My ford dealer said they were available but they have received so many orders over the past week they have just gone to backorder status.

 

Please let us know how good is the new pads.

 

Just my observations on the "black plague"issue. I bought a new 04 Expedition on the the 31st of Dec, after 2 days of driving, the front wheels were almost completely black. I had heard about the complaints out there, but had no idea it was this bad. Something needed to be done and here is what i know so far. I took the Expe back to my shop (I'm a german car dealer and service center) and put it in the air and removed the wheels to examine the brakes. For what its worth I was very impressed with the massive size of the components used in this system, especially the rear rotors and the dual piston front calipers. Normally you dont see this heavy a duty set up in anything less than a 1 ton+ truck chassis. We removed the front pads and saw they are manufactured by Jurid. Jurid is a very well known supplier to european car manufacturers and this is the first time I have ever seen their product on a domestic vehicle. Excessive brake dusting has been a common complaint among German car owners for years and what the orginal "kleen wheels" were designed to fit. In an effort to save both weight and cost, the size and thickness of most German car rotors have been greatly reduced, so much so, that they can almost never be resurfaced without bringing them below spec and of course needing to be replaced. The only way to get a reasonable service life out of these rotors is to use a very "soft" brake pad with very little metallic content and that is exactly what the problem is with the Expe pads. This line from Service article 04-1-1 says it all. "The brake linings on the 2003 2004 Expedtion/Navigator veheicles are designed to interact with the brake rotors in such a way as to keep the rotors smooth, minimizing rotor runout and thickness variation." Just a fancy way of saying "We use a very soft pad to extend the life of the rotors". I dont see why Ford saw this as neccessary because these rotors are huge. A call to all of my parts suppliers revealed no aftermarket brake pads available as yet. Well as most know by now, the new brake pad kit is available, the correct part number is 4L-1Z-2001-BA beginning with 4L and not 41 as I have seen posted before. If your vehicle was produced after 12/18/03 you should have the new pads already. Mine were delivered to the shop and installed today at 320 miles. If your Expe was produced before June of 03 you will also need 2 additional kits for the latest springs and guide pins. I will post the part #'s if anybody needs them. The pad kit consists of front and rear pads and an install guide. The new pads are noticeably heavier and of very high metallic content. I scrubed the wheels and have only driven a little bit today but so far it looks promising. I will give udate in a couple days. I havent had the time or inclination to argue with Ford over this matter and bought the kit for $230 minus my 20% shop discount = $187. I wanted the new pads installed before the rotors started to wear and score. Word of warning these new high metallic pads installed on old worn rotors are a recipe for noise and more noise. If anybody manages to get this covered under warranty please post it. Ed

 

The kit is $115.00 + tax.

 

The kit is $115.00 and include front and rear pads. The going rate for installation and to turn the rotors is between $330 and $370 depending on the Ford Dealer

 

As I stated in my previous posts, I lost faith and confidence in Ford in getting the brake dust issue resolved and there is no way I am going to hand over $500 for them to correct brakes that they did not do correct to begin with.

My mechanic installed aftermarket pads yesterday. He installed Power Stop Brand.

I have driven the Expy for one day and there is virtually no brake dust. I had the wheels cleaned after the new brake pads were installed and the wiped my finger on the center cap and there was no brake dust at all.

I'm going to check it in 3-4 days as that's how long it took on the original pads for the rims to become black.

The great thing about the whole thing is my mechanic did not charge me. His parts wholesaler is aware of the many complaints on the expedition and I'm his first install so the wholesaler gave the pads at no charge to my mechanic. All he asks is to report back on pads after about a week on the performance on the new pads.

So after one day, I am very happy, but I will wait for about a week.

At that time I will report back the results and if anyone is interested in the part number, I will also make that available.

 

Anyone know if Ford switched pads for a safety reason? I spoke to a mechanic friend of mine that works at a Nissan dealer and he said they're trying to get away from the asbestos in the pads.
I just got my Expy in December and noticed the dust in about 3 days.

 

bignycatz...no Ford says it's because of the numerous complaints from owners.

 

I just spoke with a Master Certified Warranty Administrator who said...

"Here is what the warranty and policy manual states about this situation......

Repairs not covered...

1) ford will not pay to improve performance or appearance beyond production standards.

2) non-defective parts that are replaced to bring vehicle to current design standards.Unless authorized by ford.

according to these 2 statements ford will not pay to install these new pads unless there is a defect in the old ones..... "

 

Hey Dave,,,are you saying they switched to the "new and improved" dustier pads because of complaints or are you talking to about the replacement pads?


A Essa

 

Ford switched to new pads durring the redesign for 03 (better stopping, but more dust). They switched the pads again just last month because of complaints.

 

Hey Dave,,,,I was wondering if another reason they switched to the redesigned pads for the 03 might be to reduce or eliminate the asbestos dust that the mechanics encounter when they work on brakes. Did Ford ever mention that, as being a reason for the switch?

 

I haven't seen anything like that, all the other Ford pads still contain Asbestos.

 

I warshed (that's how we say it here in Texas) both my 04 Expy and my 97 Explorer the other day and the dust on my explorer which had not been warshed in about 2 months was barely noticable, where as the dust on the Expy (after) one week was very noticable. Hell the rims and tires were the same color. Now on my 97 Explorer I have raybestos pads on it and it looks like I'll be putting the same on the Expy real soon, unless my dealer is in a good mood when I call them about some new pads.


A Essa

 

Depending who you talk to, it's Warshed here too. I have washed our 03 Explorer and 03 Expedition on the same day, the Explorer takes about 3 weeks to have as much dust as the Expedition in 3 days.