Padlin wrote:
After one trip down the Bighorns my rotors warped, pulsing pretty bad, seemed the right front wheel was very hot compared to the rest and had a heavier dust buildup on the rim. Had the Ford dealer in Cody Wy check them out, for $400 they turned the rotors telling me they had all overheated. 2 days later the brakes still pulsed on the downhill into Yellowstone. Right or wrong we finished the trip putting most of the braking on the trailer brakes via the manual lever and avoiding the worst of mountains.
Before I bring the truck into my regular mechanic, I'd like to look into the possibility of better then stock rotors and the applicable pads. If anyone has looked into such, I see slotted, drilled, slotted and drilled, and slotted, drilled, and dimpled, do any of these actually make a difference in heat dissipation?
2012 F150 4x4 Heavy Payload (17" 7 hole wheels), 30k miles, IBC.
FW weighs 5000 lbs, new this summer.
If your rotors are overheating then it doesn't matter what kind of brake pads you have. Unless they are racing pads... most street pads out there do not perform well once they interact high temp. of the rotor. I have Power Stop's Truck and Tow brake kit with the drilled and slotted design... and yes they really do the trick! ...and I've done my research. Full weight rotors. The drill holes are there to cool down the rotors at high braking conditions... like when you're towing or hauling a trailer or camper... or in my case a boat. It is for the same reason Corvettes and other high performance sports cars come with drilled rotors right off the line (to keep them cool under extreme driving conditions) Ever since I put on the kit, I was converted. The brake pads in the kit are way better than anything I've tried in my years. I will never go back to any other brand, other than PowerStop.