Rear Brakes Needed
Thread Starter
|
Freshman User
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 35
Likes: 0
Rear Brakes Needed
I went to get an oil change yesterday at Ford Country Lewisville and they said my rear brakes were needing some attention. Just changing the pads and "inspecting the brake system" would run me $219. I've changed the pads on my previous cars before, but never a truck or a [font=verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif][font=verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Ford[/font][/font] for that matter. My question is how difficult is this to do? I realize that OEM pads are like $100, but are there other pads that will work well as well? Take the "I like to work on my own [font=verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif][font=verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif]truck[/font][/font]" and "it's a good chance to drink a few cold ones" out of the equation, is it worth the time and effort to save a few bucks, or should I just take it to the dealership? Are there any special tools I will need? Should I turn and resurface the rotors after 33K miles on them?
2004 SCREW Lariat 5.4l 2WD
2004 SCREW Lariat 5.4l 2WD
Senior User
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 180
Likes: 0
Did they show you the pads/rotors? Are you still running the original front pads? I just changed my front pads at 60,000 miles on my '04 because they were squeaking, but they still had about 1/3 of the pad material left. Typically rear pads last a LOT longer than the fronts. I would make sure you really need rear pads before worrying about it too much, but beyond that pads are easy to change; you could probably find a book.
Senior User
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 430
Likes: 0
From: Springville, AL
Definitely cheaper to do it yourself, and absolutey easy to do. Since you've changed pads before you'll have about a zero learning curve. Go to NAPA or Advanced Auto and get some inexpensive ceramics (about $55 - $65 a set) and rock and roll.
Are there any grooves in the rotors? If there's not and you do not have a vibration when braking, and since its the rears I wouldn't worry about turnin' the rotors.
Oh for just switchin' out the pads there are no special tools required.
Are there any grooves in the rotors? If there's not and you do not have a vibration when braking, and since its the rears I wouldn't worry about turnin' the rotors.
Oh for just switchin' out the pads there are no special tools required.
New User
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 9
Likes: 0
From: Plainfield, IL
I just changed my rear pads at 65,000 and they were worn down to about 1/8".
I had changed my fronts at about 50,000 and figured the rears would last quite a while longer, but that was not so in my case. No grooves or pulsing problems, so I just swapped out the pads. $65 for OEM Motorcraft pads from Ford dealership. It took longer to jack the truck and pull the wheels than it did to replace the pads. When the truck was first introduced, I think I read an article about the braking system having Electronic Brakeforce Distribution. When it was being tested against the competition for the magazine article, it actually stopped a foot shorter with weight in the bed than it did empty. Perhaps good Ford engineering would account for the more even brake wear?
I had changed my fronts at about 50,000 and figured the rears would last quite a while longer, but that was not so in my case. No grooves or pulsing problems, so I just swapped out the pads. $65 for OEM Motorcraft pads from Ford dealership. It took longer to jack the truck and pull the wheels than it did to replace the pads. When the truck was first introduced, I think I read an article about the braking system having Electronic Brakeforce Distribution. When it was being tested against the competition for the magazine article, it actually stopped a foot shorter with weight in the bed than it did empty. Perhaps good Ford engineering would account for the more even brake wear?
