Explorer rear Discs no work!

[psquare75]

Like I said.. up in the air, the wheel locks immediately.

On the ground.. forget it. I have never gotten these to lock at all. Not even briskly stop. I might as well drag my foot out the door, it'd have more of an effect. Not that locking is a sign of good brakes.. but, I'd rather have them lock and back off on their available pressure.

As for the piston, I am not speaking about just one wheel, but both rear wheels calipers.

Pad friction.. I've tried 3 sets of pads.

1. whatever came with the calipers.. 1/2 worn nameless pads.
2. Performance friction carbon metallics.
3. Raybestos, not BruteStop, but I think one below that.



There was no appreciable difference.. cold or hot with any of them.
The calipers do indeed clamp around the rotor.. no abnormal clearance or anything like that.

I will note that on a drive, the rotors DO show that the brakes have been working (no rust/stains on the rotor), and the caliper/rotor does get hot, as if it's been used.

As you can imagine, I'm really frustated. I am well aware that the piston size ratio front to rear isn't ideal. However, they should do more than they do I would think.

I'm *very* tempted to pull it all and just put drums back, but it's more the fact that I don't want to give up yet.

I also saw the 14" rotor post using magnum rotors front and rear, and I am competent enough to make up brackets for calipers, I just seem to have a great deal of trouble making it all work together.