Cracks in front brake pads

[08EddieCA]

Hello,
I live in a hilly area of Los Angeles. I'm sure driving down long hills generates a lot of heat in the front (and rear) pads.
Last week I was cut off on the 405 freeway causing me to apply as much pressure on the brake pedal as I was able to muster. The abs went off and I avoided running into a POS that cut me offf.
When I pulled off the pads there was a crack running through the pad (north to south) on both pads on both sides - DR and PS.
The brake pads have about 20,000 miles on them. Due to the crack, I'm going to replace the pads with a higher quality Raybestos pads EHT1158H set.
Has anyone else run into cracked brake pads? I bed in the pads exactly as the directions told me to. A few thousand mils ago, when I was replacing the wheel bearings, the pads looked normal.
Could a high speed lock up (with the abs working perfectly) cause the pads to develop a heat crack? The calipers are brand new Motorcraft calipers. The rotors are new, slotted Brembos. Break fluid is changed every year.
Thanks for your help.

 

[MNgopher]

Just replaced my front pads 1000 miles ago for the same reason. The brake lining material was cracked - in multiple places in my case. Pads appeared to be the Bosch Blue brake pads as installed by the previous owners shop. Pads had about 35,000 miles on them, and appeared to have plenty of lining material. Had an awful squeek noise from one side. On inspection, the lower slides on both sides were in bad shape, one side so bad it could not be removed with what I had on hand. Ended up replacing the entire caliper bracket and both slides. The shims on the inside pads were also rusted completely through and failing (approximately 4 years old). Not impressed.

I'm guessing in my case the slides were responsible for the pads overheating, but I am also much happier with the replacement pads I put on in terms of stopping power. (Went with the Advance Auto Wearever Platinum Ceramic pads) At some point, I will check the rear pads as well for the same issues - just haven't done so yet, and they aren't making noise.

 

[StevenStebo]

There is a TSB on these trucks about sticking calipers causing a dragging situation. If you have some miles on your truck replace the calipers with rebuilt phenolic ones.

 

[MNgopher]

Tsb number? No tsb listed for dragging brakes for my '07...

 

[StevenStebo]

There is a TSB on these trucks about sticking calipers causing a dragging situation. If you have some miles on your truck replace the calipers with rebuilt phenolic ones.

Tsb number? No tsb listed for dragging brakes for my '07...

The described problem is the issue from the OP, stomping the pedal as hard as he can. I had the same problem, found a TSB then replaced my calipers, problems fixed. Do you need a manual to tell you when calipers go bad??

 

[MNgopher]

Nice attitude...

You posted there is a TSB for sticking calipers in these trucks in Post #3.

I've looked through the TSB's for my '07, and there isn't one listed. Of the three for brakes, one is for a broken parking brake handle (07-17-4), one is for rear brake rattling (09-22-13), and the last is for the poor brake pedal feeling (09-1-6), which involves bleeding the brakes and/or replacing the brake pedal. None of which pertain to this issue or your solution.

If you actually have a TSB, it would be nice to share it with the board...

In my case, the dragging issue was caused by corroded slide pins.

Have a great day...

 

[MNgopher]

Figured I would share the TSB number that Steven didn't.

For the 2006 Explorer only, TSB 06-2-15 is available for dragging brakes.

OP has an '08 and thus the TSB does not apply nor would it show up if he looked for it.

And to take it a step further, that TSB had nothing to do with replacing the brake calipers either.