I dont know what brand is in there at the moment but they are friggen awful. I just thought all Fords had crap brakes until I drove another today and realised it must be the crap pads in my car giving such poor braking.

It had all 4 corners pads and discs done just before I bought it by a Ford dealership, suffice to say the brakes are rubbish.

It is completely bled and the system is in good working order with no air in it or leaks, just the pedal requires a lot of pressure to achieve satisfactory stopping power. The pedal requires the same amount of pressure to get it to hit the end of its travel in both my car and this other one I drove today so the booster isn't shagged and the rest of the system appears fine.

So, what are some pads that aren't horrificly expensive, dont munch out the discs (that means no metal kings) and produce more friction to allow normal pedal pressures to stop the car?

get some bendix advance, decent price and good allround pad.
if you can aford it ebc greenstuff, about twice the price of the bendix but people on here absolutely love em.
i run bendix ultimates they eat rotors though.

do a search theres plenty of post about pads.

EBC Greenstuff pads are the go.

What rims you got? If you have the Fairmont rims that have that anti brake dust cover on the inside then that will contribute to the brakes not working as well because they get hotter due to lack of airflow.
I can feel the difference between my cars with an open rim and the Fairmont rim.
That sounds like your problem.

Pads can significantly chang the pedal feel. My Ferodo Formula DS2000's just ran out, can because im a little low on cash at the moment, i replaced them with some budget $30 pads.....now the whole thing feels like s**t, lol.

What was a nice firm pedal, now feels spongy and a lot of pressure and pedal travel to pull the car up.

Get some decent pads on the front at least, and you'll be laughing. I recommend the Formula DS2000's (about $180), but i've never tried EBC greens. I hear they are pretty decent too.

It couldn't possibly be the problem. I have the standard rims but the only time insufficient airflow could become a problem would be with spirited driving. I very rarely get the brakes hot enough to require additional cooling that proper wheels provide and if I do, I know when I'm approaching the limit of braking and adjust my driving accordingly.

If that were the case, when I pull the wheels off the discs would be too hot to touch when they are only ever lukewarm.

So, what have people paid for these EBC pads and the Bendix Advanced pads? I'm leaning to the Advanced pads because its far from a sportscar so I dont need high temp capable pads, the Fairmont alloy wheels have the plastic dust cover so dust doesn't concern me at all, just a better braking performance over the Ford OEM pads.

Cheers for the replies

the ford dealer might have put aftermarket cheap pads in too if it was a used car...