This tip saved my butt today. I had them installed incorrectly and had them back apart 3 times and couldn't figure out the problem. This video came up in my search and it solved my issue in 5 minutes! Excellent video!

Dude, you are my hero. I noticed after doing the brakes on my truck that the drivers side pad wasn't using the full rotor and looked like the caliper was sitting funny. Now I know why!!

Another grateful viewer. Bought a used 2010 F150 with "new brake job." Six months in and I am replacing front rotors and pads because the tech that did the brake job didn't know about the "ears." the were installed outboard on both sides. I would like to think I would have figured out the were in backwards given that the pads with the ears were worn to the backing plate while the other pads were virtually new. Also the rotors were ground down on the outer inch on the outboard side but otherwise were in new condition. Last telltale was the two gouges on the inside of the caliper from the ears. The two cut outs on the caliper where the ears are suppose to good are a dead give away as to how the pads should be installed. Thanks again.

Doing my brakes today and figured I would watch your video before getting started.Great advise and thanks so very much for that very important info.Saved me alot of grief and aggravation.

As always 6 years later great information. You are my go to guy for all my ford repairs.

Did my brakes today, one side is fine the other was only wearing the edge of the rotor, I even went out and remounted the caliper. For the heck of it I did a google search for "raptor brake caliper crooked" and found your video. You just saved me a set of pads and probably more. Thank you!!

Thanks a lot for this video, I've done a couple dozen brake jobs over the years, and just pretty much jump in now. I wasn't paying enough attention to the backing plate ears and made this mistake. As you described, when I was putting on the caliper, one bolt went in easy, and the other was a bit of trouble. Since I had replaced the rotors, I did a quick test run around the block, and when I got back to the driveway, I noticed the one side wasn't making a good contact wear pattern on the rotor. I did a quick web search, and your video popped up. I thought, I bet that's my issue. Went out and checked, and sure enough, I had made this mistake. Did a quick pad swap, calipers bolted up trouble free, and another trip around the block. Nice even wear on the rotors now. Thanks a lot for this tip. Saved me quite a bit of head scratching and potential expense by finding it right away. I am happy to give you an Attaboy! Thanks again!!

Awesome tip! I bought my F-150 used from the dealer and could not figure out why the brakes were squealing and getting so hot. As soon as I took the caliper off I could see the problem, great video!

I had this issue also, put both ears on driver side, drove for a day and couldn't figure out why the brakes were so HOT. I also experienced a soft pedal by doing this. You honestly saved me a ton of money by checking my pads first, I was all set to diagnose my brakes with a seized caliper or collapsed brake line. Keep up the great work, you really are helping alot of people out by putting these tips videos out there!

Thank you! I bought my truck used with "new pads". No damage to the wheels, but lots and lots of brake dust on one front wheel. This was an easy fix.

Never would I have thought that Firestone could install pads incorrectly. I took my 2010 F-150 (75k miles) in for pads and rotors, and I took it home with a drivers side dragging brake issue only pointed out by TUFFY when I went for an alignment 2 days later. I took it back to Firestone, and their 35 year veteran (WALT) said it was likely a caliper or the flexible brake line. After they quoted me $684 for calipers and a flush, I said I'll go do that myself. After installing each side - driver's side first, I still had the dragging brake after each update (documenting everything I was doing with photos). What I didn't do was compare all of the pads - I merely transferred each pad to each caliper as I replaced them (bc I assumed they installed pads correctly). After researching dragging brakes a bit further, I found your video. I reviewed the pictures I had been taking and discovered the issue. I'm wondering if this is an elicit tactic used by mechanics to "upgrade" the work order. I can see how people can get hosed quite easily. Firestone is warrantying the pads and rotors and will replace them again. If I had agreed to have them install new calipers, etc. AND they had noticed they installed the pads incorrectly, I'm pretty sure they would not have told me it was their fault in the first place.

Thank you!! I was enjoying a night in the garage, music blasting, couple of beers, working on the truck. Brake replacement no good, getting ready to buy calipers. You saved me huge money. Both garfield pads on passenger side. Ugh.

Thanks for the video. This helped me fix my brakes after I installed the pads backwards. I didnt even realize they were different when installing them.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! I have been using your videos for quite some time, as owner of 2013 F 150 platinum. I just did the front brakes, and was having some issues, and checked out your video. you totally nailed it. One thing that I will point out here...the problem that you describe of wheel rubbing may not happen on vehicles like mine, with the 20" wheels. The problem that I encountered was that the caliper went on crooked (as you describe), and then the brake rotor had extremely uneven wear. I noticed it just after a couple times around the block. So, not too bad. I have swapped around the rotors so now they are in the correct positions and I have nice even wear again (after driving around the block a few times to even things out). THANKS SO MUCH!

Great tip, I always check to see if you have a video before I begin any repairs. I replaced the front pads and rotors on my 2012 F-150 today and saw Ford gave me four pads that all looked like the outer pads, with no ears. Gave them a call to make sure I had the right pads before the repair and they verified the vin to the part number, they had a note that all pads look the same now on my year model for new OEM Ford replacement pads. Thanks for all the great videos and the effort you put into making them and saving folks money. Keep it up.

Thank you so much. Getting ready to do this job on my 14 Raptor and doing my research 👍🏽 you sir are a gem!

I found one like that once. Didn't rub on the wheel, but wore the one outer pad out (had the humps) when the other 3 looked like new. I scratched my head over that for a while. Thanks!

I'm so glad I watched this video after finishing my brake job. I had not yet test drove the truck, so no damage. I typically look closely at the pads for differences when putting new ones on, but they came out of the box with facing pads first and the backside pads (the ones with the bunny ears) second - so I didn't notice the difference at first. After watching to video to see if I followed the right procedure, I ran back down to pull my wheels off and found one side had both facing pads and the other had both the bunny ears on it. A quick switch with one of the pads from one wheel to the other and It works fine now. Thanks for pointing this out.

I just picked up a 2010 F150 a couple months ago. When I inspected the brakes the rotors looked in good shape. So I was surprised when I started to hear some grinding after about 5k miles of driving. When I checked I saw the outside edge of one rotor was wearing real bad and the inside was clean. So I picked up just the one rotor and some some pads to get me through the winter since I am planning to do a complete brake job next year with high quality parts. Anyway, the job was quick and easy. I checked the new pads to see if they were the same and did not notice the ears. After one day driving I could smell the pads burning and notice then same wear on the outside edge of the rotor. I was about to get a new caliper but it just did not make sense that a caliper would cause that type of wear. Especially since it compressed fine and the slides were moving freely. You Tube to the rescue....I found this video and figured it was worth a check. Sure enough. I had installed the pads with ears on both sides. Took me like 30 minutes to switch it out and I am good to go. In all my years of doing brakes I have never seen pads like that. So thanks for the video my friend. I might have spent the money on a new caliper I did not need.

Small detail but very important. Thank you Whaley

Bro! I did not know this and I couldn’t for the life of me figure out what was going on with my truck. I even called a family member and he wasn’t able to help. “Maintenance mode” and now this have been a huge learning point for me and hopefully tomorrow I’ll be able to figure out if this helps me out or not as well. Thanks for the video. Extremely helpful!!!!

Thank you for info. Was getting ready to install new pads and this is very important. Having noise problems and scoring on right front. Did I mention this is very important !!!!

Working as a Ford Tech, I've seen this issue on 36 F150's this year. It is way more common than you would think.

Hey just wanted to thank you for posting this I had the pads mixed up and noticed uneven wear.You saved me big time.The way ford sends them in box the 2 Garfield ones are together.I owe you a cold one cheers

Been doing auto repair for 30 plus year and i did a brake job on a 2013 2 months ago and crossed up the pads it didn't hurt the wheel but the out board pad i did it on wore out in 4000 miles.So all i can say is thanks for the video we figured out with out this video but pay attention when doing these brakes guys and gals.

You won’t necessarily get wheel rub, at least not with the 20” wheels, but what will happen is the pads will bind in the bracket because of the caliper engaging them at an angle. This causes the outer pad to rub all the time on the outer diameter of the rotor and the inner pad to constantly rub on the inner diameter of the rotor. You’ll notice an irregular wear pattern on the rotor, especially if you put new rotors on at the same time.

I'm about to do my brakes, good tip, I just brought my truck into ford for the vaccum pump replacement at 145k thanks to your video about ford extending the warranty on that part! They called me and told me the truck needed brakes (which I knew)...but when we picked it up it sounded horrible which it did not beforehand...unfortunately the mechanics were gone or I would have said something...now I'm thinking they might have removed the pads thinking I was going to get brakes and then reinstalled them incorrectly...I hope my rims aren't damaged....love your channel, since I have 4 ford trucks, lol

Life saver …who was so stupid not to add labeling to replacement brake pads. We condemned calipers before finding this video. Thank you!!!!

Great video! I was wondering why the caliper was so hard to get on. Thanks for all the great info! You saved me a lot of frustration and $$$ down the road!

Thank you so much for this video! I now see what went wrong with my F-150 brakes....it was me! When I saw the outer right pad worn off and the rotor worn down on the upper edge, I thought the calipers or the pins they slide on were bad. Now it made sense.

I don't do cars and I'm about to do my own brakes for the first time. Super easy. Great video. Good personality for videos. Thanks man!

After watching your video I found my pads were installed incorrectly. I switched same and now they're good. Great tip.

2013 Expedition...same set up... I had changed my pads about a year ago and after 15k miles, one of the pads separated due to a manufacturing defect! In my haste one night after work to install new pads, I put two "Garfields" on the driver's side rotor. My truck ran fine the next day...no noise or anything BUT during my quick walk around after arriving at work, I noticed the one rim was VERY HOT! Improper set up was causing that rotor to get about 100F hotter than the other side! Spent the next two nights after work trying to determine what was wrong thinking the broken pad might have caused some damage to the caliper. Finally found this video and...presto...all is well again. NOTE: I have 20" wheels on my Expedition so I didn't have any caliper/wheel interference - that noise would have alerted me there was a problem right away! THANK YOU for posting this bro!

Installed new rotors, pads and rackets last weekend, noticed they were smelling longer than new brakes should. Checked the temp of the lugs after driving: driver side was standard temp, butt passenger side was egregiously hot. Was going to start replacing fluid, brake line, etc. then remembered the ears on the pad, and figured there was method to the madness. Sure enough, I installed them backwards. Switched em, and took them for a quick drive around the neighborhood. So far so good: no smell, lugs are not nearly as hot, and brakes even felt more sensitive. Hoping that was the fix. Thanks for the vidoe, cheers!

Thanks for this video. You've probably just saved me a headache and a couple hundred bucks down the line. I had just found this video after putting on my front pads and I realize that I installed them backwards on one side. I'm gonna fix this tomorrow!

Put new pads and rotors on my 19 Saturday, noticed the pads were a little different but didn’t think anything of it. Drove to work knew something wasn’t quite right. Quick search, found this video, short trip to harbor freight and luckily no damage done. Thanks for the vid

Love all your tips and tricks, keep them coming very helpful.

Great tip glad I found your video just getting ready to replace my front pads and probably wouldn't have noticed the difference.

Nice tip. I knew the pads were side-specific, but didn't know how to tell. Thanks very much!

I always go to this guys channel no matter what Ford vehicle I am working on. Thank you FordTechMakuloco

Thanks a bunch , i went as far as getting a caliper rebuild kit for my 2013, but after watching your video , sure enough the driver side ( side that was getting hot ) had both of the pads with the ears on !!!

Bought a pre-owned 2013 FX4 one year ago. Have put 10,000 mile on it to the day and started getting brake noise (grinding). Watched this video before I put on new rotors and pads last night. Sure enough the dealership I bought it from had put the pads on backwards (new brakes were put on at the dealership before I bought it). It had done nothing to the wheel aside from brake dust but the caliper was kicked out enough that both outside pads were completely gone and the rotors were in rough shape. It is almost as if every one of those 10,000 miles that I have driven was with the front brakes slightly applied/dragging just by it being out of whack a tiny bit. $200 and an hour and half in my driveway, and it is good to go. Hopeful that I seen and increase in my mpg too without that drag in the front wheels. Thanks for the excellent video! Apparently some ASE techs from dealerships need to check out your youtube page.

Thanks. That was very helpful. I’m doing the brakes this weekend. Now I know.

I found this video looking for other information and discovered that I made that same mistake on my previous brake job. My garfield pad was on the outside. It was worn very irregular. Thank you for the video.

Yep thanks. Did my brakes 2 days ago and I was noticing that brake burning smell. Took my wheels off had the ones with the ears both on driver's side. Thanks alot.

Excellent tips thank you for doing these videos, much appreciated.

Recently I got in the shower to wake myself up prior to doing my F150 brake job... Glad I did because that's where I came up with this idea: You can add a vacuum pump inline bleeder using an Aussie shampoo dispenser pump! The pump mates perfectly after pulling off the top head and bottom feed tube 😃. Fits clear vinyl tubing with 1/4" ID and 3/8 OD ...without any extra hardware! (Tubing fits over the top and inside the bottom of the Aussie purple pump) Perfect for Ford F150/F250 btw. Great for pumping out the master or power steering fluid too. Note: Use a pair of pliers to hold the top plunger from moving as you shove the tubing on in place of the Aussie pump's head. I also added some 3M 33+ electrical tape to secure the bottom connection but that's probably overkill/unnecessary.😁

I know there's probably many comments about the pads being damaged but just wanted to share. On my 2013 Exp, same deal. Been dealing with it over a year. Noticed the ears on new pads just never put the two together. I went through multiple sets of pads, rotors, even changed both calipers cause I thought they were sticking. RIDICULOUS! Expensive lesson learned. Replaced pads and rotors on F150 over weekend and noticed it didn't stop as like it supposed to. Took everything off again, looked, everything looked like is should, or so I though, and same thing. Without realizing it installed them correctly on one side but wrong on the other. Opposite from the first time. Had uneven wear on outer pad from only hitting less than half the rotor. I knew something was not right. Came to your channel, found this vid, watched less than 2 min and there you go. So, with all that being said, took apart F150, installed correctly, checked Expe and what do ya know. All good now on both trucks. It's silly how something so small can cause such a big problem. (Kinda like those crappy spark plugs Ford used a for a while in the 5.4 back in 07 a couple body styles ago. Thanks for the channel bro! Great Ford "secret" ins and outs.

I have been doing brakes for freaking years and I feel like the biggest dumbshit right now. I have scratching my head on this. My truck keeps smoking the left side outter pad. Caliper new, rotor new, and pads new. Slide pins good and greased. This is my second time with this!!!!!! I really hope this fixes it. I always say a good tech never stops learning and never stops buying tools. Thanks man.

thanks, i wasn't aware of that, been a long time sense of done any, getting ready to do pads & rotors on my 2000 f-151 4wd, thought i would watch a few vids to refresh the old memory

Thank you for posting this. I sure enough had my pads backwards 😤 I thought I had air in my brake lines after changing them . Turns out I had them reversed.

HUGE fan of your channel!!! Myself and parents and inlaws all have fords and when they tell me about a problem they r having or want me to fix it.. i always go to your channel first and see if u have a video about it.. 95% of the time u do.. for instance my dads 09 f150 brakes are squealing awful so im going over ther tomorrow to change them and clean the brackets and anything else that needs so i just on here and bam u got a video.. very useful descriptive walk threw video. So now i know to make sure and check pads bedore installing

Super helpful video! Actually had a family member mess this up and caught it before too much rubbing to the wheel occurred.

You earned a Sub today! Thanks... I F'd mine up yesterday...could not figure it out!

Thanks for the tip. Doing a brake job today.

Listen to this man Listen to everything he says this is an expert telling you, most videos on here they have no idea what their doing and can get you into a lot of grief, great video!

Man this video saved me. The truck wouldn’t even move. Watched this video and woke up the next morning and pulled off the passenger tire, sure enough pads were on the wrong side. Really appreciate this video and KZfaq.

Thanks for the info!! Really learn something..

Thanks. We just did brakes on my F-150. We had a rotor starting to turn blue. Wheel was ok but hot. Left side was fine. We noticed a wear pattern at the top edge of the passinger side rotor. After viewing your video we pulled wheels and checked pad placement. Wrongly installed. Switched "garfield" ear pad and all was well. Excess Cost of a new caliper assembly thinking piston was hung up.

Thank you for sharing the video so critical information. I had a repair shop installed both ears on one side and destroyed my rotor. Enjoyed your content!

My first brake change on my lariat. Thank you so much for sharing!

Great tip!!! Pulled my wheel only to find the passenger side had a gauged rotor and BOTH pads had dog ears! Driver's side, neither one had dog ears! All has now been corrected! Thanks again! You earned a subscriber with this post! :-)

Thank you so much!!! I feel dumb I should have look at this first!!!!

Dude. You freaking saved the day. I put both of my ears on one side. I'm not sure exactly what it threw out of whack, but the pads were smoked down to the grind after a month. Perfect now.

Simply - Thank you!! I have never had different pads on any of my cars .. until I did the F-150 (and sure enough, mixed up on one side)

This saved my bacon. Had no idea what was wrong. The last set i did did not have the ears. This set did. Got hot on the outside edge. I watched this pulled off both wheels and realized i had 2 inners on one side. thank you!!!!

Thanks I will be starting as soon as the sun comes up today.

thank you for the info and vid was very helpful

Thank you very much young fellow , saved me a common head acke , getting old and forgetful sucks,lol.

Thank you so much for this video. I wish I had found it sooner. Put both ears on the drivers side. One thing to note, even though the Motorcraft pads have been updated to not include the ears, aftermarket parts (like Napa) still include the ears with no other indication that the pads are different.

This applies to some rear disc brakes as well. They are matched sets but at least you can't put them on. The top ears don't match.

Thanks for the video helped a lot , how about a video on replacing the rotors for the 2012 F150 thanks

Thanks for info I just changed front pads on my 08 expo luckily the inside pads had the metal clamps that go into interior of caliper pistons. Seems like pad manufacturers should put a notice or warning on pad or at least in box to warn installers

You have a lot of great hints and advice you one smart mechanic

Thank you so very much for this. We couldn’t figure out why this was happening.

Nice tip, thanks! New F150 owner here who has done brakes for decades ...

Great tip!!! Getting ready to do the fronts on my sons 2013.

Thanks man! Great info for us Rookies.

WOW. And I thought I was just a stand alone idiot. I did this several years ago in a blizzard, at 10 o'clock at night in my gravel driveway. I barely made it home the next day. When I pulled the wheel off, I was floored that the rotor was paper thin. Another mile and I would have been calling a tow truck and maybe a waambalance. Thanks again Fordtech.

thanks for vid. i just did one like this not too long but i had the motorcraft ones and luckily they were labeld in and out Rh and Lh.

Thank you very much for this! My mechanic was about to replace the calipers and their holding brakets. He noticed they were not linig up ok and thought they had bent due to overheating. Turns out, it was exactly what you dscribed. thx again

Thank you for this I’ve been fighting With one caliper knowing it shouldn’t be springing off when I pull on of the Bolts and very strange wearing. Autozone is selling front pads for f-150s with ears on all four of them

Thanks so much for all your very helpful videos. I plan on using the Wagner pads you recommend but am curious as to what rotors you think I should get. 07 f150 4x4. Something for everyday driving as i dont tow hardly at all.

Huge thanks. I have been pulling my hair out trying to figure out my problem and never noticed the difference in pads. Crazy bad design Ford for making it that close but slightly different.

Thanks very much for this video. even a 25 year dealership vet (ofcourse im a GM GUY :>))such as me can make this mistake. fortunately the truck had oversize wheels and the rims didnt get contacted but the r/f outer pad wiped out in 15K and i could not for the life of me figure out why although i noticed the pads were different with two or four "nipples" on the back but i totally missed the Garfield ears ! thanks !

Wow, I had my F-150 fleet vehicle brakes done at a shop and left only to have this occur. The mechanic said it was bc of my tires were oversized and distorting the rim. I said I really did not think that was true being as the tires were on the truck and rim for 50,000 miles without an issue. He proceeded to grind the heck out of my caliper. I found this video, walked out and asked him to remove the caliper so I could inspect that the pads were correctly installed. After balking at me, I found this scenario. He had 2 outsides on the left and 2 insides in the right. Damage to my rim and caliper were the result of his incompetence and lack of attention to detail. Thanks for the video, probably saved me a lot of paperwork in the end.

Thank you, thank you, thank you. I was going crazy trying to figure out why my left front was dragging. Never got the grinding or squeeking, but the rotor was getting warmer than normal due to the added friction, and the pedal felt spongy. Glad I caught it fairly early or it likely would have been much worse outcome. Unfortunately I dropped $75 on a new caliper before I saw this video. You saved my tail this time, thanks so much !!!

Hi Brian, still a great video (refresher-this is my second brake job). I'm sure you already know this, Ford has eliminated the garfield ears-all the pads are the same. My question is when installing the new pads, the fit was rather tight. I removed the clips to further clean the caliper brackets to bare metal. Reinstalled the clips (verified clips seated properly), pads still tight. Sanded the paint off the ends of the pads, smoother, however I believe that there is still too much drag on the pads when sliding them across the brackets. The rotors spin freely when the brakes are released, however when the pads wear, that's where the drag is the greatest. Should I be concerned or am I good to go?

Love it! I've been scatching my head for the past 2 hours! Thank you sir!

Great information on video, thank you. Makes sense after you explained it.

Good looking out, man - great video. Thanks.

The Garfield analogy was good. So good in fact I only had to watch it ten times, not fourteen. Costing yourself there friend. Such a thing as too good.

Thanks for this video. The dealer put new brakes on a 2010 f150 before I bought it. I noticed a lot of brake dust forming on one wheel and a light squeak when going down the road. Jacked it up and that wheel did not want to turn. Pulled the caliber and found both pads with ears on the same wheel with the outside worn out and the inside like new with less than 4k on the pads. Thanks for the tip. I may have tried to put them back the same way if not for your video.

"idk, watch the video fifteen times" haha thanks for the vid. glad I checked this out. gonna get out and slap some on

I always test fit the pads into the bracket with the new clips installed. sometimes the paint on the new pads is applied so thick, the pads bind in the clips since the paint coating makes them fit too snug. a little filing of the contact points on the edges of the pads makes them fit with the right amount of float, so they can easily move in and out during brake application.

@FordTechMakuloco I typically do all my own maintenance work, but decided to take it to a VERY WELL KNOWN shop to have Amsoil oil change and new front brakes and rotors. On the way home after picking up the truck I noticed smoke coming from my front driver side wheel well, but thought it could be just some oil that spilled on the exhaust manifold from the oil change. When I got home and got out of the truck I could smell the brakes burning. I remembered this video and so the next day I removed my driver side front wheel and noticed that the technician had installed both inner pads on the driver side. Even though the pads say on them IN BIG LETTERS (LH INNER, RH INNER ). And on the very top of the rotor about 3/4" is a heat mark around the entire circumference of the rotor. I just don't understand how some of these so called technicians get and keep a job. What if I didn't know to check? Not to mention that on the left front wheel both pads were outer pads. Oh and i almost forgot... The "technician" also did not put my oil cap back on. 😒

Thanks for the video man, now I gotta go home and check my brakes I did the other day

Wow, just got replacement parts to replace my brakes in next couple of days. Wasn’t aware of this, many thanks 😎

This is 7 years old, and i already knew this, but i didnt know what ot would sound or act like if installed wrong, and how quick you should stop before it ruins something. I always like to learn what could go wrong, ideally not the hard way.

Thank you so much! Same as the others, ready to order a caliper, saw your video, I will fix my pads today. I was wondering why the drivers side was all hot and the edge of the outer pad only was hitting half the rotor😮