Super Duty Brake Solutions

One of the major maintenance expenditures on one of these trucks is brakes. This particular truck weighs 8,500 pounds with 1,100 ft lbs of torque. Stopping puts a lot of wear and tear on the brakes.

I have tried pretty much every brake combination out there – the factory Ford rotors don’t work very long – they warp and vibrate. The cheap Chinese rotors from Advance or Auto Zone are a little better, but not much. Recently, Advance Auto Parts has come out with a new line of extreme duty brakes, Carquest Frontline PD Brakes. The brochure has little graphs that say they stop quicker and faster – I don’t know. They are expensive. You are talking about a front rotor that is usually $99 and now $150 retail. Even though they are more expensive, I figure I got about 38-40,000 out of a set of brakes on this truck and I am going to see if I can extend it a little further.

Advance offers these black rotors that are supposed to be corrosion resistant. It’s a Wearever and they call it their severe duty. These things are expensive, but I bought 4 rotors and their severe duty pads to try and see how they do.

Has anyone tried these extreme duty brakes and rotors? I would love feedback on them and on what you have done to get brakes to work better. I have tried all kinds of brakes; it is a never ending game for me. I am hoping, even though they are more expensive, that I won’t have to change them as often. I’d like to hear feedback on what people have done and I’ll let you know how it works out for me. ~Bill Hewitt