On 1996-2002 ford crown victorias you will get asked by your parts consultant whether you have a phenolic or metal pistons in the rear calipers when you attempt to order rear brake pads. To determine which type of caliper you have in your particular car, you are going to have to remove one of the rear calipers from your car and physically inspect the piston.

Here is a crownvic with a phenolic rear brake caliper piston



Here is a crownvic with a metal rear brake caliper piston



Here are two inner brake pads.

On the top is a rear inner brake pad for a crownvic with a phenolic rear caliper piston (1.00" rosebud clip diameter)

On the bottom is a rear inner brake pad for a crownvic with a metal rear caliper piston (1.75" rosebud clip diameter)



Although not shown, the outer brake pad is the same on cars with phenolic caliper pistons and with metal caliper pistons.

There is no rhyme nor reason to which vehicles ford used phenolic rear caliper pistons on and which vehicles ford use steel pistons on. Some civilian cars got metal rear caliper pistons while other civilian cars got phenolic rear caliper pistons. Some police cars got metal rear caliper pistons while other police cars got phenolic rear caliper pistons.

If you are replacing the rear calipers on your car with a set of remanufactured "loaded calipers" that come with new brake pads included, you can use either phenolic calipers or metal calipers in the rear. The brake flex hoses are the same between the two calipers, as are the rotors, the sliding hardware, and the caliper mounting points. Do be aware that you will need the appropriate banjo bolt for the caliper of your choosing. Most remanufactured phenolic rear calipers will need an M10x1.0 "fine thread" banjo bolt while most remanufactured metal piston rear calipers will need an M10x1.5 "coarse thread" banjo bolt. You will sometimes see calipers with phenolic pistons referred to as "heavy duty".

Also, starting in the 2003 model year, all panther plaform vehicles (ford crown victorias, mercury grand marquises, and lincoln towncars) recieved metal rear caliper pistons. So there are no worries about getting the wrong type of rear brake pad for your particular car in the 2003+ vehicles.