On August 24, 2006, my passenger-side, front, lower caliper mounting bracket bolt backed itself out. This happened at a lower speed (about 20-25 mph) and so there were no injuries involved (especially since I had three passengers in the vehicle). But, when this happened it gouged the inside of the wheel (a factory wheel) and caused it to instantly deflate the tire as I came to a stop. I ended up having to replace the wheel, the rotor and the brake pads to fix the damage. On October 18, 2006, while traveling nothbound on I-25, just North of exit 158, I heard a "popping" sound and felt as if I had run over a rock. I then took exit 161, and while traveling about 25-30 mph, and stopping, my front, driver's-side, tire suddenly exploded from a huge gash in the sidewall. I was towing a 8'X10' flatbed trailer with some tools loaded on it. When I was able to get out of the traffic lanes, I removed the tire and the entire wheel had split in two. I also discovered that again, the lower caliper mounting bracket bolt had backed itself out. I had to have the vehicle towed and the tow truck driver told me that he knew of this happening to other people after they had their Ford pickup brakes worked on. He said that it is not a problem, that he knew of, when the vehicles come from the factory, only after the brakes have been worked on. I had to replace the wheel, the tire, the steering knuckle, the rotor and the pads. We ended up replacing the lower bolts and putting locktight on the bolts (this was the recommendation from the tow truck driver and my mechanic). We did save the damaged parts. After the first incident my mechanic checked the tech service bulletins and did not find any bulletins from Ford re: This issue. I also spoke to the parts service rep at phil long Ford (Colorado springs, co) and he told me that he knew about this issue, that it was actually quite common, but that Ford had not issued a bulletin about this.

- Monument, CO, USA