We have noticed that all fords we have owned. deveopled warped rotors and cause the brakes to pulsate. we usualy have to replace the whole rotor without even getting one cut out of them. Is there ant aftermaket rotors or fixes for this?

thanks mike

 

You can try a nice aftermarket rotor with slots (not cross drilled crap)

The rotors warp because you are getting on the brakes too hard at high speeds, or have huge tires with oem brakes ( a big no-no). Either take it easy with braking or use slotted. If you have huge tires, then you gotta get into big brake upgrade kits. The rotors warp because super hot gas is created between the pad and rotor surface causeing extreme heat and then warping. The slots help direct the super hot gas off the surface of the rotor.

Try a company like power slot for rotors.

 

I'm not too sure but those tires and suspension lift - don't exactly look stock to me. This could be partially to blame for the rotor situation, as could the freshly rebuilt 460 under the hood. It takes a lot of energy transfer to bring the beast to a stop after a few high speed runs to "break in the motor" or "blow out the carbon". I speak from experience - done it many, many times. Fried rotors in Fords, chebbies, and I used to have a little Plymouth rocket that I cooked rotors in at least once per year - damn that car was FAST!! (BFG). Anyway, if you want the rotors to last then you have to follow the old adage that you get what you pay for.You either buy them cheap and replace them often or you spend the extra $$$ and beat the snot out of them for at least a couple of years. You can even find the really good high end rotors for a pretty reasonable price if you shop around a bit.

Oh yeah, your not one of these "left foot brake" guys are you? (as I quickly jump into my flame proof suit of armour!)

Cheers!

Mike

 

My truck has not had a problem yet. But my father in laws trucks have they have all bee a little newer. But he said it happened in his 76 also. he has had like 10 ford trucks. So i told him i would post the question. By the way i never hit the brakes.

 

If you don't get your rear drums adjusted regularly (at least every 6 months), you will cook your front rotors.

 

I thought the rear drums were supposed to self adjust everytime you apply the brakes after reversing.

 

why would oversized tires cause the rotor to warp? It is the weight of the truck you are stopping, and that would not change much by a smaller tire. A 30 mph stop would be the same regardless of the tire size......I would say hard stopping would be the main cause of a rotor to warp as more heat is generated......chris3

 

thats self adjusting mechanism usually just seizes up. best way is to djust them manually once in a while with a brake spoon.

 

You are correct, however larger tire have a much larger rolling mass and momentum, They are also much heavier. It takes a lot more power to slow those larger tires down. I noticed a huge difference going from 33s to 35s.

As far as the original question. In my experience do not buy those "discount auto parts" rotors, they are JUNK. Get a little water on them and bam warpped. I bought a set of hubs and rotors from broncograveyard.com and they are smooth as silk after 25K miles where I was replacing rotors and pad after 20K before with the "discount" parts and I am running 35 BFGS.

 

Cheap rotors = easily warped. You get what you pay for. BG's rotors are more expensive, but they're worth it. They don't warp after 20k miles.

Fully_Loaded's right on the money about bigger tires having greater rolling mass. Heavier tires wear out the brakes faster, that's just the nature of the beast.

Ford's self-adjusting mechanism is really a piece of junk. It doesn't work. You need to adjust your rear brakes every 6k miles or so for best results.

 

Hey 4x4, ask your father in law if it always happens after he does a brake job. If so it's because he doesn't clean things up good enough. Rotors and many times calipers mate up to another steel surface. If you put the rotor or caliper back on and there is a tiny little pebble between the steel mating surfaces, then things are no longer lined up. The rotor and caliper need to be lined up so that you don't get that warped rotor problem. All it takes is a tiny pebble in there somewhere and you'll slowly develop the problem. I know this because I'm an expert. My brakes would always develop the pulsating after every brake job I've ever done until my last one. My shop manual instructed to thoroughly clean all steel-to-steel mating surfaces in big bold letters. Of course I didn't follow the instructions and just put everything back. A few weeks later the brakes start to pulsate and that's when it hit me what the manual was telling me. I got home, took everything apart, blew it all clean with compressed air and followed that up by going over everything with a wire brush. Problem went away and I didn't even have to replace or resurface the rotor. I've done two more brake jobs since then and haven't had a problem.