Rumors from dealership parts guy

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oddball

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Went to the dealer to get the special battery and bonded with the parts guy. He's familiar with the LS "issues" and is giving me the jobber rate on parts.
He had a couple of things I hadn't heard before. Anyone familiar with these?

1) LS eats front brake pads - except for OEM, which seem to last longest, but cost around $95. He said Wagner is the next best.

2) V8 only likes OEM spark plugs. He dropped the price for me, so I went ahead and got them.
 
Brake wear is about even between front and back because of 50/50 weight distribution.

Addressing the OEM spark plugs; the Lincoln engine was developed, tuned around OEM plugs which is made by NGK, and are a good plug, mixed results with other brands.
 
oddball said:
Went to the dealer to get the special battery and bonded with the parts guy. He's familiar with the LS "issues" and is giving me the jobber rate on parts.
He had a couple of things I hadn't heard before. Anyone familiar with these?

1) LS eats front brake pads - except for OEM, which seem to last longest, but cost around $95. He said Wagner is the next best.
Click to expand...

Not in my experience. My rear pads wear equally with the front on all 3 of our LSes. I've been using Duralast for the last 4 years with excellent results.
 
1) My wife gets 20K plus miles out of a set of aftermarket ceramic front pads, so I'd say #1 is not true. I have had some squeak issues from my LS. I've also had issues with caliper slides getting rust frozen on all my newer Ford's including my LS. The crappy bellows boots rip and let water in.

2) I doubt that's true. I know lots of Fords come with double platniums from the factory, and those are the service parts for a while. At some point down the road, they switch to single platniums as the recommended service parts. I'm sure that has to do with cost more than anything. There are several good sparkplug manufacturers. I'm sure several would well. If in doubt, you usually can't go wrong with dealer parts. I have bought plugs at the Ford dealer in the past.
 
Those guys like to hear themself talk most of the time.

I replaced my front pads and rotors mid 60k and not the rears till 79k. 50/50 weight doesn't mean equal brake pad wear, fronts still do the blunt of the work but its more even than the average car. Basic brand stuff has performed fine since just turned 100k. Maybe I'm not the late braker type of person=better driver.

Can't comment on the plugs.I replaced with stockers 80k.
 
The dealer pads last longer because they put an additive on the pads themselves that prolong the life of the pads. It actually soaks into the pads before they put them on. You can buy the additive and put it on whatever pads you want and it will prolong the life. No I am not talking about the gel you put on the back of the pad to keep them from squealing.
 
My brake pads in the front get more wear because of braking since this is RWD, the ront brakes get more kenetic energy to stop
 
Pete: the fact that the car is RWD has nothing to do with the front pads getting more wear. All cars shift weight forward under braking therefore the fronts do more of the work. That is why the rotors on the fronts are bigger than the rears (not just our cars). They do more work, period. Pad life is a function of size (of the pads) and the amount of work they do.

It has been my experience that the fronts do wear faster than the rears (driving style may have an impact). I just put on my 3rd set of front pads and the rears are only half way through the 2nd set (car has 90k on the clock).
 
PetesSweets86 said:
My brake pads in the front get more wear because of braking since this is RWD, the ront brakes get more kenetic energy to stop
Click to expand...
I hope everyone here is wise enough to completely ignore comments like this. :rolleyes:

n8bachelor said:
It has been my experience that the fronts do wear faster than the rears (driving style may have an impact)
Click to expand...
Front brakes will always wear faster, it is a physics thing...it might even have something to do with kinetic energy. ;)

What is this "special battery" you had to get?
 
Probably the oem one with the vent tube
 
JoshMcMadMac said:
I hope everyone here is wise enough to completely ignore comments like this. :rolleyes:


Front brakes will always wear faster, it is a physics thing...it might even have something to do with kinetic energy. ;)

What is this "special battery" you had to get?
Click to expand...

you and the other dude must be strangers to sarcasm
 
my 03 wears the front pads faster than the rears, the last time i did the brakes, the fronts where completely spent and the rears still had about half the pad left, and i brake hard, all the time, and the cheese graders i have for rotors cant help either!
 
JoshMcMadMac said:
Not at all...and not a stranger to "backpedaling trying to sound like less of a dumb-ass" fail, either.
Click to expand...

and you are entitled to your opinions but you have no say in how I approach a conversation and the meaning behind what I say...so go finish back to your corner and sulk

Fail.jpg
 
The front pads will always wear faster thatn the rears due to the fact that:

1. there is more pressure applied to the front because they are closer to the brake booster.

2. I have heard that brake force is split into 60% to the front and 40% to the rear, the front needs more pressure because of the weight of the engine.
 
dlo73 said:
The front pads will always wear faster thatn the rears due to the fact that:

1. there is more pressure applied to the front because they are closer to the brake booster.

2. I have heard that brake force is split into 60% to the front and 40% to the rear, the front needs more pressure because of the weight of the engine.
Click to expand...

Sorry, but wrong on both counts.

1. There is more pressure to the front calipers because the braking system is setup to do that. It has nothing to do with distance from the booster, and everything to do with the need for more braking force in the front.

2. The weight of the engine is not a factor. On rear engine cars, most of the braking is still done by the front brakes. It's a matter of physics. When you start braking, there is a torque action that throws most of the weight of the car on the front wheels. You can see this better with motorcycles. Ever notice how with hard braking the rear wheel will lift off of the ground?

When you hit the brakes while going backwards, the rear wheels get most of the weight thrown on them. Since you don't go backwards anywhere near as fast as forwards, the rear brakes don't have to be as big.
 
OOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHH!

So that's why my body is pressured to lean forward under heavy braking! That explains this goofy strap I wear over me when I drive.
 
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