brakes

[Sublimetime86]

ok, so here is another post to pick you're brains. what are you're thoughts on brakes? I'm asking this because the misses won't let me get the lowering kit till I get new brakes. I have 50,000 miles on my car and I really beat on it... so it's safe to say that I need new ones.
+ my car shakes when i try to slow down.

-just thought i'de ask, because you guys were so helpful before.

[focinite]

well , you rotors are junk, sorry. if you go with stock replacements same is gonna happen. now there is a big brake kit on bat.net or bear makes a good stock size upgrade. the stockers gotta go, if you want to convert to svt brakes it is gonna cost ya

[trahma]

i'm not understanding why you're saying the stockers have to go. I'm still on my stock rotors at 90,000 miles and I'm getting ready to change mine for the first time. I've also only changed the pads once.

Now for some truth. For a car our size, batinc has a kit for around $125. It's powerslot rotors and mintex pads IIRC and they should work just fine. Drilled or slotted might look nice, but they're not necessary and do nothing but chew up pads.

Stock rotors are a decent quality product, if you get some, I'd recommend calling Steve @ Tousley and order the Motorcraft set. The only difference between Motorcraft and Ford is the name. I've done extensive research on brakes and the general consensus (and keep in mind this is from road racers) is that the *stock* rotors are fine for a rotor option unless you go with a brake upgrade.

I plan on running ceramic pads, and oem rotors in a week and a half at Mid America and from talking to people like Gary Kole (who is an instructor at SVTOA), he thinks I'll be doing just fine.

[umdivx]

I've had the Bat inc specails (EBC standard rotors, and mintex pads), I've done the EBC slotted/dimmpled rotors and EBC green stuff pads and I've warrped both sets of rotors.

I finally switched to the heavy duity Napa rotors, their like $100 a rotor. and got a new set of EBC green stuff pads, and I've had nothing but great luck with those. Just a little trick I did was I went and got a price estimate for pep boys then took that estimate to napa and they beat the price by 10%, so I ended up getting the rotors for $40 a peice.

One big thing I noticed was that my calipers were getting hung up on the caliper pins, the calipers are suppose to freely slide along those pins but I found that they were heating up, and sticking to the pins, I found a grease that you can put inside the holes of the caliper that the pins slide through. Put a bunch of grease into those holes and you will no longer have a caliper hanging up on the pins like I did.

When you calipers hang up on the pins they get constant friction on the rotors which overheat them and cuase them to warp, which might have been my issues with the first two sets of rotors.

If you ever need any help with breaks (rotors, calipers, pads), Wheel bearings, and steering knuckles, I am highly experienced in fixing all that and can give you tips on "What NOT to do"

- Josh

[Sublimetime86]

any-one tried the focus-central brakes yet?
http://www.focus-central.com/catalog/de ... id=&pid=74

[focinite]

i dont know how many brake jobs ive done on foci, but if you have rear drums make sure they are adjusted at all times or warping will occur. no the nappa rotors ive hear are thicker and made of harder metal.. and ceramics on a oem softy rotor.. hope you bringing some napa rotos... and drivers only (most of the time) drive , the rotors on the foci are to thin and to short, the pins yes are supseptobal( wow i murdered that) to heat stick. so a good quality grease is needed. the focus is suposeto have a harder pad and rotor in eruo trim but us yankies dont like to hear or feel our brakes working

[trahma]

i dont know how many brake jobs ive done on foci, but if you have rear drums make sure they are adjusted at all times or warping will occur. no the nappa rotors ive hear are thicker and made of harder metal.. and ceramics on a oem softy rotor.. hope you bringing some napa rotos... and drivers only (most of the time) drive , the rotors on the foci are to thin and to short, the pins yes are supseptobal( wow i murdered that) to heat stick. so a good quality grease is needed. the focus is suposeto have a harder pad and rotor in eruo trim but us yankies dont like to hear or feel our brakes working

i have a video of garyk putting plenty of space between him in his svt and an ford gt on a track. Let's see here... trust random ford tech or svtoa instructor?

[umdivx]

i dont know how many brake jobs ive done on foci, but if you have rear drums make sure they are adjusted at all times or warping will occur. no the nappa rotors ive hear are thicker and made of harder metal.. and ceramics on a oem softy rotor.. hope you bringing some napa rotos... and drivers only (most of the time) drive , the rotors on the foci are to thin and to short, the pins yes are supseptobal( wow i murdered that) to heat stick. so a good quality grease is needed. the focus is suposeto have a harder pad and rotor in eruo trim but us yankies dont like to hear or feel our brakes working

i have a video of garyk putting plenty of space between him in his svt and an ford gt on a track. Let's see here... trust random ford tech or svtoa instructor?

I dunno justin, I've ate up two sets of stock OEM rotors as well. you can physically see a huge difference in the napa rotors over the OEM rotors. Better, thicker metal.

I drive in stop and go traffic with the ocacional "oh shit" fast hard stopping, every day. I was eating through rotors every 3 to 5 months. I've had the Napa OEM rotors on now for a good 6 months and not even a hint of warping on them yet.

- Josh

[Steve@Tasca]

The best caliper slide grease I have found is the Ford silicone dielectric compound.

It goes for about $8.00 a tube and one tube will probably last a lifetime, it never seems to dry out and you can also use it on stuff like plug wires and other electrical connections to prevent moisture intrusion.

[trahma]

I dunno justin, I've ate up two sets of stock OEM rotors as well. you can physically see a huge difference in the napa rotors over the OEM rotors. Better, thicker metal.

I drive in stop and go traffic with the ocacional "oh shit" fast hard stopping, every day. I was eating through rotors every 3 to 5 months. I've had the Napa OEM rotors on now for a good 6 months and not even a hint of warping on them yet.

- Josh

you were a freak anomaly. You're the only person I've ever seen go through OEM brakes like you did.

[umdivx]

I dunno justin, I've ate up two sets of stock OEM rotors as well. you can physically see a huge difference in the napa rotors over the OEM rotors. Better, thicker metal.

I drive in stop and go traffic with the ocacional "oh shit" fast hard stopping, every day. I was eating through rotors every 3 to 5 months. I've had the Napa OEM rotors on now for a good 6 months and not even a hint of warping on them yet.

- Josh

you were a freak anomaly. You're the only person I've ever seen go through OEM brakes like you did.

Yea I guess. But I do know that the Napa rotors I have not are great and are working prefectly for me.

- Josh

[Sublimetime86]

so I went to napa and asked them about there rotors for the ford focus and the guy said he had two types one selling for $45 a piece and on selling for $73 a piece. he said that they were stock size. So what did you get???

For that price I think i'll stick with what trahma was saying an get stock pads/ rotors again... they are cheep and they have worked ok for me

I'm still wondering about the FC brake package... I'll just poke around on FJ and see if any one has them

[umdivx]

so I went to napa and asked them about there rotors for the ford focus and the guy said he had two types one selling for $45 a piece and on selling for $73 a piece. he said that they were stock size. So what did you get???

For that price I think i'll stick with what trahma was saying an get stock pads/ rotors again... they are cheep and they have worked ok for me

I'm still wondering about the FC brake package... I'll just poke around on FJ and see if any one has them

I got the $73 rotors, but what I did was got a price match on Pepboys and autozones "preimium" OEM rotors which were around the $45 price, and napa (by my house at least) price matched for me.

- Josh

[focinite]

to trama svt rotors are not the same as zx3 rotors and at a track who cares if they warp or not .. any random tech .. i went to school for two years and spent 15,000 on training delt with being the low man for another 2 years so any random tech no, i think not. i have a book about 9 inches thick with ford certs mostly suspn, front end, and align. i am also t1 certified but hay since you work on a focus in the grage at home that must make you an expert

[trahma]

to trama svt rotors are not the same as zx3 rotors and at a track who cares if they warp or not .. any random tech .. i went to school for two years and spent 15,000 on training delt with being the low man for another 2 years so any random tech no, i think not. i have a book about 9 inches thick with ford certs mostly suspn, front end, and align. i am also t1 certified but hay since you work on a focus in the grage at home that must make you an expert

Really? I figured that larger rotors were the same as the smaller ones. [/sarcasm] I'm glad you have a book that's 9" thick, did you pay someone to translate it to the engrish that you type? Again, allow me to explain who my source is. He's an instructor for SVTOA. Does your book that's 9" thick explain the different aftermarket options? Gary and I discussed running Brembo blanks vs. stock rotors and he agreed that it wasn't worth the price upgrade. How about the techs at carbotech that I spoke with and explained my options?

Perhaps I'll just speak on personal experience. Anyone on this forum can tell you that I beat on my car like a redheaded step child quite regularly. I've changed the pads once at 75,000 miles, and I'm just at my first rotor swap.

As far as you being T1 certified, how's the throttlebody working for you? Why doesn't your book tell you how much nitrous you can run? Why did you bother with a cheap ass ebay chip? You ask some of the most dumbest questions, then try to come off as the genius of the forum. I don't mean to sound like an asshole but I seriously have a hard time listening to anything you say because the majority of it is wrong.

As far as my credentials, yes I'm a garage mechanic. Hell before I bought my car I couldn't even change my oil. I know enough where I don't really think twice about offering to help someone install forced induction or install a clutch. I realize I have plenty to learn still which is why I talk with people that use the parts, and do all the research necessary. If someone asks for help and I don't know the answer, I either research and find the answer or tell them, I don't know. I'm not one to spew out information without the ability to back it up.

I guess I could be wrong, you know, you are a Ford tech. Then again I refuse to bring my car to a dealership because half of the time, my car comes back with a new scratch, or I have to go through and fix something the tech screwed up.