when to replace brake rotors on F150
 

I wonder when others replace the rotors and not just the pads.

My recent purchase '95 f150 brakes seem fine but recent brake inspection showed pads down to 10% and rotors had only 3/1000th left before some limit was reached. Mechanic said he could not "turn" them again as they would go below the legal limit.

The whole job will be $400.

I'm thinking the legal limit for thickness is probably conservative
to not overheat under heavy use.

Why not just replace the pads and wear the rotor until it is
under the thickness limit before replacing.

Wonderin how others w/ experience think about this

i do mine when you can feel them in the pedal and what not but i dont think thats how your supposed to go about it, if you can do the work yourself, a good rotor is only about 30 bucks and a good set of pads is about 30. so you could probly do it all for about 100 bucks, if you know how to do it.

Yeah its fairly easy to do change out the pads... the rotor is a little more difficult but not at all hard. I'm sure the rotor would cost more than 30 bucks since the studs are attached to it and its pretty heavy.

Rotors are about $30 @. Good pads are $30-$40. You should also change the bearings and rear seals. add about $50.00. If you do it yourself plan 4or 5 hours.Good luck SAV

i did pads and rotors myself on my dad's f150 w/no experience w/breaks. i used the haynes manual for reference. it tells you step by step how to do it. whatever you do dont cheap out on the rotors and pads. you can get good ones and still save a few hundred doing it yourself. good luck.

400 to replace rotors and front brake PADS (not calipers?). Ouch.....

Once you complete this yourself, you will see how easy it is to do yourself. Do one side complete at a time, incase you have to refernce anything. (Normally, that is only required on the rear brakes with all those springs and stuff).

Don't just let the caliper hang from the rubber hose. After doing this job you don't want to bleed the brakes by accidently breaking that rubber hose and having to replace it. Tie that caliper up with something.

Rotor *might* be 'cold welded' to the axle. Just give the old one a few smacks to lossen it off. I've only seen this once, and ended up drilling a line from the centre of the rotor towards the edge to allow it to have a break apart point.


Buy the premium rotors, if you can afford, and don't cheap out on the front pads either. Some places will give you money back for returning the 'core' old used parts. This varies per store, but can be significant savings.

Oh yeah, don't forget a can of brake cleaner to rinse off the 'powder'. Don't use compressed air to clean that brake 'powder' off. Just spray it all down with brake cleaner.

Also spray the new rotor and pads with cleaner after installing to remove the crap initially on them and give them a nice 'clean' surface.

You'll save yourself a few hundred bucks and have confidence to tackle somethign else next time. If that fails, ask a mechanically inclined friend to help (buy beer). It really is a no brainer.

and in your case i dont belive the lugs are part of the rotor, the truck has the ifs in it there for there is a bub behind the rotor that holds your lugs, the rotor just slips over the lugs, just like a little front wheel frive car does, unless of corse someone transplanted a dana 60 or some other straight axle into your truck,

Hey AKFORD.

What lift do you have?
Is it a suspension or body?

Thanks
Roland

Excellent writeup :). Just one more thing, make sure you properly break in the pads. You will be happ if you did. :)

Later,

On the original question... if you could just put in new pads and run them until the next time, yes you could but these rotors are very close to being wore out and probably will be beyond spec once those new pads are wore out. Overheating and warping problems could occer. You might feel vibrations in the pedal under hard breaking due to the rotor not being able to dissapate all the heat produced. Spend the few extra bucks and toss on some new rotors yourself, it'll be worth it!