Recommendations on brake pads and rotors F350

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SMR

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It's time to replace the brake pads and possibly the rotors on my truck. Last time I had a shop do the work. This time I have friend who is a mechanic that will do the work and also teach me how.
Planning on doing the front and rear.

Any recommendations on which brands of brake pads and rotors.

Thanks
 
It's time to replace the brake pads and possibly the rotors on my truck. Last time I had a shop do the work. This time I have friend who is a mechanic that will do the work and also teach me how.
Planning on doing the front and rear.

Any recommendations on which brands of brake pads and rotors.

Thanks
I would just go with Napa, O'Reilly, or another's house brand.
 
I tend to not replace rotors unless there is a problem. New pads will wear into the surface of a rotor very quickly. Every time I've had a rotor turned, even a tiny amount just to put a new surface on it, I end up replacing it. Auto parts store rotors all seem to be junk, I have had little success with them.

End result is I get replacement rotors from the dealer, and have good success with them.

Be very wary of old calipers. The pistons in virtually all calipers are phenolic to insulate the fluid from the heat of the pad. Over time, Phenolic seems to very slowly absorb brake fluid and swell very slightly, and suddenly the brakes get hot and the piston seizes in the caliper. I've had this happen twice with a front caliper on my old '91 Ranger, both times at about 100K, and my travel buddy had this happen twice on his '04 RAM 3500 dually's rear brakes.

Charles
 
Probably luck as much as skill but I never buy them from the chain stores. I think the only thing you get for their "premium" line is the opportunity to exercise their lifetime guarantee. I've got better things to do than swap rotors on my days off. I've bought the premium line from NAPA and that worked out, as well as Wagner brand parts. My 1995 ranger still has the OEM rotors at 200K, have put 2 sets of pads on it. By all rights I should have replaced them last go around but they're not warped, and I hate to replace working brakes. As far as pads I hate ceramics. There was a time you could get kevlar and I liked those a lot but haven't seen those around for a while. First choice then becomes organic if they have them, or semi metallic. I like how "predictable" they respond, vs ceramic which I think is "grabby". Not really worried about service life, I'll get 10 years plus out of them so better or worse wear isn't a consideration.

Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM
 
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One Forum I frequent, Ford trucks dot com, with the F150, OEM and Powerstop are popular choices. I really like my oem brakes on my 2020. That said, given you tow, I would also ask this question in that Forum. If not, I would stay with O'rieley or Napa if you feel you must replace the rotors. I am also a fan or Rock Auto dot com if I know what I want, great prices, low chance of knock-offs.
 
I used to go with the better lines at the major parts stores, but their quality has nosedived over the past 20 years. Any more I go with OEM. If not available, I get whatever the best line is from NAPA. NAPA isn't the premium parts dealer they once were years ago. However, I have fewer fitment or quality issues with their parts, even recently. Just don't go cheap with their "value" or "fleet" lines, those are the same crap all the others sell.

Until I started running semi trucks, I never cared about brake parts much. Just get the cheapest and get on down the road. What you find out with an abusive use case like that is that the cheaper pads are cheap for a reason. Usually low quality lining and adhesives, weak or no corrosion protection, and bad fit. They may work, at first. But you'll end up with problems sooner than with a higher quality part.

If any Ram diesel owners haven't discovered them yet, check out Geno's Garage for service parts. They're primarily mail order, but will do "will call" pickups at their warehouse in Cumming GA (5 miles from my house LOL) if you call in the order. Large selection of genuine Mopar service parts with zero counterfeit risk, along with some proven alternate brands. My biggest bang for the buck there has been fuel filters. If you've bought fuel filters from a dealer, you already know they're gold plated. Geno's sells the exact same filter at a normal price. They're a small business that caters to enthusiasts, so they won't sell crap. No, I don't work there. Just a satisfied customer for the past 10 yrs.
 
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If you want better stopping power go with Hawks Metallic pads. I put them on my F250 along with slotted rotors and I was amazed. I swear that truck stopped better than our Porsche 911 after that.

If you're happy with the stopping power you have stick with Ford OEM parts.
 
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EBC makes the best stopping pads I have ever run but they put off tons of dust and don’t last. But my God they stop!
 

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