Brake pads on my 2008 F150 are getting close to needing replacement. Question is turn the rotors or not. Brakes work fine and stop smooth. Assuming rotors are fairly smooth I would think new pads only would work just fine.

Thanks

Do it now while the wheels are off - O'Reilly's charges $15 per. It is cheap preventative maintenance.

I know that people say you should but I never have on my 2001 F150. I have had about 4 sets of pads on the front and 1 on the rear. I have never noticed a problem with stopping distance. Now if I did some extensive before and after testing maybe I would come up with some differences.

I only did on my F150s if they looked like they needed it. I replaced the brakes every year and a half or so, and they generally were in pretty good shape. I only had to have them turned twice. The first time was when I first changed the brakes on my old '93 and the previous owner wasn't particularly good with maintenance. The second time, I got a set of pads that weren't ground down properly, and there was a hunk of metal that scored my rotor terribly. The store did it for free, and replaced the pads.

Really, if the rotors don't seem scored at all, it may not need it. If it'd serve you purely for peace of mind, you may as well have it done. It's better not to worry about the cost of having something done early rather than worry about having to do it all a second time.

Don't turn the rotors period, if they need to be turned then replace them. Ford doesn't even turn them they tell me that turning them will cause distortion because aparently they used 2 different type steel in the mfg process. Ford dealership recommends replacing them. The first brake job I did on the 97 wasn't aware of this and had them turned and wasn't a problem until the next time it rained and the rotors was hot and the cold water caused them to warp and everytime I hit the brakes after that it would try to shake the dash off of the firewall. Made a trip to Autozone and bought a new set of rotors for $140.

My experience is if you turn rotors sooner or later they will warp and do exactly what 97fordnut said.

matt

Redchevy that was my concern - I had a 2004 model and the first time they turned them (national tire and battery) they ran out of metal. They replaced them for free but I was just lucky. I had the truck into 5 star ford a couple of weeks ago for something else and they were saying they were getting close to needing replacement. I asked and their $200 dollar estimate including turning the front rotors - the $200 was front only but they could only put those major dusting same pads back on it I was hoping to get some that didn't turn the wheels black in a week after I washed it. Also this is a 4 x 4.

Do they make pads that don't dust that bad? I got the better of the three grades of pads and they are the worst about dusting the wheels. And if you don't get it off weekly, it sticks and you have to scrub the heck out of the wheels to get it off. I thought about heavily waxing my chrome wheels to see if it would help the dust to not stick so bad.

You can get ceramics, but they're a bit pricy, and oftentimes squeaky. I've thought about getting them for my 2001 BMW 740iL since the OEM brakes dust so bad, but I'd rather clean my wheels once every month or so rather than drive around squeaking.

The brakes on both my 93 and 97 F150s did the same thing. I tried the Michelin Brake Dust Repellent, and it didn't help much. I probably got an extra week or so before they needed cleaning. Never tried waxing them.

DON"T turn them unless they really need it! It's not preventive maintainance, if the pads are not rough and the rotors are smooth - leave them alone!

NOT

you dont have to if there smooth my dodge has a 135.000 and have never been turned , but spend the money on ford pads you will not be disapointed .

only turn rotors if the brake pedal tells you.(pulsing = warped).
if it has groves .thats ok , the groves give you more surface contact with the pad ..

be careful about ceramic/carbon pad's
they do stop better , however create so much heat that it will destroy nylon/plastic wheel cylinder pistons.
now ya got a stuck caliper = not good