I have a 2004 F150 with 40,000 miles. The rear pads are about 90% worn while the front pads are about 50% worn. I'm the only driver and I've not driven with my emergency brakes on. Are others having this problem? I always gotten twice the wear out of the back than the front. This is strange.

Also, I'm very comfortable in replacing front pads and rotors, but never have tackled rear pads. Are there any technical tips on making sure the emergency brake cables are aligned correctly when reassemblying? What should I watch out for?

Thanks

 

Rears are the same as the front, basically. The E-brake shoes are the only real difference. And it sounds as if your proportioning valve is a little out of whack, if you use up the rear pads first....

 

Thanks for the info... I remember that there were problems with a proportioning valve in the old late 80's Taraus, but figured that by now they'd have designed something better.

Are these adjustable on a 2004 F150 or is this something that needs replacing?

Also, I'm assuming by your comment that the E-Brake only needs to be unbolted then reinstalled without any adjustments... is that correct?

Thanks again for the info

Larry

 

You will not even touch the e-brake replacing pads. They are a small drum style under the "hat" of the rotor. Unless you pull the rotor, you will never even see them.

 

Just talked with a service advisor at the dealer on the rear brakes wearing so fast. He said there were no service bulletins that he could find but that he's seen quite a few F150s with the rears wearing out like this.

Now to me, this is a Ford problem.

Rear brakes are to "assist" the fronts, not be the primary. He told me they use some type of module now instead of the proportioning valve.

Anyway, other people I've talked with say that they get over 80k miles out of the rear brake pads.

Larry

 

I had to replace my rear pads at 35,000, they were about 70% gone. Way too soon. I replaced the fronts at 11,000 to eliminate dust.

 

Front brakes used to do 80 to 90% of the braking because most of the weight of the vehicle was on the front wheels and you did not want the rear wheels locking up on you and causing you to fish tail. I believe a larger portion of the braking duties is now assigned to the rear brakes because of ABS; i.e., you no longer have to worry about premature rear brake lockup. On my 2002 SCREW 4x4, the rear brakes wore at least as fast as the front. I went through three complete (front and rear) sets of brakes in 89,000 miles. Remember, you are stopping about 5000 lbs. of truck.

 

Im having the same problem with my 04. 36000 miles. It came out of nowhere too, two days ago they were fine and now they are making the worst sound ever. Its a nasty metal on metal sound, so Im gonna go pick up a set of pads for it.

 

Just in case you didn't already know, you better get your rotors turned. That metal to metal sound you heard was your pads completely worn away and the metal backing of the pads grinding your rotors.you probably have some new grooves on your rotors now.

 

alot of people claim to not know why thier rear brakes are wearing fast because they dont want to admit about doing the burnouts, however in your case i wouldnt know why your rears are wearing out so fast. only problem ive had out of my breaks is i think ive waited to long to turn the rotors

 

I recall reading somewhere that for the 2004 re-design, Ford changed the ratio of front vs. rear braking... Something like the rear brakes now account for 10% more braking power than before... Example, if it used to be 70% front, 30% rear - now it's 60% front, 40% rear. That's just an example, and I'm sure those numbers are not correct.

But yeah, same thing happened to my truck. Rear pads had to be replaced at something like 30,000 miles.

 

My rears wore out at 33K and my fronts are fine. Sounds like there is something going on. Has anyone found anything concrete as to why this is a common occurence?