dont slow down
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- December 1, 2014
- Messages
- 177
- Reaction score
- 6
- City, State
- Elizabeth City NC
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 2022 Explorer Limited
Hello everybody! I hope I can get some opinions on something I came across this weekend, I know what a valuable place of information this forum is so I'm hoping I can get some input or maybe reassurance here. Unfortunately I didn't take pictures of this so I'll explain as best I can.
We have a 2013 XLT and it has the larger heavy duty brakes on it. I replaced all 4 brake rotors and pads this weekend and came across something on the driver side rear caliper after reassembly. After installing the new rotor, caliper bracket, and new pads I used the special compression tool to screw in the caliper piston. I screwed it in until I could fit it over the new pads. After bolting on the caliper I noticed the piston was about 1/16th of an inch off of the brake pad, as was the passenger side. I referred to my Ford service manual and it stated to press the brake pedal 10x to self adjust the calipers back down. After doing this the passenger side piston was touching the inner pad but the wheel was easy to spin and not dragging (I am aware of the dragging brake issue on these models and don't believe I have this situation). The driver side piston was not touching the inner pad but was about 1/32 off the inner pad, enough to see light in between and not much more. During compression of the brake pedal the driver side piston does move and contact the inner pad and you can see it compress the pads, however when you release the pedal the piston comes back off the inner pad. This is after I performed the 10x pedal compressions, as well as 10x emergency brake compressions for good measure (not sure if the self adjusting happens during normal braking or with the emergency brake). During a test drive and proper pad break in procedure the brakes and pedal all felt 100% normal and exactly the way prior to replacement.
Some additional information, the wear on the factory pads that were removed all measured very close and as follows:
Passenger Inner: .41
Passenger Outer: .49
Driver Inner: .48
Driver Outer: .47
As you can see they were all pretty close in wear so I wouldn't say I have the dragging brake issue (there are 124k miles on these pads). So my main concern or question is something wrong or off with my driver side piston? Or is it normal to have the piston come off the pad a tiny bit?
We have a 2013 XLT and it has the larger heavy duty brakes on it. I replaced all 4 brake rotors and pads this weekend and came across something on the driver side rear caliper after reassembly. After installing the new rotor, caliper bracket, and new pads I used the special compression tool to screw in the caliper piston. I screwed it in until I could fit it over the new pads. After bolting on the caliper I noticed the piston was about 1/16th of an inch off of the brake pad, as was the passenger side. I referred to my Ford service manual and it stated to press the brake pedal 10x to self adjust the calipers back down. After doing this the passenger side piston was touching the inner pad but the wheel was easy to spin and not dragging (I am aware of the dragging brake issue on these models and don't believe I have this situation). The driver side piston was not touching the inner pad but was about 1/32 off the inner pad, enough to see light in between and not much more. During compression of the brake pedal the driver side piston does move and contact the inner pad and you can see it compress the pads, however when you release the pedal the piston comes back off the inner pad. This is after I performed the 10x pedal compressions, as well as 10x emergency brake compressions for good measure (not sure if the self adjusting happens during normal braking or with the emergency brake). During a test drive and proper pad break in procedure the brakes and pedal all felt 100% normal and exactly the way prior to replacement.
Some additional information, the wear on the factory pads that were removed all measured very close and as follows:
Passenger Inner: .41
Passenger Outer: .49
Driver Inner: .48
Driver Outer: .47
As you can see they were all pretty close in wear so I wouldn't say I have the dragging brake issue (there are 124k miles on these pads). So my main concern or question is something wrong or off with my driver side piston? Or is it normal to have the piston come off the pad a tiny bit?
