Hey everyone, I have just noticed a grinding brake noise in the rear of my 2005 Excursion. I haven't pulled the wheels yet but from what I can see the left side rotor and inner pad are trashed. I assume a bad caliper. At any rate, I have about 209K on the truck, bought it with about 157K I believe. Not sure when brakes were last replaced. I figured I might as well change the brakes all the way around while I'm at it.

I bought Power Slot rotors and Hawk pads for my last Excursion but totaled it within a couple weeks so never really got the get a feel for them. I was going to buy the same for my current Excursion but while looking around I found a full kit with rotors/pads and calipers by Power Stop. Good deal at just over $600 including core charge. Also plan to do SS braided lines. I've done a bit of reading but limited on time and need to get something ordered. Leaving town tomorrow afternoon.

So, any opinion if the Power Stop rotors/pads are any better than the Power Slot/Hawk pads? It seems last time I bought, the consensus was that the slotted were a better way to go rather than drilled/slotted? If I were to buy the Power Stop kit, it would be quite a bit cheaper than the Power Slot rotors and Hawk pads along with calipers. It would probably be a couple hundred more to buy the Power Slot/Hawk setup with calipers. As I'm always short on time, I thought about buying parts and having a shop install but I may just do it myself. Any experience/advice would be appreciated!

Thanks!

 

Power stop would be closer to OEM performance. The calipers are stock calipers that are rebuilt and powder coated. That being said, I just replaced mine with power stop and they have worked great for the last few months.

 

Did a set of Autozone Lifetime calipers/pads/Russell SS lines last year when I got the truck. No complaints, stops great and true. In hindsight I would probably just get the Power Stop kit + a set of SS lines.

Doing it yourself isn't hard, just takes some time. i believe there are writeups in the stickies up at the top of the forum.

Also if your truck is from a salty/rust prone area, it might be worthwhile to invest in some new parking brake backing plates and a parking brake rebuild kit(hardware + shoes) while you're doing brakes on the rear axle.

 

I had a couple of calipers that had frozen up, pin maintenance was non-existent from previous owners. So everything from the brackets out needed to be replace on all 4 corners. I went with the complete Power Stop kit, bought it from Summit Racing (they still have free shipping but you have to deal with core return), at the time it was the best price I found for the 2000 EX, even including return shipping of cores. You might also check Amazon.

Rotors, pads, calipers and brackets, the kit was complete with all hardware need except the caliper bracket bolts. As others have said the calipers are re-man OEM, I would agree. I also did steel braided lines from Crown.

I have had them on the EX for about a year now, with a couple of thousand miles pulling the 8000lb trailer, I have no complaints and looking back and for the money spent, I don't know that I would do anything different... The kit was certainly adequate from my needs.....

 

Thanks for the replies! The more I read and remember from my last purchase the Power Slot/Hawk combination seems to be superior by most accounts and I may go that way along with the Power Stop calipers. All 4 Power Slot rotors and calipers will run about $750 with core and shipping from Rock Auto. I know the calipers are just OEM rebuilds and that's just fine. The Hawk Pads will be about $145. So a few hundred more than the Power Stop package. I had thought about the parking brake, need to do some checking into that. I also need to remember the brake fluid I used last time. Thanks again and any further input is appreciated. i hope to order tonight or tomorrow. I'll be out of town and probably won't get to this until I get back in about a week.
Thanks again!

 

check amazon...seriously...I bought the powerstop caliper set from them for right at $100 for the rear calipers and brackets...NO CORE CHARGE!!!! I would say you could probably piece together your own kit and save some money over buying their kit from somewhere. Plus you don't have to mess with the core charge crap.

 

Checked Amazon, do most of my shopping there. Price is higher than Rock Auto and I can get core charge back at RA. At this time I think I'll be getting the Power Slot rotors and Hawk pads, not Power Stop and probably the Power Stop calipers.

 

Calipers are very easy to rebuild about $12 a each... you get to pick your color. I went with natural rust. . Actually I ospho'd and then high temp black.
If you tow get cryo rotors. My first mistake was to get Motorcraft rotors.
Hawk pads are excellent
Stainless lines total of 5
Flush the brake fluid until it's clear
Rebuild your ebrake

 

I need to get home and do some inspecting regarding the parking brake. Honestly I don't use much. When I do use pedal doesn't go down far at all and doesn't hold well. Working on ordering parts. What do you think I should order for parts? I know that's a hard question but not sure if I need new shoes, hardware and cables? Maybe with the age and lack of use, a full redo may be in order? Decided to go with Power Slot Cryo rotors, Power Stop calipers and the SS lines. Need to get all parts ordered before I leave town. I also need to look at the front left axle seal. If I recall the knuckle was pretty soaked.
Thanks!

 

When I did mine I got just about everything after pulling the axles.... yes you must pull the axles.

The only thing I might have salvaged was the brake shoes... all the cables, backing plates, hardware, springs were either broken or shot. You'll probably need rear axle seals after you pull the axles.

I got everything from Rock auto. It wasn't an "easy' job. Very labor intensive.

 

Thanks, the more I've been researching, it does look like it will take some time to get into the parking brake. I may hold off on the parking brake and just get the brakes done. I'm more concerned about he the brakes as I can't drive it right now. Think I'm at least going to order all the brake parts and go from there. I may be able to do the brakes myself, I mean I know I can but time is a factor. Being gone for business all next week will put me behind. I have a couple shops that I've had install my parts in the past. Any idea how many hours labor to do the rotors, pads, calipers and flush the fluid?

 

I would say/guess about < 6 hrs labor total, with the right tools and a lift. Probably about 1 hour (total of 4) per position replacing parts but not including anything else like abs sensors, road testing, brake lines, backing plates, hardware kits, .... i don't know any shops that rebuild your calipers anymore. they generally use yours as core replace.

I took longer doing it myself because it's mine and I always try to leave everything better then the way I found it. You know... now that wheels are off now there's other "stuff" to do.

 

The previous post cut off most of my response? and won't let me edit? Hey mods... I pressed the mommy button

 

id like to order a set of SS lines.... link ? they all the same ?

 

anyone have any experience with the HAWK LTS truck pads vs the HP SUPER DUTY ?