Early brake wear

[Avalanche]

I drive a 2023 ER and it has 31k miles. My rear brakes are nearly depleted. There's about 3 mm left on them. This was spotted when I had my snow tires switched for summer tires at one Ford dealership, and confirmed by a different Ford dealer at my 30k check up. From everything that I have read in multiple places online, this seems very early to have to do the brakes.

The second dealer, which is where I bought the truck, offered to warranty the rotors if I paid for the pads. That would be $175. I feel like they should cover the entire thing but they were not willing to. So the question on my mind is what should I do about it?

For context, I live in Northern Vermont, meaning:
-Harsh winters, salt and sand on the roads, etc.
- lots of dirt road
- 50mph state highways with very little traffic, so not much braking and really zero hard braking
- lots of hills but always rolling through instead of stopping on them

I asked the dealership to help me understand how this could happen. Their response was that it is normal in our area. They blamed the road conditions for early wear and tear on brakes, and cited a brand new F-150 ICE that had its brakes done at 15,000 mi. I asked why the rear brakes would be more worn than the front, and they said that the rear does the majority of the braking. (Genuinely curious here. Is that b******* or true?) Ultimately, they just wouldn't get past. The statement that needing breaks at 30,000 miles is normal.

So what do I do? Look for a new dealership and try to get them warrantied? Bite the bullet and get them redone? Contact the GM?

I'm also curious if anyone has thoughts as to why this might have happened. Is it possible that the dealer is correct in road conditions can affect the brakes this much? Is it possible that my parking brake was stuck for a spell? Other ideas?

Thanks for any help and insight you can provide.

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[RickLightning]

Brake pad warranty is 12 months / 12,000 miles. All braking is regenerative until the end of the stop, so unless you're doing a lot of stomping on the brakes, the dealer is wrong.

 

[Heliian]

"3mm"

I find it hard to believe unless your truck is driven with 2 feet.

 

[21st Century Truck]

I drive a 2023 ER and it has 31k miles. My rear brakes are nearly depleted. There's about 3 mm left on them. This was spotted when I had my snow tires switched for summer tires at one Ford dealership, and confirmed by a different Ford dealer at my 30k check up. From everything that I have read in multiple places online, this seems very early to have to do the brakes.

The second dealer, which is where I bought the truck, offered to warranty the rotors if I paid for the pads. That would be $175. I feel like they should cover the entire thing but they were not willing to. So the question on my mind is what should I do about it?

For context, I live in Northern Vermont, meaning:
-Harsh winters, salt and sand on the roads, etc.
- lots of dirt road
- 50mph state highways with very little traffic, so not much braking and really zero hard braking
- lots of hills but always rolling through instead of stopping on them

I asked the dealership to help me understand how this could happen. Their response was that it is normal in our area. They blamed the road conditions for early wear and tear on brakes, and cited a brand new F-150 ICE that had its brakes done at 15,000 mi. I asked why the rear brakes would be more worn than the front, and they said that the rear does the majority of the braking. (Genuinely curious here. Is that b******* or true?) Ultimately, they just wouldn't get past. The statement that needing breaks at 30,000 miles is normal.

So what do I do? Look for a new dealership and try to get them warrantied? Bite the bullet and get them redone? Contact the GM?

I'm also curious if anyone has thoughts as to why this might have happened. Is it possible that the dealer is correct in road conditions can affect the brakes this much? Is it possible that my parking brake was stuck for a spell? Other ideas?

Thanks for any help and insight you can provide.

When braking any road vehicle, the weight of the vehicle ALWAYS transfers from rear to front. That's why front brakes are always larger (with more swept area). Therefore, depending on their overall design and on the driver(s)' input, brakes either wear +/- uniformly, or wear more on the front.

Based on the above paragraph, I understand the dealership's statements and also find it hard to accept them... assuming no out-of-variance manufacturing defect.

Have You personally seen the wear, on the rear pads as well as on the front pads?

 

[Henry Ford]

I asked why the rear brakes would be more worn than the front, and they said that the rear does the majority of the braking. (Genuinely curious here. Is that b******* or true?)

Bullshit. Even on a vehicle with 50/50 weight distribution, weight is shifted to the forward wheels when braking. Front brakes do most braking on every vehicle configuration I can think of.

The forward brakes are isolated from the rear brakes by means of separate hydraulic reservoirs in the master cylinder. This is for redundancy in case of loss of hydraulic pressure.

Under normal circumstances the rear brakes receive less pressure than the front brakes because the FRONT BRAKES DO MOST OF THE BRAKING! This is accomplished with a proportioning valve that reduces pressure to the rear brakes so they don't lock up before the front brakes. If the rear brakes are wearing faster than the front brakes...or at all in a Lightning, that's a pretty good indication the propotioning valve isn't doing it's job.

I'll bet $1 you have a bad propotioning valve. I'm guessing that's covered by the 3/36k warranty but I haven't looked it up.

 

[Henry Ford]

Do you frequently carry weight in the bed of the truck?

Do you brake with your left foot?

My thoughts above assume the answer to these questions is "no."

 

[Avalanche]

Bullshit. Even on a vehicle with 50/50 weight distribution, weight is shifted to the forward wheels when braking. Front brakes do most braking on every vehicle configuration I can think of.

The forward brakes are isolated from the rear brakes by means of separate hydraulic reservoirs in the master cylinder. This is for redundancy in case of loss of hydraulic pressure.

Under normal circumstances the rear brakes receive less pressure than the front brakes because the FRONT BRAKES DO MOST OF THE BRAKING! This is accomplished with a proportioning valve that reduces pressure to the rear brakes so they don't lock up before the front brakes. If the rear brakes are wearing faster than the front brakes...or at all in a Lightning, that's a pretty good indication the propotioning valve isn't doing it's job.

I'll bet $1 you have a bad propotioning valve. I'm guessing that's covered by the 3/36k warranty but I haven't looked it up.

Thanks. I know from mountain biking how much more the front brakes do than the back, but wasn't confident enough when it comes to the truck to call out the service advisor on that statement in the shop. But I did lose confidence in the conversation when they pulled that out.

So then back to the real question...how should I handle the situation? I haven't got a lot of experience working with dealer service centers and have never had a warranty on a vehicle (always bought used).

 

[Avalanche]

Do you frequently carry weight in the bed of the truck?

Do you brake with your left foot?

My thoughts above assume the answer to these questions is "no."

You'd be correct. I only occasionally have weight, and have only twice towed anything heavy. And if I tried to brake with my left, I'd end up dead somewhere.

 

[Avalanche]

"3mm"

I find it hard to believe unless your truck is driven with 2 feet.

Same. that's why I tried to get them to explain to me how it could have gotten to that point. They just tried to explain it away with the road conditions in our area, salt and sand, etc.

 

[Henry Ford]

So then back to the real question...how should I handle the situation? I haven't got a lot of experience working with dealer service centers and have never had a warranty on a vehicle (always bought used).

Is there another dealership nearby?

My experience with service writers is they don't know shiii...as much as the techs. I've had pretty good luck when I'm actually allowed to speak with the folks who work on cars.

 

[Grumpy2]

The local tire dealer may very well check brake wear for free.

 

[Avalanche]

Is there another dealership nearby?

My experience with service writers is they don't know shiii...as much as the techs. I've had pretty good luck when I'm actually allowed to speak with the folks who work on cars.

yes, there are three different ones within a reasonable drive. I'm thinking of stopping by the closest of them tomorrow and talking to the service dept.

 

[THX1138]

I drive a 2023 ER and it has 31k miles. My rear brakes are nearly depleted. There's about 3 mm left on them. This was spotted when I had my snow tires switched for summer tires at one Ford dealership, and confirmed by a different Ford dealer at my 30k check up. From everything that I have read in multiple places online, this seems very early to have to do the brakes.

The second dealer, which is where I bought the truck, offered to warranty the rotors if I paid for the pads. That would be $175. I feel like they should cover the entire thing but they were not willing to. So the question on my mind is what should I do about it?

For context, I live in Northern Vermont, meaning:
-Harsh winters, salt and sand on the roads, etc.
- lots of dirt road
- 50mph state highways with very little traffic, so not much braking and really zero hard braking
- lots of hills but always rolling through instead of stopping on them

I asked the dealership to help me understand how this could happen. Their response was that it is normal in our area. They blamed the road conditions for early wear and tear on brakes, and cited a brand new F-150 ICE that had its brakes done at 15,000 mi. I asked why the rear brakes would be more worn than the front, and they said that the rear does the majority of the braking. (Genuinely curious here. Is that b******* or true?) Ultimately, they just wouldn't get past. The statement that needing breaks at 30,000 miles is normal.

So what do I do? Look for a new dealership and try to get them warrantied? Bite the bullet and get them redone? Contact the GM?

I'm also curious if anyone has thoughts as to why this might have happened. Is it possible that the dealer is correct in road conditions can affect the brakes this much? Is it possible that my parking brake was stuck for a spell? Other ideas?

Thanks for any help and insight you can provide.

Do you use one pedal driving?

 

[Dan C]

It is not uncommon for rear brakes to wear faster on a pickup. It has been that way on several of mine in the past. They are out of warranty, you have already had two opinions. Free rotors is a good deal.

 

[xHEROofCANTONx]

Just a thought. The truck is AWD in normal situations. If you are actually braking and not using 1 pedal, it could be part of the issue.

I have had 2 Subarus with AWD. Normal driving the rear brake pads always wore more quickly than the front pads.

Maybe it is an issue with the weight of the vehicle (I recently broke the jack when I had to change a tire bc it couldn't get the vehicle off the ground a few inches). Maybe it is another issue overall.

All in all, it sounds weird and the comments sound like they are coming from a dealer that has never seen this issue and isn't sure how to deal with it.

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