How's your fluid level? The last time my brakes were a little soft in the van, that was the first warning sign of a hard line working its way up to failure[1]. Inspection did show a damp fitting at the time. -- In hindsight I should have immediately dealt with it at that point.
So, I'd say check around for leaks first. No brake line should ever be anything other than
dry on the outside. To state the obvious: Hydraulic brakes rely on the fluid being a closed system.
Next I'd do a full bleed. After that I'd think about whether I needed better brakes.
FWIW, I switched to the hawk lts pads on the front earlier this year, and they are very similar to whatever was on there before[2]. I've also had some bad experiences with stoptech/centric pads on a different vehicle[3], to the point where I'll avoid their products.
[1] One end of that hard line had been secured by a zip tie before I got the van and it
admittedly held up for a number of years. However that's not the right way to do it,
and will eventually fail. I was very lucky and the line failed on a mild section of dirt
road. I have since fabricated mounting brackets and installed them.
[2] Whatever came with my '04ish f350 axles, likely stock Ford.
[3] Pads would leave residue on the rotor quite regularly leading to pulsing. So I swapped
on one of their new slotted rotors thinking that would help, but it didn't. This was an
issue on the front only, and supposedly the same pads on the rear didn't exhibit this.
My conclusion is that I either got a bad set of pads on the front, or that their product
doesn't actually work in the real world.
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'99 EB ex ENG KSWB news van, low rent 4x4 conversion (mostly fixed by now), home built interior.
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