Wearever Frontline Pads/Rotors, 07 Navigator

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
May 21, 2012
Messages
6,762
Location
Fort Lauderdale, FL
This is on a customer's truck that is used for towing a boat/trailer about 4000 lbs. above the truck's tow rating. Even unloaded, the last 20mph of braking took an awful long time to happen, and with absolutely no confidence.

Old pads vs. new:



I did some e-shopping to see what was in stock where, and came across these black coated Wearever Frontline rotors, that are supposed to be high carbon, high quality, heavy duty castings, with superior machining. As they were actually priced less than the other Wearever rotors (introductory rate? Closeout?), I decided to bite. They were only 2 available locally, so I went to have a look at them. They definitely appeared well-made, and runout test would later show they actually were. I matched them with a set of Wearever ceramic pads that appeared equally well-made, and proceeded to install:



Good looking rotors. First good sign was that chlorinated brake cleaner failed to remove the coating, or even harm it.

Rear got the regular Frontline rotors and ceramic pads. I proceeded to bed them using the Stoptech technique. Unlike the old arrangement, I could not fade these. Stop after stop was consistent and free of drama. Woke the ABS system up more than a few times.

After 4,000 miles, including being overloaded with a 30 foot cruiser, these brakes don't pay braking any mind. They just deliver. The black coating has held, even under salt spray, everywhere except for the pad area, of course. The machining pattern on the rotors has yet to be worn through. Impressive. Pads have lifetime replacement, front and rear, so the next brake job, which I don't anticipate to be any time soon, will need only rotors, at best.

These get the thumbs-up.
 
Very nice, i want a set of those with the coating on the rotor to deter rust. I have a regular set of Wearever rotors ready to throw on when i get time, but i might look into an exchange.

The next set of pads i have on hand is a Wearever Platinum Ceramic also.
 
You won't regret the Platinums. I've driven other Navigators/Expeditions with "good" brakes on them, and they all felt kind of overloaded. This setup feels ready to stop the Earth's rotation.

One other thing I noticed about the Frontline rotors, as compared to the standard Wearevers, is that instead of getting the criss-cross machining on the rotor face, the machining marks are completely axial, and not in a spiral either. Probably lends itself to pad bedding a bit better.

Oh, and no pad dust. The wheels gather more dust from the road than anything. If there's brake dust on there, I sure can't tell.
 
I wonder of they will rust? I would like that. I have to do rotors on the Focus on the spring because they are rusting around the edge and chewing my caliper
 
My grandfather was a P-47 Lightning pilot, and it's my favorite plane in the whole wide world. The turbocharged, intercooled, and water-injected R2800 Double-Wasp engine was pretty much the baddest engine in the skies over Europe, and the only thing powerful enough to chase down the pesky V-1 Buzz Bombs, except of course, for the equally mean Napier Sabre H-24 24-cylinder engine.

If I ever have Bugatti money, I'm buying a P-47 instead.
laugh.gif
 
It's a possibility. The semi-mets are actually what is recommended for this rotor, but I passed them over in favor of the lower dust of the ceramics. There's absolutely nothing to be disappointed with here. Again, even when 4000 lbs. over its towing capacity, it delivers.
 
I use only ceramic brake pad on all of the cars in my signature 'cept the Firebird(still has the OE Pads/Shoes-40K miles) but, I don't tow anything!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top