'91 Front Brake Life

[Tony H]

I know the life of the pads depends on driving habits but has anyone noticed that The front pads are good for half the life on any other car you owned??

Any car I've owned, I was good for about 30K betwee brakes. This Explorer is about half that. The Discs aren't ripped up, in fact when I bought this critter 17 months ago I put new Discs on it.

I put NAPA Pads on it. not the 'too hard' ceramics and not the bottom of the line either..so what's the deal, does Fords eat brakes?

 

[lonestar]

You need to check your calipers and slide pins. I bought the truck used, put on over 50k and the front pads are still good.

 

[Tony H]

Calipers aren't hanging up , I clean and grease the pins.

All four pads are wearing evenly so I suspected the Calipers are OK. No major drag when I jack the front and spin the tires. Hmmm

Someone suggested I check the Adjustment of the rears.

Thanks

 

[Rhett]

Calipers aren't hanging up , I clean and grease the pins.

All four pads are wearing evenly so I suspected the Calipers are OK. No major drag when I jack the front and spin the tires. Hmmm

Someone suggested I check the Adjustment of the rears.

Thanks

How often did you grease them?

 

[Tony H]

I only put the Pads on less than a year ago.

WIre brush the Riding surface of the pin, then White lithium grease.

Too thick maybe?

I'm not familiar with Fords so try and stay with me.
I helped a friend with his Expedition brakes. On his Calipers or Caliper Mount was some Stainless steel pieces that the Pin rode on. My Explorer is just bare metal on both the Caliper and the Caliper mount. Is that normal or should there be this Stainless piece?

 

[JoeW]

I'm no expert but can relate my experience. When I first purchased my 94 explorer I put plain old cheap pads on and they lasted 6 weeks. No apparent problems. I replaced the rotors and calipers. Six weeks later the pads were worn out. I tried carbon comp pads and they seem to last for about 9 months (18K miles). I have seen posts on here from people with similar problems and posts from people with no problems. I took mine to Ford and they inspected them and found no problem. I quit worrying about it and learned to live with it.

 

[Eric P]

I had semi-metallic pads come apart on me twice, switched to carbon metalics from autozone and have had no more problems.

 

[outhouse]

I replace front pads every 10k, rear pads every 20k, front rotors every 20k, rear rotors every 40k.

Yes very heavy wear and expensive but I believe the pad compond was altered for the European market - we haven't got as much space to stop!

So I was putting it down to that.

 

[Tony H]

I guess it is what it is.

I couldn't imagine what the problem would be but I wanted a sanity check.

 

[falls guy]

I went to do the pads on my 91xlt about a month ago after assuming thay needed doing after a year of driving. They were still like new. I adjusted up the rears and away i went. I was surprised they were still good.

 

[Rhett]

I only put the Pads on less than a year ago.
WIre brush the Riding surface of the pin, then White lithium grease.

Don't use white lithium grease for the caliper pins. It won't last very long, and then it's metal-to-metal. Which means short pad life in these trucks.

Use disc brake caliper slide pin grease. It's available at just about any auto parts store.

 

[Rhett]

I'm not familiar with Fords so try and stay with me.
I helped a friend with his Expedition brakes. On his Calipers or Caliper Mount was some Stainless steel pieces that the Pin rode on. My Explorer is just bare metal on both the Caliper and the Caliper mount. Is that normal or should there be this Stainless piece?

There is no stainless piece on these trucks. Should be bare metal. The biggest problem you have is using the wrong grease on the pins--the white lith wears off fast and with no grease will absolutely quickly kill pads (and, really, rotors).

You should get at least 30,000 out of a set of pads on these trucks, and at least 90,000 miles on rotors before they would need work, unless you hot-rod it or do severe-duty (mountain towing, etc.). You just have to keep on greasing the pins every 10000 or so. It's more maintenance than you would do on most cars, for example. I suggest carbon metallic pads, they have worked for me for a the last few years.