Excessive Brakes wear?

[Vb289]

Hi! So I bought my 2023 lightning SR XLT about 5 months ago and have already put on about 15.5k km. It’s been a great experience and all. However, today after getting my first service done, I was informed my front brakes have about 9mm left (seems about normal) but my rears have 7mm left? How can the backs already be worn down 3mm from the original 10mm in just 15.5k km? I do not aggressively brake or tow. At this rate I think I’ll need to replacement the rear pads and rotors by 40k km. Has anyone experienced anything similar?

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[PA Lightning]

A friend of mine had the same issue, different brand. His mechanic told him frequent use of adaptive cruise control wore out rear brakes quicker than front brakes.

Don't know if this is accurate for Fords but sounds like a reasonable explanation.

 

[Vb289]

That’s interesting, I’ve heard that too! I don’t use adaptive cruise, so it’s extremely frustrating as to what may be causing this.

I’ve heard EV brakes can generally last much longer than brakes of ICE vehicles. However, everyone I know with an ICE F-150 has never had wear this quick!!!

 

[Silenze]

Actually I am surprised they even checked the brake pad thickness.
I have seen some really weird numbers written on the free "inspection"
Most of the time it is just the service advisor looking at the pads with the wheels on.

 

[Vb289]

They did a rotation so they gave me a summary of each pads measured thickness. I guess after the winter when I put my summers back on I could measure myself too.

 

[Jim Lewis]

@Vb289. Do you have the Brake Coach on and are you always getting close to 100% regenerative braking?

A friend of mine had the same issue, different brand. His mechanic told him frequent use of adaptive cruise control wore out rear brakes quicker than front brakes.

Was your friend's vehicle an ICE vehicle? Adaptive cruise control on a Lightning should use mainly regenerative braking, which shouldn't wear out the brake pads, AFAIK, unless there is some incredible stop-and-go traffic.

 

[Vb289]

Yes, I would say most, it not all stops are 100%, with it rarely being 97%.

 

[PA Lightning]

@Vb289. Do you have the Brake Coach on and are you always getting close to 100% regenerative braking?


Was your friend's vehicle an ICE vehicle? Adaptive cruise control on a Lightning should use mainly regenerative braking, which shouldn't wear out the brake pads, AFAIK, unless there is some incredible stop-and-go traffic.

Yes. It was a Pallisade

 

[TaxmanHog]

I just got my Lightning back from recall work, they did a multipoint inspection and wheel rotation i'm at 14,518 miles at the moment and no mention of brake wear. I park mostly on flat surfaces, but the rare occasion that I'm on a steep enough of a grade the automatic parking brake engages.

I wonder if the automatic parking brakes have excessive delay in disengagement, enough that they are causing this extra wear?

Do you do a lot of short trips, park & go situations?

Park on hills where the parking brakes activate automatically?

 

[Vb289]

I don’t think there’s any delay because I’m sure to disengage before I move and I hear the parking break release.

And no basically just my commute which is 45km of highway driving one way.

 

[Yellow Buddy]

Actually I am surprised they even checked the brake pad thickness.
I have seen some really weird numbers written on the free "inspection"
Most of the time it is just the service advisor looking at the pads with the wheels on.

I had mine in for the recall and they did an inspection 15,000+ on the ER - no issues with my brakes, 20,000+ on the SR and no issues there either. The ER uses bluecruise a decent amount. The SR ..doesn’t have it.

For the record, I’m coming up on a dozen EVs now, nearing a million miles in total, several over 100,000 miles….I have never changed the brakes or even had them wear down low on any of my EVs. Brake fluid, yes. Brake pads and rotors? Haven’t yet…

 

[Smokewagun]

I’d be more interested if the OP is using one-pedal. I’m suspecting not.
At night you can easily see in your side mirror when the brakes actually apply hard enough for the taillights to illuminate. My understanding is that with one-pedal activated, the braking is mostly electromagnetically applied until close to the actual stop IF, and that’s a BIG “IF” you are driving easy and allow plenty of space to slow with the electromagnetic braking for regen. I have yet to see any sign of brake dust on my Lightning at 12k.

 

[Calvin H-C]

This sounds strange for an EV.

My Focus Electric only needed the front brakes done at about 133,000 km and mainly because the rotors were getting pock-marked. The pads were still over 4 mm and Ford's maintenance plan would only cover the work if they were under 3.

The rear pads still had 9 mm on them, but I've heard the FFE has an unusual reliance on front brakes. I suspect this was because it is a front wheel drive vehicle and regen braking is only on the front wheels.

By comparison, the ICE Focus we had before that needed all four brakes done TWICE by that mileage.

 

[ryun]

Maybe they were already worn down when you received the truck somehow?

 

[TaxmanHog]

I was wondering if they designed the rear pads with a more durable compound than the ICE truck version, considering the more even weight distribution on a Lightning compared to the ICE truck.

The part numbers are similar with exception to the suffix & prefix changes, also the ICE rears have gone through three revisions, wonder why???? No revisions to the Lightnings rear pads so far.

Part numbers for the PAD's used on 2022/2023 Lightnings:
Front (NL3Z2001A)
Rear (nl3z2200b)

Part numbers for the PAD's used on 2021/2023 ICS F150's V8:
Front (ml3z2001b)
Rear (ml3z2200e)

Setting aside pad design or compounds, maybe there is a hydraulic/mechanical issue with the OP's experience, vs the rest of us. This is worth monitoring during 5k or 10k wheel rotations.

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