I have an '04 F250 with warped EBC rotors. A shop down the road from me says they can deal with turning the dimpled/slotted rotors, so I was going to pop them off, turn them, and slam them back on, quick and dirty like. But then I thought about it some more and realized it's been close to 10 years (at least) and probably 80K miles since I did the front brakes. So I may as well change everything out, even though I haven't taken a look at the pads.
The pads on there now are EBC Green Stuff (IIRC). Great for dust, quiet, and stop just fine. But I'm tired of warping rotors. This is the third (or fourth) Ford I've had that's warped it's rotors. I always assumed that it's just a normal Ford thing, kind of like their crap OEM ball joints, which is why I put the EBC rotors on. I live in hill country and tow a good sized boat, among other things. I don't ride the brakes, I don't drive hard, and I don't make last-second hard stops like a lot of idiots out there. Most of my miles are highway. And as a former truck driver, I know how to avoid getting the brakes hot.

I'd like to know what you guys are running for pads. I've never had bad luck with ANY brand as far as durability, but it's annoying when the truck shakes like a dog pooping razor blades at every stop over 20 MPH. I mean, I can see the hood actually bouncing up and down. When I take them apart, there's always a ton of pad left, and no evidence of excessive heat. I want a pad that will be easier on the rotors, even if they don't live quite as long.

Thanks!

 

I've been running the Powerslot Cryo rotors with Hawk LTS pads, recently added PMF stainless brake lines and DOT4 fluid. Truck always stops great.

Came with these rotors, on my second set as I waited to long so couldn't cut them. I recently had them cut while on the vehicle.

Tried and tested combination proven to work for Super Duty chassis.

 

I'd like to get them turned on the truck, but nobody around my podunk town has the setup.

 

Yeah, it's getting harder to find places to turn rotors anymore unless you want to deal with the stealerships!

 

You stated that you are tired of warping rotors yet you want to turn your current old rotors down instead of buying new? And you still wish to tow your boat up and down the hills in your area?

-- Dave

 

Most of the time the rotors aren't warped but have hard spots from hot pads sitting on then when stopped with the brakes applied. Turn them if you want but the hard spots will still be there and you will have the same problem. Replace the rotors and pads, I like Preformace Friction Carbon Metalic pads. Next get the brakes fixed on your boat trailer.
Denny

 

Firestone was able to turn mine, quite a bit of the techs don't believe they can though.

 

It's not that big a deal to turn them. Like I said, they're not the OEM rotors. If they warp again, then I'll replace them. I'll only be out a couple bucks by turning them first, and I might have better luck by trying a different pad. I'd rather not scrap a $300 pair of rotors if I don't have to.

Those brakes work just fine. I replaced the calipers and pads a couple years ago, and I always test them before a trip by disabling the bypass and backing up. Doesn't move.

Yeah, they just don't want to deal with it. They make more money with less work by selling new rotors.

I should mention that I used to be a machinist. I've turned A LOT of drums and rotors, and I never saw any with hard spots. I'm not saying it can't happen, just that I've never seen it.

 

Have you used a dial indicator on the rotors to see they are warped.

Denny

 

Warp is the wrong term, and it leads people down the path it's a heat issue. You can have a poorly cast rotor that can “warp”, but that is with cheap rotors. Not that an aftermarket company won’t sell a cheap rotor at a premium price.

A few millions of dollars of testing by Ford, caliper, and friction material manufacturers shows its way more complicated than that. If a rotor has a high run out, the caliper will just slide side to side with a caliper that’s clamped on it. No change in clamping force, no change in friction.

If a high runout rotor continually touches a brake pad under non-braking highway driving, that high runout point wears down, and it’s usually 180° apart on the rotor. During braking, the rotor transition between thick and thin sections of the rotor, now we have pressure variation and changes in friction amount. Now we have pulsation.

If the rotors develop hard spots due to the high temperature thick areas and poor casting consistency, that will be abrasive resistant and become a thicker area. When you remained a rotor the hard spotting is still there, still abrasive resistant. So when you put a machined rotor back on with hard spotting, that area will still be abrasive resistant, and in 5k to 15k miles you again have disc thickness variation. But now the false belief is the rotors “warped” because they are thin. Rotors are designed to the minimum thickness, then material added for service wear and machining. Unless you go below min thickness, they are resistant to heat warping.

So since the late 90’s the manufacturers have tighten up the spec for installed rotor runout, and in the case of Superduty’s, it’s typically 0.0015” runout. It’s tighter on the assembly line. So to not develop thickness variation we need hubs that run true, rotors machined true, caliper slides that are free, caliper pistons that are free to roll back when released, and friction material that is on the lower end of frictional abrasion. Adding an abrasive to a friction material is the easiest way for a friction material manufacturer to reduce pedal effort, but it’s the cheaper way rather then expensive reformulating.

 

Yeah, a while back when I was thinking about shimming them. It was really annoying trying to get a good read due to the slots and dimples. No matter where I put the contact point, a hole would hit it before even half a rotation. I saw enough movement on the dial to conclude they were tweaked, but I don't recall the number.

 

Quit messing around and buy the powerstop brakes. Make sure you follow the break in process to the letter. Once I did this, my truck has NEVER stopped better.
powerstop are more expensive but oh so worth it for the piece of mind of this stopping power.

 

Can anyone direct me to how the Parking Brake is adjusted on my 1999 F-250 2 wheel drive?. It does not hold even when pushed clear to the floor. I just got it back from a brake job by a service company. It worked better than now before I took it in for new pads, rotors etc.
Thanks,
tigerman.

 

Go to the back of the backing plate and they adjust just like old brake drums.

Denny

 

Thanks Denny. I can relate to that.....should be a simple fix.

Cheers,
tigerman (Mike)