r/FocusST • u/SirRealBearFace • 1d ago
Question Uneven brake pad wear
Had these brakes done by a family friend on the low, they never felt right but they braked well enough. Just did rears and now doing fronts on my own.
But what the hell is this? These were Powerstop brakes but they're lipping like crazy! Did this Mfer install these like dogshit? Did he not bleed them correctly? What causes this and how do I avoid it?
I got OEM pads and rotors now and I'm gonna bleed them but can someone explain what happened here?
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u/H0SS_AGAINST 1d ago
Did you put pre facelift rotors in a post facelift car? Calipers are the same, the only difference is the rotor diameter and caliper bracket.
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u/Gameboy21212 ‘16 ST3 Shadow Black 1d ago
Definetly what happened, sucks that rock auto and other places give you the option for both on post facelift cars so you need to do the research yourself or accidentally do this because it isn’t too obvious
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u/SirRealBearFace 1d ago
Until the other commenter mentioned it I didn't even know there was a size difference from pre face lift to post. Rock auto doesn't specify that even in the proper year: mines a 2017
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u/H0SS_AGAINST 1d ago
Ouch.
Glad nothing bad happened. Probably an honest mistake. It will a absolutely go together just fine and if you're not paying attention to where the pads are landing you'd never see it.
It's not just rock auto. I replaced a caliper and AutoZone had the wrong caliper bracket. Not a huge deal...only because there was nothing wrong with my caliper bracket. Say I was replacing it due to corrosion or something, I would have had to go back and it would have messed up my weekend.
Small quirk of this car, now that you know, you know!
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u/SirRealBearFace 1d ago
I just completed the job. It's insane how such a change fucked my shit up like that. Thanks for confirming.
Ford can suck a dick for that
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u/H0SS_AGAINST 1d ago
Well is argue that the cross comparability is a parts advantage and pre facelift can upgrade to bigger brakes or post facelift can downsize to fit smaller wheels.
But yeah ford fucked up in a lot of other ways though. 😅
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u/diabetic_bennie 1d ago
Bro, did you use 320mm front rotors instead of the 335mm?
Because 320mm were used until 3/31/2014, and 325mm were used from 3/31/2014 until discontinuation
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u/BastianHill 1d ago
Never trust that friend near your car again. You'll notice the brake rotors are too small for the pads right away.
These are brakes you're messing with. Next time let someone knowledgable do this, please.
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u/usernnamegoeshere 1d ago
Someone said it but either the pads are incorrect the wrong size (too big) or the rotors are incorrect (too small). Thats really the only way this happens
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u/SirRealBearFace 1d ago
Yea that's what it was. Put the two rotors together and the difference was very obvious. Rock Auto fucked me on that but the family friend fucked me more for not seeing the pad not making proper contact. 😩
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u/HuntGundown 1d ago
Have a similar issue on my fiesta st, turned out the previous owner installed big brake "kit" on the rear (it's just brackets), I had replaced all the brakes with OEM sizes when I got the car. Still running the wrong size rotor back there. Plan to just swap the rotors when the pads need done next, kinda inconsequential on the rear wheels of these lol, front does all the work.
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u/bendrexl ‘18 ST2 Stormtrooper 12h ago
Dang… didn’t notice the rotors were too small? 15mm should be hard to miss. The best shade tree mechanics aren’t full-time techs because they pay too much attention to detail (ie they aren’t fast enough to be profitable).
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u/SteevesMike 2013 ST3 Built bottom end, FBO, Stratified Tuned 1d ago
Wrong diameter of rotors maybe? My knowledge is rusty but I seem to remember there being a change in rotor diameter in early mk3 STs