Kind of interesting reading all this. I remember when I posted up a thread on my 2005 F-150 (biggest POS I ever owned) and how the rear brakes (rotors and pads) were junk at something like 23,000 miles. The fronts were total junk at 27,000 miles. I was more than a little pissed. And I'm the guy who always gets more mileage out of brakes than anybody else.

So what do I get here? A bunch of idiots saying I'm riding and / or otherwise abusing the brakes. Hmmm.

I will add that my 2010 was a much better experience - on the brakes at least. (Remember, they upsized the brakes in 2009.) I got 48,000 out of the fronts and traded it in (with 55,000 miles) with the original rear brakes still within specs. I thought that was a whole lot more acceptable.

I will also note that my trucks were the lightest cab / box combination being short box / regular cabs. Most of you noting problems have extended cab or super crew configurations - which are much heavier.

If you want some hope, remember what the Ford Engineers have said about the 2015 F-150. Through the creative use of aluminum, they have significantly reduced the weight of trucks across the board. Here's the important part though. They (as of yet) have not downsized other stuff on the truck which is now oversized due to the reduced weight. And they specifically mentioned the brakes. This may be the first F-150 in many years where we actually have excess brake capacity.

 

Gee - I bought my 2003 in 2006 with 55k on it. It still had the original brakes. Did the fronts at 65k with Centric premium rotors and ceramic pads. They are still good at 175k and the rears are still original.

The original fronts dusted the rims REAL bad, the ceramics are virtually dust-free.

 

A 2003 would be the last of the previous generation trucks. I had a 1997, a 1999 and a 2002 that all saw well over 55,000 miles out of the front brakes. I never replaced the rears on any of them before trading them in.

The 2004 was a heavier truck with questionably sized front brakes. In fact the early 2004's had horrible brake dust / brake wear issues that were not fully solved until the bigger brakes showed up on the 2009 models.

BTW: I went with ceramics for replacements too. Much better braking with significantly less dust.

 

I had right around 60k on mine when I changed them. There was plenty of pad left on the front and the rears had at least another 60k in them. My front rotors were the reason I changed mine out. I went ahead and did the rears because I was about to tow a camper through the Rockies. I figured extra stopping power would be a good thing to have.

 

I had a 2006 Regular cab 2WD where the front right brake was down to almost zero at 40K miles... I also had a 2008 Supercab 2WD that got 68K on the originals...

 

I see a theme here, most of y'all are wearing the right side out much faster than the left side. My guess is that water from puddles etc is washing the grease off the slides on the caliper. The trucks use a floating design caliper so without the grease the moving side can stick and leave the pad in constant contact with the rotor. The right side sees a lot more water than the left side does. I'd suggest checking the calipers for proper function and replace the boots that cover the slides.

 

I'm replacing calipers and rotors on both sides.

 

Took about 2 hrs to replace the calipers, rotors and pads. Everything is no working as it should.

 

See and you thought I was being a wise ***

Glad you are back to normal.

 

Gas mileage has gone from 13.5 to 18

Guessing it was dragging a little