Rear Brakes

tskyhi · 04-20-2010, 10:57 AM

I just replaced the discs(Brembo oem) and pads(Hawk LTS) on the rear and just want to give a heads up to all. Be sure to check the rear brakes regularly. I have kept a good eye on my fronts, assuming(yep) that they would wear out prior to the rears, but I blew thru the rears first. I'm just under 50,000 miles on the odo.

Specifically, the inner pads(piston side) were completely gone and I came way too close to grinding thru the right side rotor. I had noticed the grinding, but thought it was associated with the front right bearing that I will be replacing next, along with the front brakes and ball joints. When the left side started grinding, it was much easier to figure out that it was coming from the rear. The outer pads, however, still had about half their meat left.

As far as the procedure, if you've done brakes before, these are pretty simple. I did take some extra time to remove all the castings from the rotors that had coated the calipers.

What is the experience of others, in regards to the rears? Is it typical to wear thru the rears first, and have the uneven pad wear? My experience in previous vehicles has been for the fronts to go first, but then, this is my first vehicle with rear discs, as opposed to drums.

It is quite nice to have the e-brake adjusted to as new specs. That had been on my list for a while as it gotten weaker over time.

I'll try and get some pics later to give an example of what point you should NOT let your brakes get to.

Cheers.

Tim

**daveb** · 04-20-2010, 12:06 PM

My fronts went first but the rears were very thin as well. IMO if you got 50K out of them that's pretty good. I was lucky to get 40K but I pull a trailer often, do a lot of off roading, is a daily driver and my van weighs over 11K

Ford_6L_E350 · 04-20-2010, 02:25 PM

I haven't even looked at mine at 75K. The dealer inspection checked them off as having enough pad left when they last had the van for an alternator change.

Maybe I should look.

Mike

pjpvi · 04-20-2010, 03:52 PM

Tim -

Would you mind posting up the part numbers you used? This is rapidly coming up on my list of things to do. Any photos or "watch out for's" would be appreciated too.

My hunch is that there probably isn't much difference from your '06 and my '05.

thanks -
Phil

Jepa · 05-08-2010, 02:30 PM

Hey Tim,

I had the exact same wear pattern as you with my brakes (2006 6.0L w 70,000km / 44,000 miles) just recently.

I have been keeping a close eye on them ever since I got into a rear ender when the van was much newer. The truck in front of me slammed on his brakes and I had plenty of time and room to stop but for some reason the stopping power just wasn't there. I rode the brakes right into the back of his truck. Crazy thing is that I had tons of room to swerve around him. It just didn't register to do so when I had room to stop. I've experience this a second time with a "panic" stop. Normal breaking is okay so I've been working with mechanics to try and figure it out.

I've also just recently developed another issue. When coming down the mountain from our local ski hill I've felt a shuddering when I lightly engage the brakes. Reading in the forum got me thinking about flushing the brake fluid but my worry was that I had a warped rotor.

So this week when the time came to replace my rear brakes I hoped to get these all addressed. Sure enough one of my front rotors was warped and the backs (besides the wear) were very rusty and corroded. So I went ahead and had all four replaced (rotors, calipers, pads, etc.).

Yesterday I picked up the van and right away I noticed the shuddered didn't go away. In fact it was worse than before. The steering wheel actually jumps back and forth violently about an inch as its doing it. Like before if I apply the brakes more heavily it disappears. The mechanic is at a loss but is going to have a look at it on Tuesday.

Anybody have any ideas what's causing the shuddering?

**daveb** · 05-08-2010, 11:31 PM

So I'm guessing you were able to rule this out?

viewtopic.php?f=13&t=4000&hilit=warped+rotors

http://www.stoptech.com/tech_info/wp_wa ... isk.shtml#

Is your problem shudder or wobble? Problems with the anti lock brakes can cause shudder. Wobble can be caused by several things. My track bar was cracked and had to be replaced. There are some very knowledgeable members on the site that will probably chime in here.
I'm not any kind of suspension pro by any means.

Jepa · 05-09-2010, 10:27 AM

Hey Dave,

Yep, it was your original post that progressed me the farthest in my understanding of my brake issues. In fact I wanted to make sure there were no issues with brake fluid as that may have been the cause or, at least, a contributor to the accident I had (the accident happened after prolonged and regular braking through the mountains).

I knew for sure that my rear pads needed to be changed and I instructed the mechanic to bleed the fluid as well. When the van was on the lift and the wheels off we spun the front drivers side rotor and it grabbed through the rotation leading us to conclude the rotor was warped (erroneously?). With that in mind I had them all replaced (necessary?). Given the issue I'm having now it might have been over-kill.

I would say the experience is a wobble. My conversion has an F250 IFS front axle with a Dana 44 but it does have a track bar. I'm going to crawl under and have a look today. Also, re-reading the article you sent got me thinking that maybe I'll take it on the highway today and re-try the break in as suggested to see if that makes any difference.

Thanks.

**daveb** · 05-09-2010, 12:33 PM

I would start a new thread in the 4x4 section and state what's happening, what you own and what you've done so far. Rear brakes (this post title) are probably not the problem and you'll probably get more hits on what to look for by being specific to your problem. Be sure to add the link to my old thread so others know what has been discussed already. IFS is a different topic as well.

smoothpilot · 06-10-2010, 04:50 PM

I just replaced my rear pads at 42,000 miles. There was still about 15% of the inner pads left (2mm). The outer pads had about 7mm of material left. The front inner pads still had better than 5mm of material left so I left the front pads in place.

It was surprising to see so much more wear on the inner pads than the outers on all wheels. Has anyone ever tried "rotating" the pads? Like tsyihi, I was a little surprised that the rear pads had more wear than the fronts.

The replacement pads were Raybestos ATD802Ms. Too early to say anything about brake life but they do feel like they brake more stongly than the original pads. Hard to say for sure due to the worn out vs. new and not having replaced the fronts.

For what its worth, I bought the Ford three-lug adapter cap for my Motive Power pressure bleeder to use when flushing the fluid. It worked great! A lot less effort than trying to get my wife or daughter to coordinate pedal pumping to flush the fluid.

DPRock · 06-10-2010, 06:10 PM

I replaced my rear pads a couple of months ago at 86K miles. The rear pads were down to 2mm, but my mechanic said the fronts were still good to go for a while longer. I have the Brakeman upgrade - pads and rotors. I too was surprised that the rear brakes wore faster than the fronts.