I need some advice on new brake pads for my 99 f350. At the moment I don't haul or tow anything just a daily driver to work on the streets. I was looking at getting either the Hawk HPS, Hawk LTS, or EBC Green Stuff. I see a lot of debates between LTS and Green Stuff but usually those debates are about towing. I just need good quality daily driver brake pads. Also I just saw EBC Ultimax brake pads anyone heard of these or has them?

 

If you dont haul or tow you dont need any of those. Go to your auto parts store of choice and get some good ceramic brakes. Usually the store's own brand is fine. Typically they will have 3 tiers, a sort of "good; better; best" thing. Go for the "better" or "best" and you will be fine.

 

Nice to know. Also what should I use to move the pistons in the caliper when removing. I bought the Haynes manual they say use a clamp but don't mention size.

 

use and old brake pad and a c clamp

 

I like the motorcraft pads myself, usually good for at least 100,000 miles and never have to worry about noise.

 

one thing i noticed a couple years ago is people will spend all kinds of money making the vehicle of choice go faster but they never spend money on getting to stop faster or better.....i learned a valuable lesson while driving through town one day when somebody turned in front of me through an intersection and i was standing on the brakes only to feel like i was trying to stop a 757.....get yourself some good brake pads....these trucks are heavy and do not stop on a dime.....personally i like performance friction carbon metallic pads or stop tech pads....both performance style pads and combined with the slotted rotors the difference is phenominal....also make sure your brake fluid is decent....the recommended interval on brake fluid is 60k miles.....most people dont worry about that either.....had my brakes been where they are now on that day i wouldnt have hit that idiot.....just my experience take it for what its worth.....

 

I don't like to dispute A/Ox4 because he is knowledgeable and contributes a lot here, but I have to disagree on the ceramics. 808dsl mentioned OEM pads and they really have the highest recommended formula for pads. Semi-metallic are a close second, but ceramics are rumored to sacrifice the rotor to get better life out of the pads.

Anytime you get near the brakes, inspect the rotors on the back side because slide pins notoriously sieze up (all 4 of mine siezed) and the caliper presses on one side of the rotor instead of "squeezing" it. Annually greasing the slide pins has helped many SD owners, and I've seen links to a slide pin mod that is reputed to help as well.

I went expensive on my rotors, but that doesn't mean I made the right call... miles will tell. The back brakes are a bear if your rotors need replacing because you have to deal with 13-year old parking brakes. This project requires a mallet, a block of wood, a big strong wrench, a Saturday, a first aid kit, the patience of Job, and cold ones waiting for you in the fridge.

 

^^^ works like a charm! Really doesn't take that much force.

I went with a set of ceramic pads, I know some claim they will beat up the discs but, like Tugly mentioned. But my father ran a set of ceramics on our old bronco for years and we never had an issue...or at least one we knew about. I am planning on inspecting and relubing my slide pins on an annual basis (three out of four of the old ones were totally seized...PO used a general purpose grease on them ), so I will inspect the pads and rotors while I am there and if anything needs any R&R I can address it then.

I just did mine over the past weekend and the only bit of very obvious advice I have is regardless of what products you use make sure you use caliper grease, the silicone based high temp stuff. GP grease won't cut it...I know nothing earth shatter but the last guy to do the brakes on my truck obviously missed it.

 

Those are purdy! What kind of calipers are those?

 

I have a set of NAPA Ceramix (ceramic blend) and all 4 slotted/ drilled rotors that will be going on this weekend, if I get my other projects done in time. The blends, that I have had before, were fairly easy on the rotors. I got a pretty good deal on the rotors and if they last the life of the pads (hoping for 100k miles), I'll be happy with them.

 

Did you catch the part about what are you going to do with your truck?

If you indend to hit something on a cold morning because your brake pads are not in thier operating temperature then spend big bucks on the spiffy Hawk pads.
If you want to the truck to stop right now in cold or hot then choose the pad that will do this and still be there when rotor temps near 1000 degrees.
IMHO the factory pads do a great job of compromise through a wide range of uses. (they do everything good enough).
Research is the answer.

 

Those are EBC brakes. There is a link to them in my signature. I don't know how common this knowledge is, but these trucks don't like the drill holes to pass all the way through. The holes on my rotors are just partially drilled, going all the way through like a motorcycle's will likely crack and break them.

 

I have slotted on the front with regular ole rotors on the back. Mine about makes me sick when I hit the brakes from jerking so much.

 

Just a few more comments.

Both my son and I have F250's as DD's and do not really tow or haul anything on any kind of basis... just rare occasions.

I've used the premium NAPA rotors and pads on my rear with great success.

I'm also running the Hawk LTS pads on front of my Excursion 7.3 with great success, and have since put the LTS pads on front of my F250. Great stopping both cold and hot, and the hotter they get, the better they stop. Only downside is that I'm starting to get a bad squeal, and I think it's the Hawks up front but have not yet confirmed. The squeal is irritating, at least to me, but the brakes are still performing excellently.

My son has run a set of EBC Green Stuff pads on the front, and they stop well, but seem to have a little heat fade (don't stop quite as well when really hot), and they initially had a dead fish odor to them.

The real key to any pad replacement is to get a clean surface on the rotors (either new rotors or very lightly turned just to get a new, clean, flat surface to properly receive the new pads' break-in process, and then follow the brake pad manufacturer's recommendations for "bedding in" the new pads... it makes all the difference in the world, and I've found that very few brake shops ever do this bedding in process correctly, even though it's pretty simple.

 

Yep bedding is extremely important. It does 2 things. You grind the pad and the rotor against each other so they perfectly match for the most contact path possible. and you transfer pad material to the rotor through the heating.

You are not actually stopping pad to iron but rather pad to pad deposit. hence the reason you need clean rotors to start with.