I had a chance to replace the brake pads and rotors, for the moderate shimmy when braking above 55 mph. I used Wearever Rotors and Ceramic brake pads from Advance Auto Parts, and it took around 2.5 hours including clean up.

When I purchased the truck in 12/2010, I noticed two things immediately, more power and a firm brake pedal, when compared to my '07 STX. Back to my 2011; I bedded in the brakes at 35 mph - 10 times, and at 45 mph - 3 times, and drove home very conservatively and parked overnight. I drove to work Wednesday morning, and noticed the brakes never firmed up completely. On the drive home, in stop and go traffic, I noticed the brake pedal never firmed up completely. I had to stop by Walmart, and pulled in to the parking lot and noticed on one occasion, that the brake pedal faded significantly and dropped slightly while I was at a stop.

I did not have a chance to lube the pins, so will do it this weekend. And, I used bungee cords to hang the calipers. I did notice the moderate shimmy when braking above 55 mph was almost non existent, but thought it may still be present. To be honest, I was more focused on the soft brake pedal.



So, any ideas on why the soft brake pedal? Any fixes for the soft pedal?

Thanks,
James

 

I'm confused... why is it the F150's fault that your replacement tires were either not installed properly or just bad tires?????
Did you buy the cheapest tires you could find?
Who did the mounting and balancing?

If you say you have a vibration issue "immediately after a tire replacement" then of course I will blame the new tires.

As for your soft brake pedal - if you have poorly balanced tires it will push back the brake caliper pistons and give you additional dead travel. Hence the softer brake pedal - you have to move more fluid to contact the rotors.

SOLUTION: Get better tires, or get the tires you have mounted and balanced properly.

 

Michelin LTX A/S tires installed, balanced and then RF Balanced, and alignment. I have another thread on the vibration concern. I wanted to get feedback on what could have caused the pedal to go soft after pad and rotor replacement.

Thank you, for the input.

 

Wearever = POS.

 

I had the factory rotors resurfaced this past weekend. I pulled the Wearever pads and rotors after about 500 miles. I installed the resurfaced rotors and 45,000 mile Ford pads. After two days of driving, the brake pedal is where it should be. I returned the Wearever parts for a full refund.

I ordered two Moog Hubs and plan to install them on May 3rd, along with new Hub mounting bolts and new Ford pads.

I hope the soft pedal issue I have fought the past two years on my '94 Lightning will be cured once I remove the Wearever pads & rotors, and install Wagner parts. The Wearever pads & rotors were left over from my son's '95 model, and were brand new when installed.

 

so this fixed the vibration and the soft pedal issues?

if so, glad to hear it worked out

 

Wow. That guy must be smart!