Apparently, sitting idle for nearly 2 years before my father passed away, the piston bores in the calipers for the front brakes on his 98 F150 got crudded up/corroded.

When I installed a new set of pads this past weekend - according to my mother, the first time it's had any brake work done since he bought it - the caliper pistons won't release fully and damn near lock up the front wheels, until you force it down the road for a couple miles and it grinds the pads down - until the next time you have to apply the brakes.

Looking thru napaonline, I notice that they offer either the OE phenolic pistons, or metal pistons, for only about $5 difference as far as a replacement caliper.

Any opinions as to which would be preferred, or avoided, as far as phenolic vs metal pistons?

FWIW, it's a 98 F150 supercab, the dreaded 5.4 L V8, front disc rear drum, Lariat edition. Several months ago I did a complete flush of the brake system, got quite a bit of crud and rust out of all four wheel cylinders, and replaced the front brake hoses.

As hot as the wheel rims themselves got, I'm looking at doing a complete job on it - new rotors, repack wheel bearings, new calipers, another flush of the brake system, and another new set of pads - as hot as they got, the new ones I just put in are probably toast now and worthless.

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Just say "NO" to Ethanol - Drive Diesel

Mitchell Oates
Mooresville, NC
'87 300D 212K miles
'87 300D 151K miles - R.I.P. 12/08
'05 Jeep Liberty CRD 67K miles
Grumpy Old Diesel Owners Club

ret,

With pistons that are locked up that bad, I think you will be better served to find some good rebuilt calipers. This is a mainstream vehicle, so they shouldn't be too terribly expensive.

By coincidence, my wife now has my late Fathers '98 F150. It only has 38,000 miles on it and I flushed the brakes not long ago, so all's well.

Good luck with it!

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2001 SLK 320 six speed manual
2014 Porsche Cayenne six speed manual

Annoy a Liberal, Read the Constitution

That's what I was planning on - new or reman calipers, including the mounting bracket - as hot as everything got, I don't want to chance something being warped out of shape or weakened - and having to do this a THIRD time.

My main question is that they offer complete replacement calipers, with either OE phenolic or metal pistons, and which if either would be preferrable or should be avoided.

__________________
Just say "NO" to Ethanol - Drive Diesel

Mitchell Oates
Mooresville, NC
'87 300D 212K miles
'87 300D 151K miles - R.I.P. 12/08
'05 Jeep Liberty CRD 67K miles
Grumpy Old Diesel Owners Club

Sorry I missed the meat of your question Mitchell. I have no experience with the phenolic pistons, but on the surface it doesn't sound all that encouraging.

That said, for all I know phenolic pistons are the greatest improvement to brakes since the anchor and chain.

__________________
2001 SLK 320 six speed manual
2014 Porsche Cayenne six speed manual

Annoy a Liberal, Read the Constitution

The last half ton calipers I bought were ridiculously cheap. That was probably five years ago. 3/4 ton calipers were considerably more. Neither were offered with phenolic pistons but as long as they had a good build quality and warranty I wouldn't be concerned.

I had to clean up the contact surfaces with a file on a couple calipers around that time but don't remember if they were for Fords. If someone had installed them as delivered they would have been sticky and not slid properly.

Do your own quality control on rebuilt parts.

If the truck were to continue to sit around almost all the time. The plastic pistons might be less prone to eventually rusting and sticking as a result.

Plastic pistons have been around for at leasty twenty years if not longer. Normally given a choice I would buy calipers with metal pistons otherwise.