Let me preface this whole post with a note that I’ve never replaced brakes on my previous newer generation F-150’s (1997, 1999 and now 2002) before 53,000 miles. Even when I did, I had at least 5,000 miles of wear left in them. Well, I’ve now replaced the brakes on all four corners of my 2002 F-150. I replaced the fronts (Brembo rotors with Bendix pads) at 26,000 miles and the rears with the same stuff this past weekend at 33,000 miles. In both cases, the pads had plenty of wear left and the calipers worked fine, but the rotors were junk. I’ve read a few posts on how bad the rotors were on these trucks, but up until my 2002 had no problems. What the heck did Ford change to “improve” the brakes on these trucks? By the way, the Brembo front rotors (from Tire Rack) still look like the day I installed them even with 7,000 miles on them.

 

I love my OEM Brembos. I have been rather hard on them for over 25k miles and they are still great.

 

Very common complaint in almost every make and model over the past couple of years. They made an obvious change in the alloy but the stock rotors are just not holding up. Warp almost immed. and wear below min. spec. pretty quickly, iI have been going with aftermarket replacements with much better results.

 

I have a question on the FX4 front brake rotors, Does the entire hub need to be removed or is the rotor held iin place by the tire/caliper?

 

The rotor is held in place by the caliper. Assuming they're not rusted on, the replacement is actually quite simple. It also avoids the possibility of over (or under) tightening the wheel bearings.