Somebody PLEASE, put the "brakes" on this thread.

 

Lets all stop feeding this troll

 

Nice intelligent response,rhost.
Spout a bunch of crap and not be able to back any of it up.

 

Karson, hope you have better luck with the Cross Terrains then I'm having. My tread is 1/2 gone and I only have 11,000 miles on these darn tires. Looks like they will be worn out before 20K and about the time bad weather hits here.

 

Thanks for the feedback. Wow! That's not alot of miles. I hope they last longer than that, if not it's one of the lessons learned the hard way. They have a 65,000 mile warranty, but I guess that doesn't matter if your not happy with them. I have driven in the rain a couple of more times, and I still like the way they grip in the rain. Good luck on your next set of tires, and keep us informed on what you go to next.

 

I don't care to weigh in on the debate about stopping power, but I have learned something about the '97 F-150 brake rotors frequently becoming warped.

I too, have been unsatisfied by the frequent occurance of rotor warping on my truck and discovered that the OEM rotors are notorious for holding excessive heat created from the friction generated by the OEM metallic pads. This combination generates excessive heat and can cause rotor warp with as little as a cold water splash. It has happened to me several times on several vehicles in the past 26 years. Not all of them were Fords.

Others in the ford-trucks.com forum have agreed that the answer to the problem is to either use organic pads - which do not harden and glaze over but must be replaced more often, or to use the OEM pads with a "high performance" rotor capable of dissapating heat better. Braking ability aside, it's the ability to stay cool and not warp that I'm most concerned with.

I have the drilled and slotted rotors from JC Whitney that RHOST referred to in the earlier post and would be interested in hearing about other experiences with respect to rotor warp on drilled and slotted rotors versus stock.

 

I was told by a mechanic here on base to pick up a set of rotors from NAPA. I thought they were a bit expensive, but they seem to be doing the job. But I saved a whole lot of money changing the rotors out.

 

You can read a little about the increases in braking and why at www.custombrakes.com. I put better than OEM tires on my car, and on dry asphalt the OEM brakes could not brake hard enough for the anti-lock system to be needed. Brake fade was bad, rotor life was short, and rotor warpage was a constant problem. So I tried the cross-drilled rotors and Bendix's titanium pads and from 120-130 MPH can quite simply slam the bumper to the ground, the ABS works quite nicely, and brake fade is virtually gone, and the rotors haven't waped yet as of 22,150 miles.
The warping problem may have been stopped because I don't let ANYONE torque my wheel lugs 'cept me. With a click type torque wrench. And I check them fairly often as well. Several FORD techs have told me that improperly tightened/torqued wheel lugs was the leading cause of rotors warping. Not sure about that, but they don't warp now for one reason or another.

 

Thanks for the good info. I just learned about the importance of correct lug nut torque this week. I finally broke down and got a good torque wrench from Sears after borrowing one several times. We decided on 100ft. lbs per lug in the classic 5 point star pattern for my truck.

Since I just installed new drilled and slotted rotors, ceramic pads, bearings, seals, etc. I wanted to make sure everything was put back together right. The right tools for the job always makes it easier.

 

1999 F150 XLT Extended Cab 2wd

Well shortly after my original post I went with NAPA Ceramix pads and the best stock Wagner rotors on the front. They were fine for about 8000 miles and now I have at least 1 warped rotor. The rotors are under warranty but I have better things to do than change rotors twice a year. I drive alot of miles both city and highway and tow a small boat sometimes. I am not hard on brakes but they do get used alot!!! My question today is : Who has some long term success (30,000 miles or more) with after market rotors. I have read most of the posts and most of those are relativley short term low mileage. I am going to change rotors again soon and may work on my parts dealer to change brands If I can find one that might be better. Thanks.

Tomk