Brake Job Nightmare on Explorer.

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Originally Posted By: KrisZ
Originally Posted By: The Critic
How tightly did the Wagner pads fit (on the bracket)? I have seen aftermarket pads with poorly stamped backing plates that will fit too tightly. This causes the pads to "hang up" which may result in the situation you described.


+1 on this.

I've had few cases of Wagner TQ pads being tight when installed on the brackets. Filing down the ears a bit fixed the issue and they worked great.

And on some applications, Wagner pads will be too loose, creating a knock/clunk when the brakes are applied.
 
everything seemed to fit fine. i checked the assembly 3 times to make sure it wasn't my goof, Pins were lubed with 3m silicone paste. Put new parts on and everything is happy as could be, i think either defective pads or rotors. o well, will never know for sure. I've never had a problem with either of the brands and this was a first. But o well what you gonna do. the OEM parts were about the same price, also seeing i got 50k out of the old ones i can't complain about the quality. Over 1000 miles on them now and everything is still great.
 
That's a pain. I have a similar experience.

Me and a knowledgeable friend (worked in a garage doing repair work for a while before college) did the front brakes on my wife's 2008 Escape. After visiting three stores in the middle of the job to location a weird size hex socket that most "socket sets" skip (9mm I think?) we got the parts on. I used Napa Premium brake parts - both rotors and pads - thinking they'd be high quality. After installing them they started to grind. I chalked this up to them "wearing in." I took everything apart again and nothing seemed amiss. The noise went away after putting a few city miles on the car. A few weeks later my wife tells me they're making a grinding noise again. This is after a few hundred miles. After some testing, I found they were only making noise when they got hot, like going down a long hill. The actual braking didn't seem to be effected (I did three or four back-to-back 60-0 stops to test them out before I'd let her take the car again).

Anyway, I chalked this up to bad pads or rotors. I was going to replace the pads with some higher quality ones (Wagner ThermoQuiet or something) but never got the chance. The car got totaled out after a relatively minor accident.

We did the pads on her Civic she had before the Escape using AutoZone "Gold" pads, and those worked just fine.

The worst part was, the Napa that I got the pads and rotors from didn't honor the coupon or internet order discount that I was using, so I ended up paying a bit more than I was expecting; certainly more than I would have at an AutoZone or Advance Auto or definitely Rock Auto (Amazon and Rock Auto are my go-tos recently). I should have walked away but I didn't figuring I'd help out the mom and pop parts store... I think my experience was an outliar; I'm still inclined to think Napa's stuff is better than most AutoZone/Advance Auto stuff. But, next time, for brake components I'll probably go to the dealer's parts counter and pay a bit more.
 
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hmm,

You may have gotten a poorly fitting pad, or if you used the sliders that came with them, they might not have seated properly. I usually use aftermarket parts for brake jobs, but admittedly have had to grind, bend and generally modify to get things to fit properly in the past. Not that this was the case with yours, but you could have gotten a bad set.
 
Originally Posted By: demarpaint
Originally Posted By: Merkava_4
Originally Posted By: guitarandoil67
So went back to work and was driving when I noticed drag on the brakes and noise ([censored] moment).


A drag on the brakes doesn't point to a rotor or pad issue; it points to a caliper not releasing issue.


That's what I'd say.


+1
 
I have had several aftermarket pads that the powder coating was to thick on and I had to lightly grind it off to get the pad to move freely in the bracket.
 
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