Is it possible that these could cause a lot of undue squealing/squeaking/grinding coming from the brakes?

I've had the aforementioned problems for some time now, and according to my mechanic, it's because the dealership put cheap brake pads on.

Is that plausible, or am I looking at something more serious here?

 

Pads can sometimes cause the sounds you are having. They can have hard spots that hit the rotor and cause a noise and sometimes even a strange feel in the pedal..Would have to think that if you went to a dealer that they would have used stock ford pads. These are generally pretty good for normal duty driving. ( you will get others who might take issue with that statement but they do great for me) as long as you have plenty of pad material and a good pedal then maybe they were just not installed very well ( didn't clean the caliper slides and lubricate tham, no anti squeek material used..... ETC)

 

If you had them installed at the stealership they probly sold the cheap pads. Ford has two types of pads cheap ones and then the more expensive ones that last a long time.

 

Interestingly enough, I bought the truck (used) from a Lexus dealership.

I doubt they carried Ford pads in stock, so maybe they used the cheapest they could get?

I might just bite the bullet and get the bloody things replaced. The noise is horrendous... but they have 10/12ths left.