FSVT Brakes

[Eamonn]

Self Machining Rotors? Replacing rotors at 40k miles? Design = not good. I've got 2 of these cars in the garage/ a 02 and an 04. I'm looking for solutions to replace to aftermarket and was hoping that someone who had done a re & re knows what the benefits (performance+/bling factor) and trade offs (weight/ABS/TC?) are could share them with me. I can install myself.

Ideally I was hoping to hear there was a thicker vented rotor available with a caliper. I know the brembo rotors are there, but I haven't seen the calipers yet.

I've been looking at going to a bigger wheel to allow for a bigger brake on the 04 (my car) so this is a good time to make a case for the upgrade to something better than OEM.

Thanks in advance of the input.

E

 

[HTPerformance]

There are quite a few options...

Baer 13" Fronts:
http://focus.c-f-m.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=982

Baer 12" Rears:
http://focus.c-f-m.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=1046
http://focus.c-f-m.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=1045

Brembo Fronts:
http://focus.c-f-m.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=983

Upgraded aftermarket components for stock system:
http://focus.c-f-m.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=949
http://focus.c-f-m.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=509
http://focus.c-f-m.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=895
http://focus.c-f-m.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=1141
http://focus.c-f-m.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=1142
http://focus.c-f-m.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=1143
This company also sells Powerslot rotors instead, and also Hawk Pads. You can get whatever.

Another company British American Transfer in Florida has a couple sets as well.
http://www.batinc.net/focus.htm
http://64.202.180.37/files/fbrake.pdf

They have a rear disk kit to 12".
Also they change the front caliper to i believe a Cobra one.

Might call them up about the options.

-Brian

 

[Primaris]

Why would you want a rotor to last longer than 40K miles? It's not like they are expensive. Bigger rotors for the SVTF are nothing but bling, btw. The stock rotors will handle road racing duty.

http://www.teamscr.com/grmbrakes.htm

 

[Eamonn]

That's what I was looking for:-D
Thanks for the quick reply.

 

[Eamonn]

Sorry Primaris, I didn't mean to overlook your reply.

The beef I have is my wife's car went in for warranty service (60,000 Km) and in addition to the usual stuff, they give the brakes the going over. I'm figuring pads- big deal. We got hit with a bill for over $850.00 CDN. This bill included an additional charge for only the rear brakes- the next service they're gearing up to change the front brakes which will cost over 600bucks more? Not in this lifetime- I'll buy the parts and install them myself. By Ford not informing me of this little item, I'll keep them out of the loop whereever I can, and I told them so. Anyway, the brakes are not a warranty item any longer on this car. If there's another option to source parts, I'd like to know about them.
I'm old school. I am a mechanic with a machinists background, only I do industrial stuff and I can fabricate stuff that I can't find because I have the means to do it. I used to mod and race cars and motorcycles for a hobby, but I gave it up for aircraft, so my focus;-) on cars isn't what it used to be. I used to resurface my car rotors by machining up an arbor for the rotor and turning them down on a lathe. I used to like the heavy vented rotors because I could turn them down quite a bit before I hit the service tolerances. Sometimes if the castings were good I'd try to go a little further knowing that the tolerances were calculated with safety margins, but I'll deny I said that;-) and I wouldn't go that far on one of these cars, from what I've seen there just isn't enough there to work with. Maybe aftermarket is different and will be more familiar to me.

My wife is a school teacher and drives like a grandmother, but she likes sportcars. In this case I feel the wear is premature although I haven't put a micrometer to the rotors left in her trunk. I expect better from the cars I own. My car is at half the milage so I have time to plan on what I want to do when my turn is up. I like the idea of a tuner car, but I'm going to do it my way for the price I'm willing to pay- in reality, I'd rather push the savings at my plane. Now that's a rush.

E

 

[Primaris]

For OEM look at the stickies on the top of this forum. Steve will sell you parts at 10% over cost.

Another good source is: http://www.batinc.net/main.htm

I like Carbotech pads: http://www.carbotecheng.com/
Their bobcat pad is great for aggressive street/autocross use. I use their xp10 for the track.

No offense, but why did you pay the bill if they did work that you didn't want? Are we talking about two SVTFs?

Anyway changing the pads and/or rotors on the SVTF is a very easy job.

 

[Eamonn]

Yes, we're talking about 2 FSVT cars. An 02 and an 04

No offence taken. My wife had a dialogue with the service department and green lighted the rears to be done. I assumed she was talking about pads and wasn't too worried about it getting done. She picked up the car and paid the bill before I could get involved. The fellows there have dealt with me before on other matters and they should have known better. Enough said.


I know that the job is an easy one. I'll have a look at the stickies, price it out and see where I want to go with this. I've got some parts sources up here I can deal with that will provide a good margin price as well...I just didn't anticipate it would've been this soon considering the way she drives. I can see that I have something to do when the time comes for my car. And, after doing a bit of research, I understand that I'm not the only one disappointed with the life span of these brakes or the prices offered over the parts counter.

I like BAT. HTPerformance offered that link as well. They look interesting....and it appears there are lots of solutions out there to deal with this issue so already I'm feeling a bit better about it.

Thanks for the input. E

 

[FORDSVTPARTS]

Personally, I think they pulled a fast one on you unless the car has been driven with the e-brake on or the calipers are sticky.

I replaced all the brakes on my '02 at about 50,000 and I saved the rotors because they were really not all that bad.

I say measure the old rotors and see if they are really out of spec, The rears should outlast the fronts by a large margin if the car is driven normally and there are no issues with the e-brake or calipers as I mentioned before.

Minimum thickness for the rears is 8.9mm, brand new rotors measure about 10mm.

 

[Eamonn]

Yep, I figure they took advantage of the situation too. But I can't fault them entirely when they get the green light from someone at this end. I had thought the wear to be a bit fishy and the hand brake had occurred to me as well.....but I'm not going to get into accusing the wife of mishandling stuff- too many things could go wrong in other areas of my lifeoke:

She had a trip that she'd quickly planned and wanted the car to be prepped for the trip, so there was the haste factor as well. She gave me no time to respond to the issues. Live and learn.

I didn't take the rotors out of her trunk before she left, but I'll have a look at then when she returns. I'll post what I find for those that are interested. The shop figures she has about 10K km to go on the fronts. I'll measure those too. Thank you SVTPARTS for the tolerance specs. They'll come in very handy.

I received a letter regarding my car which is loaded on the warranty program. Time for another warranty checkup (35K km). They list my brake wear as "light" front and rear. I go to a different dealership than the wife does, but they know me at both places. Before I go I'm going to throw a micrometer on my rotors and get a feel for their rating system and see where they want to rate it. Might be interesting....