Joshspony

Like others said, being hard on your brakes will warp the rotors and burn up the pads. I have 36k on mine and they are still in great shape, I just had new tires put on and I checked them last week.

Disc brakes are really easy to do yourself. Literally back off a couple bolts and just switch them. The back ones you may need a special tool, which it about $15 at harborfreight.com or borrow one from autozone.

When it is time to replace them it will be an upgrade to larger gts. Probably slotted and dimpled rotors w/ hawk pads.

wingless

It all depends on how you drive.

On my MB I was getting 80K+ on pads, while others were getting 10-20K.

My cars were special ordered with the forward "space cushion" to provide extra reaction time. It is a very handy option. This can be retrofit onto existing vehicles.

pascal

My rear pads were gone in about 20K miles while my front went to 50K.
Doesn't make sense.
It depends also on the plant the car is built at and also when they get a new batch of pads.

As far as rotor warp, sometimes one panic stop will do it...

wingless

Stability system pulsing rear brakes under acceleration w/ insufficient traction?

teetertotter

When I had my fronts replace a couple weeks ago, the mechanic suggested ceramic which was $40.00 more. I will see him again tomorrow as need rear end bearings replaced. I was not thinking at the time when he said to replace fronts with ceramic but he was formerly a Ford service Tech for 15 years and figured he knew what he was talking about. I need to ask him how these ceramic are going to react with the rear pads that are OEM replacement.
Are the rears grabbing sooner and if so, how will it react in snow/ice conditions? Might have to go back and have ceramic replaced in the rear which was done by a different car shop. Maybe it is not a concern with miss matched pads. I am pretty easy when braking as stated previously and drive year round. I guess some are harder on their brakes than others and I do notice around town with a lot of drivers can't wait to get to the next stop light. There is also a break in period for your brakes and should be nice to them for the first 500 miles, if you didn't know. Make sure your rotors are nice and smooth and no grooves when you replace pads. My 2 cents

tx_zstang

The comment about 'women driving the brakes hard' is exactly how my wife and daughters drive! I've never seen brakes wear out so fast!!!

Seriously though, if you have grooves in your rotors, your brake pads are probably wore down too far already. And the fronts are usually the first ones to go. You can get new rotors or even pick up some good used ones from people here; many of us have taken the v6 rotors and pads off and put GT ones one, if we have the larger wheels as mentioned.

Otherwise, a good reputable brake shop will be glad to take your money. Opt to replace the front rotors and re-use the backs, or to be sure, replace all 4 rotors. get an estimate on the rotor cost, and ask what the charge is if you provide new rotors; the shop might not like that, but you can say 'I prefer genuine Ford parts for my baby'.
Then check with a local dealer or get them online for less. This will save you some coin as the brake shop will charge you plenty for new rotors; and you do NOT want to have the front ones 'turned' if they are grooved and/or warped.

FWIW, there IS a third stage of driving: besides 'on the gas' and 'on the brake', there is a 'neither' option, just coasting; that'll help extend brake life.

Good luck!