job myself (which really torques me since I paid an extra grand and a half for the Ford total coverage warranty). To remove the rotors, I gotta unbolt the spindle nut, so, I'll need to repack the wheel bearings and retighten the nut after getting them turned. Is this just a matter of properly torquing the spindle nut or is there some special proceedure? Do you know what the torque spec is?

Sorry for the long post.

Thanks!

 

Any thoughts?

 

Can't say about the 50% rule but I know Ford had issues with Taurus rotors. '86 - '95 Taurus' had a rotor warp problem that was mostly fixed in '96. As a result Ford was pretty liberal with Taurus rotor warp complaints.

E-150s also have issues with the front rotors warping prematurely. Its been a regular problem with my '95 but then the brakes get worked VERY hard. Turning the rotors is a short term solution at best. I am sure Ford knows this and the dealer should as well. The problem on 150s isn't as bad as the Taurus problem and there certainly aren't as many E150s on the road so Ford probably doesn't see it as big an issue as with the Taurus.

The 50% wear rule may be a factory mandate for warranty repair. You can't expect Ford to warranty brakes that are worn out but a brake issue with practically new components they would most likely cover. So where do you draw the line between new and worn out? 50% sounds reasonable. In this case it sounds a little like the dealer is trying to hide behind Ford's rule.

$700 is too high for replacing the front pads/rotors. The rotors should run in the range or $200-$250 for new OE parts plus the pads and labor and you should be under $500 even at the high end.

Do the work yourself and use quality rotors and ceramic pads. That seems to be the best combo on mine.

Steve
'95 Clubwagon XLT

 

clubwagon, any idea what parts if any are swappable to better OEM parts? my 90 AWD eclipse, ive switched over to Cobra rotors and calipers, 13inch plus PBR calipers.. they are amazing upgrade to our 10.75 inch stock rotors...

so for a 92 E150, are there any bigger rotors that may fit? a larager diameter? maybe stock 15inch wheels want work anymore but, it it fixed the rotor problem, i would think the cost to going 16 or even 17inch rims are acceptable. these calipers look pretty crummy too, single piston...

my rotors on the clubwagon is so so so warped and they are practically new.. pads have so much life in them still.. i dont think autozone is gonna do warranty swap on such a new NOT worn parts.. its just so warped!

ive read that E250 and 350 have better OE parts, but that seems like too much work. spindle and suspension needs to swap out correct?

yohei

 

I don't know of anything that could be swapped out as a bolt on part. These are the same rotors as on the early/mid 90s F150s but I don't think the later F150 brakes will bolt up ('97+). They had bigger brakes but the vans retained the 92+ brakes.

To change to the 250/350 brakes requires waaaaay too much work. You might as well buy another van.

Steve
'95 Clubwagon XLT

 

i havent measured the stock rotors but u think the 97 and up F150 had larger rotors and calipers? if they had larger rotors, i could fabricate a caliper relocating bracket and reuse the stock calipers... .. that would probably help alot on the warping issue.. its something to look into though. thanks for the idea.