F150 Caliper Covers and Additional Upgrades for Your Braking System

Caliper covers are precisely as they sound; they are a cover that goes on over your F150’s OEM caliper in order to change its appearance. Having explained the obvious, perhaps the better question to ask is why install caliper covers on your pickup truck.

Changing the color of the stock calipers to a more exciting shade is a common and easy way to spruce up the wheel area aesthetic of an F150. Granted, for years many an owner has accomplished this using a can of caliper paint. So why switch things up now? Simple. Caliper covers are much easier to deal with, are considerably more customizable and are significantly more durable.

The caliper covers available through the aftermarket today are made using 6061-T6 aluminum, an aluminum alloy that is also commonly used in the aerospace due to its high tensile and yield strength. Furthermore, 6061-T6 aluminum also has great anti-corrosion properties, making it a well suited material to live in the grimy wheel well of an F150. 

Painted and cured with thick enamel, caliper covers can withstand the heat and road grime that a caliper is continuously subject to for years without issue. In addition to the durable enamel coating, all logos and text are engraved (custom colors, logos, and text can be engraved simply by sending the manufacturer an image of the desired design), thereby meaning they cannot chip or flake off. Installation of a caliper cover is easy; they simply clip onto the existing caliper.

Caliper paint, on the other hand, chips and flakes very easily and usually does not last any longer than a few months of daily driving. Furthermore, in order to really maximize the longevity of a caliper paint makeover, the caliper should be removed from the truck in order to give it equal and complete layers. This, of course, means you have to bleed the brake system afterward and also immobilizes the truck for a day until the caliper paint has cured and the calipers can be installed back in place.

Brakes generate heat, which up to a certain point is essential to maximize friction between the pad and rotor. Yet if this cyclical relationship is taken to the extreme (excessive heat), the heat is no longer beneficial and instead becomes detrimental, causing the pads to glaze and possibly the fluid to boil. Right, how do brake caliper covers factor into this? Well, for the most part, they don’t.

Using a set of caliper covers will not produce or trap any extra heat. Rather, they are designed to allow normal airflow over the caliper in order to dissipate the heat. There is even an argument to be made that caliper covers can decrease brake temperatures as their aluminum composition acts as a heat sink, drawing heat away from the caliper and into the cover itself.

Another aesthetic brake upgrade (that also has some performance benefits) is to switch out the factory rubber brake lines for a set of braided stainless steel lines. These lines not only look considerably better, but the stainless steel braiding also prevents the interior hose from expanding as much under hard braking, thereby diverting more of the braking force to the caliper as opposed to wasting some it through expansion of the lines. This creates a firmer brake pedal and less pedal travel to deliver the same amount of braking force to the caliper. 

Stainless steel brake lines are available for virtually all modern years of F150 (1997 onward), however, since 2013 Ford changed the connection piece between the hard line and soft line. Instead of using a connector to unite the soft and hard line, they instead have turned it into a one-piece design with the soft line now crimped onto the hard line. Owners will either have to come up with a modification on their own or replace the hard lines with the pre-2013 variety that work with the OEM connective adaptor.

When it comes to the number of brake caliper pistons, the Charmin motto has no leg to stand on. From the factory, F150 pickups typically have a floating two-piston caliper in the front and a floating single-piston caliper at the rear. This floating style of caliper only has pistons on the inboard side and presses against the opposite and fixed side of the caliper. Multiple pistons increase the clamping surface area and allow for a larger pad to be used. A floating design like this is highly functional and quite cost effective and is the design of choice for nearly every mass-produced truck. 

Big brake kits take the multi-piston caliper design to a whole new level. Their calipers, often using 4 to 6 pistons, place pistons on both sides of the rotor which equates to a much better distribution of clamping force and less caliper float, translating directly to improved braking (less fade, decreased stopping distances).

Perhaps better known originally for use on a Mustang, line lock kits are also available for F150 pickup trucks. These systems plumb an additional electronically controlled solenoid into the brake system which can then be activated to hold brake pressure on the front brakes. This allows the front brakes to be locked separately from the rear brakes. Toggle a switch to lock the brakes, toggle it back to resume normal operation.

Traditionally, this is mainly used for cars at the dragstrip that need to warm up their tires in the burnout box. By locking the front brakes independently of the rear, it is much easier to perform a burnout without moving forward in addition to saving wear on the rear brakes. With the impressive stock power levels of the latest generations, bringing the F150 for a rip down the track can be quite exhilarating. A line lock will help get the best performance out of the tires.

In addition, there is a secondary and slightly more obscure purpose for a line lock. A line lock can also prove its worth on a slippery boat ramp when the rear tires are submerged or riding on slimy algae. The ability to also lock the front end (especially for RWD-only trucks) could help prevent the truck from sliding down the ramp should it be extra slippery (cases of this have actually happened, sadly).

For the most part, the stock F150 brake system is adequate in terms of performance– it is just dull in appearance. Caliper covers are a great and easy way to spruce up the wheel area, can be added (or removed) at any time and are nearly infinitely customizable. Performance modifications like stainless steel brake lines, bigger multi-piston calipers and line lock systems are all items that can be done on an as-needed basis.

For example, if your F150 is subject to a lot of heavy hauling and you find the stock brakes to be inadequate or fade too quickly, stainless steel lines and a big brake upgrade will certainly help. For those that like to run their F150 at the track, and are doing so more than occasionally, a line lock system would be logical in order to improve tire performance.