Hey guys and gals.

Here’s what’s going on. I put Hawk HPS pads back in February and they were great. Lately my pedal was starting to feel weird, I would have to push down more then normal to get them to stop and when I would be backing out, I would hear this creaking sound.

Today I had time and decided to check out my shoes/pads. Shoes needed adjusting so I adjusted them and they were fine. I take the front wheel of to check the pads and notice that I could barely turn the rotor; it took an immense amount of force to turn them a little. I took off the caliper and noticed that the one piston looked to be out more then the other. I tried to turn the rotor and it moved freely with almost no effort. I took the pads out and noticed this disaster (Pictures below). (Same thing happened life/right side). The backing plate (I believe that's what it's called) on some is bent upwards on the one is was almost completely off...on the other on it looks cracked.

The question is…was this caused by faulty calipers? Are the pads defective? Are the pads defective and do I have stuck calipers? I called up Tire Rack and they are shipping new pads (Thanks to Hawks lifetime warranty) on Monday.

Here are the pictures…I took a bunch of them and just put them up on the FTP so if some shots look the same, my bad lol.

Thanks for any info!

 

maybe its just my screen but nothing looks outta place to me...

but ur caliper could be sticking. try re-lubircating the slide pins with synthetic grease.

 

I've had the same HPS pads since before winter and had nothing but high performance with them. Did you put grease on the parts that slide on the caliper? Maybe it rusted/corroded to the caliper and stuck to the piston which could rip/bend that plate on the pad that is peeling off.
I really don't know though. Do you do alot of off-roading in mud or rocks or anything that could have damaged them which is unlikely.

 

Retaining clips? the pad was slipping out.

 

Nope, I don't do off-roading; my truck is 99.8% on-road. I talked with TireRack and sent the pics I took. They told me they have never seen anything like this before and told me it seems the pads I got were defective and are going to be shipping me out new pads tomorrow and they will be sending UPS to pick up the old pads from me.

I have an appointment with Ford on Wednesday to check out the calipers and have them replaced. Thank god I kept my old pads..though they are worn down (Maybe have 2,500 miles left on them) they still get the job done for emergency trips down the road.

What gets me is that everything was working great until maybe 3 weeks ago (I put the Brembo rotors and Hawk pads on back in Feb). There is a big difference in braking performance now that I'm back to the stock motorcrap pads though. I can't wait to get the new Hawk pads on there, truck feels like it doesn't stop w/ the motorcrap pads on there.

 

I have the Brembo blank rotors too, awesome. Sounds like you got a defective set, sucks. At least they're warranted. Good luck.

 

Thanks! Yeah, that's what I'm happy about. Gotta love lifetime warranties!

 

Today I checked my driver side front brake because it was squeaking a little, i wanted to put some more grease on it. I have the same pads you do and when I took the pads off, one of them was like yours, the pad between the calipers fell right off and the corner was bent up a little. Nothing is wrong with them, they perform fine, unlike what you said about yours.

 

From what the TireRack guy told me, that happens when they over heat but he put it down as defective anyway and sent me new pads (Should be here Thursday). Check your drums and make sure they are adjusted properly so that the front brakes aren't doing 99% of the job (Which is probably what mine were doing that plus sticky calipers causing unneeded heat).

I never said the brakes didn't stop...they did...I just had to mush the pedal down the floor more...probably because of the calipers and drums not being adjusted.

 

I haven't checked my drums, how do you do that and how do you adjust them correctly?

 

You take off the drum and measure the inside diameter of the drum (In mm). You then transfer that measurement to your shoes and open them up to just a hair under the actual drums measurement. (All this according to the Ford Shop Manual)

 

easy way...

take the little rubber piece out the back of the backing plate. get a brake spoon or screw driver and with the truck in the air on jack stands spin the tire. if it feels loose then tighten the adjusting star wheel a little at a time until it feels snug.

the drums have an auto adjuster but it doent work that well. ur supposed to reverse then slam on the brakes and its "should" adjust the drums but i havent had good luck with it.