I have power stop brakes and rotors on my Ex for years and so far they have been the best that I have used. I replaced my lines with preformed stainless steel and also Russell flex lines, have held up well and truck stops on a dime. I do replace my pads every two years even though I do not put a lot of mileage on mine.

 

I suppose if you use the Ex as a daily driver or tow infrequently Power Stop pads are fine, but not if you use the truck like a mule = always doing work. If the pads are/have ceramic, they are NOT a good choice for a lot of towing. Ceramic pads do not like to be overheated. Semi metallic pads are a must for towing.

 

DavinTn is correct, I failed to mention that I do not tow anything except for a 4x6 V-nose utility trailer, which is infrequent. My Ex is used for our yearly trip to Florida and frequent shopping trips to PA. But as stated above I have had no problems with them and can not comment on towing heavy.

 

I've used the power stop z36 brake pads, marketed as "severe duty truck and tow pads", in a couple of other vehicles besides the Excursion ( a DRW F350 diesel and a Dodge Cummins truck) that towed heavy (especially the DRW F350, that things whole life revolved around towing a 43 foot fifth wheel toy hauler RV that always scaled in greater than 17K lbs). I always thought the brakes worked great in those two trucks, that's why I picked those same pads for the Excursion.

What's "bad" about the z36 pads (which are a carbon fiber ceramic pad), and what makes "Semi metallic pads are a must for towing."???
....

 

Who said bad... I said they sucked for my application, especially the rotors. Temperature...is the key. Let me clarify that infused ceramics are OK as long as it does not hurt temperature performance. There usta be a Ford friction engineer on these boards and might give some technical affirmation, not sure if he's still with us. I've used power stop pads and DFC Ultimate pads and the DFC's are vastly superior in stopping performance, towing heavy down a steep grade. It's possible the new iteration of Power Stop have improved .. however for me, I've found a high performance- reliable product that worked better than the power stop product.

 

Which part number did you use for the Dynamic Friction Pads?

 

I use the Ultimate truck performance pads and their slotted rotors. Lots of dust.

DFC X Performance Pads
I tried to provide the link that shows all the DFC pads for an X but wasn't working. You'd probably want the performance pads anyway


I have used many pads and rotors from various brands.
The jury is still out on the DFC. in the mornings, they are like any other performance pad, they suck until you warm them up(which doesn't take much). Sometimes they just seem okay and others, they grab extremely well with little to no pressure. Overall, they stop the truck.

So far, the best bang for the buck have been with Centric pads/ rotors. very affordable and work just as well as these claimed high performance pads. Downside is they developed a squeak in the last 1/4 of the pad but performance didn't change. the squeak was like dust on the pads or something. Drove me nuts. That's what i ran before current DFC's

I won't buy hawk, powerstop, power slot, etc ever again and I will not run cryo rotors, worst rotors I ever used.
The only other pads i want to try are EBC but I have a feeling they won't be anything special and will have the same traits as other performance pads. But I'll give them a shot next time I need to do brakes.

Also of note, many claim super high mileage on OEM brakes. The performance pads i've used don't last all that long in comparison. I only use my brake when necessary...I don't go racing around hitting the brakes all the time. I slow down ahead of time and keep my distance from the idiots on the road.
As with everything labeled performance, life expectancy is always diminished. I just haven't seen the performance gains with performance pads

 

DFC Ultimate pads

 

@WE3ZS , thanks for that great explanation. I'm looking at the Russell SS braided brake lines but got a few questions.

1. I notice they will fit with 4-6" of lift. I'm running the "pirate4x4 lift", which I'm pretty sure worked out to be around that much lift. Do you think these will work with his lift?
2. Are they teflon inner cored? I noticed the Crowns say they are.
3. Any reason you chose the russells over the crowns?

Thanks again for all of your help.

 

1. Yes, they should work with the Pirate lift, my EX had even more lift in the rear and they were fine there.
2. I have no idea.
3. I bought the Russell’s before I had ever heard of the Crowns.

Happy to help, or at least try to…….

 

I have the "pirate" lift and the Russell's . No issues of any kind , even getting pretty twisted up off-road.

 

Thanks! I went with the Russell 696490 brake line kit.

 

I have the Russells on my Pirated EX. They work. My only problem was the fronts were mismarked from the factory (R and L). Upon installation, the lines were rubbing against the wheels. Swapped the lines and all was good.

Thanks.

 

Yeah, I forgot about that, mine were mislabeled also but I caught it before installation. It’s been at least 13 years since I did mine, crazy that they are still like that.