Tailwagger
Well-Known Member
My guess is that the brake feel is quite intentional given how soft the truck's front suspension is in compression. ie. a hard, firm pedal promotes a tendency for the truck's nose drop hard, whereas the softer, more progressive feel makes forward weight shift more manageable. Personally, I like the pedal feel... very different from my sports cars, but while different they remain easy to modulate.
That said, I wouldn't confuse brakes with braking. Feel is one thing, capability another.
Per C&D, the '24 RR stopped 70-0 in 218 ft. Consider that a 2025 XLT Supercrew did it in 185 feet (Michelin Primacy XC ATs), whereas the 2025 F150 Tremor took 223 ft (General Grabber A/TX). Again from C&D, the RR weighed in at 5372 lbs, the XLT at 5631 lbs and the Tremor at 5650 lbs. Given the two F150's are nearly identical in weight, but stopping distance with the Tremor took nearly an additional 40 ft, it doesn't seem much of stretch to conclude that tires and suspension make a very big difference. Despite weighing several hundred pound less, the RR doesn't fair much better than the Tremor. More evidence to suggest that the RR's relative lack of stopping power is less about calipers, pads and rotors and more down to the AT tires and off-road suspension calibration.
Data like this bolster's my belief that engineering a vehicle, and in particular a tire/suspension setup, that excels at typical off and on road tasks is a difficult, if not impossible thing to do. As someone whose rarely off pavement save for a few dirt roads every now and again, had there been a choice, I would certainly have bought a Ranger Lobo over the Raptor as, hypothetically at least, it would have been a better match for my use case. But as a Lobo version does not exist, and as I wanted a mid-size performance oriented truck, the RR was, and so far remains, the only real game in town. Whether the RR's set of trade-offs are worth it from an on road performance perspective comes down to personal priorities. Personally, I love the truck. When it comes time to replace tires I'll be looking elsewhere, but until then I can live with things as they are.
That said, I wouldn't confuse brakes with braking. Feel is one thing, capability another.
Per C&D, the '24 RR stopped 70-0 in 218 ft. Consider that a 2025 XLT Supercrew did it in 185 feet (Michelin Primacy XC ATs), whereas the 2025 F150 Tremor took 223 ft (General Grabber A/TX). Again from C&D, the RR weighed in at 5372 lbs, the XLT at 5631 lbs and the Tremor at 5650 lbs. Given the two F150's are nearly identical in weight, but stopping distance with the Tremor took nearly an additional 40 ft, it doesn't seem much of stretch to conclude that tires and suspension make a very big difference. Despite weighing several hundred pound less, the RR doesn't fair much better than the Tremor. More evidence to suggest that the RR's relative lack of stopping power is less about calipers, pads and rotors and more down to the AT tires and off-road suspension calibration.
Data like this bolster's my belief that engineering a vehicle, and in particular a tire/suspension setup, that excels at typical off and on road tasks is a difficult, if not impossible thing to do. As someone whose rarely off pavement save for a few dirt roads every now and again, had there been a choice, I would certainly have bought a Ranger Lobo over the Raptor as, hypothetically at least, it would have been a better match for my use case. But as a Lobo version does not exist, and as I wanted a mid-size performance oriented truck, the RR was, and so far remains, the only real game in town. Whether the RR's set of trade-offs are worth it from an on road performance perspective comes down to personal priorities. Personally, I love the truck. When it comes time to replace tires I'll be looking elsewhere, but until then I can live with things as they are.
Sponsored
