Just finished a front brake job on my wife's 2014 Ford Escape.

Actual time changing pads/lubing caliper pins, raising/lowering: 30 min

Actual time removing lug nuts from two front wheels to get to brakes: 2 hours (incl 1 rear wheel)

Fords of this vintage with aluminum alloy wheels come from the factory with 2 piece lug nuts:
Lower section is the lug nut itself -- 18mm actually.
Upper section is a separate chrome finish "bulge cap" that actually covers the true lug nut down to where the cone starts.
The material w chrome finish is a whopping 0.5mm thick, making the lug 19mm.

The problem with this design is that moisture gets between the two sections and corrodes, freezes and makes the upper cap of the lug nut swell.
To the point that a 19mm 6 point has to be hammered onto it, then broken loose with a breaker bar.
Hopefully you have hammered the socket on straight because if not, you're putting lateral stress on the wheel studs and there is a risk of breaking them off.

After you use methods you shouldn't to release the 140 ft lbs of torque some lazy dude at your tire shop applied to your 100 ft lb spec lug nuts, you then have the joy of beating the offending nut out of your 19mm socket.
For the record, I found that the easiest way to dislodge them from the deep socket (1/2 in) is to put a 3/8" extension in through the 1/2" opening at the top of the socket and hammer till it goes bouncing across the garage floor.

Why did he wait until the night before?

He actually tried to do the brakes last night but discovered pretty much all 20 lug nuts were swollen and needed the hammer ritual. Bought some cheapies from AZo and installed tonight so that the place that inspects my car can do it in less than 2 hours.
I know in all likelihood they could measure the brakes without removing the wheels, but I much prefer breaking my own stuff than leaving it 50/50 to some dude who takes an impact gun to it, takes the finish off my wheels, and breaks off studs.

Ford will happily sell you a replacement set containing the identical maldesigned lug nuts.
Wonder why there's a class action lawsuit in progress.

The only things I could really find on short notice were Mc Wards. Good/bad/ugly?

Need sleep.



Gnite

 

Man, I hate when I used to run into stuff like that. Back when I used to work on other peoples cars. Not nowadays. But, that's one reason I have a vise on my workbench. Put the socket in the vise, find an old screwdriver and drive the nut out with the screwdriver. PITA.

 

 

 

Just passed inspection. Owner of shop did not pull any wheels as we have a good trust relationship. They can see the pads through the wheels. But I was not going to pull the lugs off after beating them and put them back on, even though it appears to be only cosmetic damage.

Just another example of Ford with 10 million crap parts in a warehouse they refuse to lose money on.
Customer satisfaction is irrelevant.

Man did I get spoiled when Saturn was Saturn before GM muscled in and drove it into the ground on purpose.

I seem to have a silent feud going with the mechanic who hosed my cam cover gasket. He got to do the inspection today and gave me nothing but cold glares. Said not one word to me. After a while, I just started making full uninterrupted eye contact every time he was in the waiting area on the way to the office. My brand of eye contact is adaptable to the situation and usually unnerves people. Worked perfectly on him, Body language is highly underrated.

Owner said he smelled antifreeze under the hood. I've never cracked the cap in 83K because the level has not dropped and the coolant is remarkably clean in the reservoir, anyway.

----------------

While I'm this far off topic, I have the following question:
While under extended warranty, I have not changed the tranny fluid (ever) and am now at 83K.
Per Alpha Centuri (past member of forum), lifelong tranny tech, 36 K miles are recommended to get longevity out of today's transmissions -- or any tranny for that matter.
However, he also said that once the mileage gets high, it may be deposits and such inside the tranny compensating for weak seals and such that a fluid change may potentially do more harm than good by removing said deposits.

Plus my problematic flare shifts seem to have abruptly calmed down but are still barely there.
This makes me lean towards a really screwed up adaptive learning algorithm that takes 83K miles to sort itself out. It had no tranny codes when I scanned it last night. Has never had a tranny code.

Change/no change on the tranny fluid?
Heat leads to breakdown and the fluid is likely compromised, but........I am 100% in favor of preventative maintenance, but not the kind that potentially causes more harm than good.

Thanks

 

 

Likely to drive into the ground.

Thank you for the perspective.

 

I changed the trans fluid in my PT Cruiser at 120,000 miles. Zero leaks or problems with it. Why did I change it? Because it was dirty and I didn't know the history of it. Had the genuine Mopar filter in it, so I'm guessing it was never changed before or done at a stealership. I put ATF+4 in it and it shifted smoother and better. On a Ford, I wouldn't take that chance.

 

Wouldn't take the chance of not changing or of changing?