Has anyone tried the friction master ceramic pads from advance on their expy. I'll need to be changing the pads on my expy soon. I put these ceramic pads on the front of my 95 taurus today and just got done driving around breakin em in. What a difference! I came home and moved the expy back in the garage and i noticed how much extra effort i needed to push on the expy brakes! I bought my expy last year from an origianl owner and we have been tickled pink by it, but the one thing i noticed from the get go is how much pedal effort it took to stop this thing. The original owner said he changed the front brake pads once but didn't remember what he put on. Maybe this is the problem, cheap brake pads up front. ??? There's still plenty of meat on these pads, but I want something better now. I was thinking of going with the ebc 6000 pads for the expy, any thoughts?

 

Luke at tirerack.com recommended Satisfied Pro SUV severe duty pads over the ebc 6000's

Here's a link
https://www.tirerack.com/brakes/brak...l=Pro+SUV+Pads

Guess I'll find out how good they are after next week-end. Also got PowerSlot rotors.

As to your braking problems, perhaps the guy didn't bleed them properly. I'd start there first. After that, go through a re-bedding process and see if that helps.

Or, ......maybe you just have ****y pads! =O)

 

I'm not the brake expert but my experience is that the cheapest brake-pads are the softest composition ie. organic. Next step up is the semi-metalics that give more feel but require more pedal. Harder yet is the ceramics that take more heat, but may or may not require more pedal than the semis. Some even claim that the ceramic pads eat rotors but this has not been my experience.

So at this point, I have not uncovered any down side to ceramics yet. They are almost dust free, much more consistent in being squeel free, just as firm if not more than semis and seem to last longer. They definitely cost more up front but their performance more than offsets the differential.

The most important aspect in brakes besides material is break-in. You broke your ceramics in but the previous owner may not have. Glaze and contamination can have a profound effect on the performance of your brake system. the disks should have a dull machined look to them. If they are shiny, and your car was a small sedan, I wouldn't have any reservations cleaning and turning them. But our truck are so big and heavy, you might be better off starting again with new rotors and pads.

On heavy vehicles, once the rotor is glazed from contamination or improper break-in, machining may not be a long term repair. Rotors and pads are not cheap but neither is brake failure. Glaze causes more heat, heat requires more pressure and a glazed, overheated and possibly soaked pad will not be repaired by just turning the rotor.

Bleeding and flushing the system with clean fluid could improve feel if air or moisture is trapped. Stainless flex lines are a mixed bag in mostly stock trucks; some improve and some don't. I've done a 97 Burb that improved markedly in feel. I've done an Excursion that both I and the ownew couldn't tell the difference. Large and or heavy tires and wheels as well as lifts will probably demand stainless flex due to the higher effort and pressures required to decellerate those beasts.

I bought my Espy used like you did. The original owner was so proud to say that he babied the truck it's whole life and my inspection revealed he was telling the truth. At 35k miles the tires looked like most at 20k and the brakes looked the same. But that is not always the best thing for brakes because they want to get good and hot sometimes, especially at break-in. The disks were borderline glazed due to his easy driving style.

So with my nearly new tires and nearly new brakes, the first thing I did was change them. The tires were horrible Contis that got swapped out for Cross Terrains; infinite improvement in NVH and traction. And Raybestos Quiet-Stop Ceramics with Power-Slot discs were put on and borken in properly after flushing the system with Dot 5 fluid. I was very pleased with the result. It's hard to way which change benefited braking more, the tires or the new brakes because I did them at the same time.

Sorry I got carried away typing, but this is just my experience. I hope other guys chime in to set me straight.

SurfinMutt

 

Thanks for the replies. I'm going to flush out the old brake fluid with some new fluid. This will rule out any air or moisture that may be in there. I'm sure the satisfied suv pads are very good from tirerack, but I am looking at keeping the brake dust down. I'll let you know how things turn out after the brake fluid change.

 

[QUOTE=jetman4]Has anyone tried the friction master ceramic pads from advance on their expy. [QUOTE]

I installed the Friction Master Ceramic Pads on the rear of my Expy last week and they work great! The old pads were probably originals and had had it. I would recommend these pads to anyone. I did replace my rotors also so that might have made more of a difference too.