I am still getting shudder/shake when applying the brakes to my 03 Expy. Have had it in 3 times already, and now it is worse than ever. They keep machining the rotors, which seems to work for a day or two. Anyone else have this issue, or have any suggestions?

 

I've read that you can only 'turn' the rotors once at the most- and even then, Ford recommends against it. After 3 machinings, your rotors are probably too thin and are warping immediately upon getting hot. My guess is that new pads & rotors are needed to completely solve your problem.

 

You can turn Ford rotors more than once. There is a service bulletin that even relaxed the minimum thickness requirement so they can be turned more times.

However, There is no reason to turn them that many times on a 03. One of them has to be bad and should be replaced under warranty.

The dealer should probably make good amd replace one or both of them under warranty.

Good Luck--Bob


Brakes - Vibration/Inspection Service Tips
Article No.
99-19-4

09/20/99

BRAKES - GUIDELINES FOR BRAKE VIBRATION
REPAIR, BRAKE INSPECTION, AND FRICTION
MATERIAL REPLACEMENT - SERVICE TIP

FORD:
1993 FESTIVA
1993-1994 TEMPO
1993-1997 PROBE, THUNDERBIRD
1993-1999 ESCORT
1993-2000 CROWN VICTORIA, MUSTANG, TAURUS
1994-1997 ASPIRE
1995-2000 CONTOUR
1998-2000 ESCORT ZX2
2000 FOCUS
1993-1996 BRONCO
1993-1997 AEROSTAR
1993-1998 F SUPER DUTY
1993-2000 ECONOLINE, EXPLORER, F-250 LD, RANGER
1995-2000 WINDSTAR
1997-2000 EXPEDITION
1999-2000 SUPER DUTY F SERIES

LINCOLN:
1993-1998 MARK VIII
1993-2000 CONTINENTAL, TOWN CAR
2000 LS
1998-2000 NAVIGATOR

MERCURY:
1993-1994 TOPAZ
1993-1997 COUGAR
1993-1999 TRACER
1993-2000 GRAND MARQUIS, SABLE
1995-2000 MYSTIQUE
1999-2000 COUGAR
1993-2000 VILLAGER
1997-2000 MOUNTAINEER

ISSUE
This TSB serves as a guideline for servicing and diagnosing brake vibration, brake inspection, and brake friction material replacement.

ACTION
Refer to the following text and illustrations for servicing brakes.





Several service procedures relating to brake vibration, system inspection, and pad/shoe replacement have been revised. Detailed descriptions of the service procedures are shown in Figure 1.

Please note the changes for turning brake rotors. Criteria for sufficient rotor thickness before turning has been added to reduce the number of rotors that are replaced or turned to a dimension below the minimum thickness specification.

Final Lateral Runout (LRO) and disc thickness measurements have also been deleted since proper rotor measurement and machine adjustment will insure that these dimensions are within specification.


As part of this change, all car and light truck repairs will now be sequenced under labor operation 2001B, labor operation 2001A will remain in effect for medium and heavy duty truck applications. A unique labor operation for brake pad/shoe replacement, 2001B1, was added along with a consolidation of all turning operations into two labor operations, 2001B2xx and 2001B3xx. A comprehensive list of brake labor operations are listed in Figure 2. These new codes will be in the October Service Labor Time Standards release.

OTHER APPLICABLE ARTICLES: NONE

WARRANTY STATUS: INFORMATION ONLY

OASIS CODES: 301000

 

You need new rotors man, a rotor can really only be turned once, then it gets too thin. Check out Tirerack.com, they have pretty good prices, and carry some great brands, EBC, Brembo....

 

Any clue on how the rotors initially became warped? Wonder if a sticky caliper is causing a pad or two to drag onto the rotor and warm things up a bit. My 1999 took 73,000 miles to just slightly warp the front rotors, and that's with a lot of driving in hilly terrain.

 

Rotors warp due to the extreme heat caused from stopping such a heavy truck. At the temperatures we cause off of that friction is just warps the metal. My family has always had ford trucks and they tend to warp rotors pretty easily. Rotors are very cheap (or can be very expensive), so its not too bad to replace them, personally I would recommend if you plan on keeping the truck for a while go ahead and spend the extra on cross drilled rotors, you will never have to replace them again. Ive been on my cross drilled rotors (and ceramic pads, I have absolutely zero brake dust), for a little over a year now and am very happy with them. By they way, if you guys think we have it bad, go talk to the guys in the bronco section, my brother's bronco used to have to have rotors replaced ALL the time.

 

I agree, have Ford replace them under warranty. I've had some replaced in the past on other vehciles with no hassles.

I don't think Ford vehicles warp rotors any faster or worse than any other brand of vehicle. As mentioned above, heat is the leading cause of rotor warpage and all vehicles can generate high levels of heat. A lot has to do with driver tendancies.

Hey smurf, your bro ought to get lifetime warranted brake rotors if he's still paying for new ones.

 

Haha no it wasnt even the money spent on rotors for my bro, I think he did have lifetime warranty ones if I remember right (arent most?). It was the labor, if anyone on here has ever replace rotors on a 4x4 bronco you know how much of a pain in the *** those automatic hubs are, they have like 10,000 little O-rings you have to pry out before getting the rotor off. Hes been on the cross drilled for almost two years with no troubles at all. I do agree however, if you can get the rotors under warranty by all means go that route, why not get what you paid for.