TimmyGt

so I need to do some brake work on my 97 GT because the 13 year old stuff just isn't cutting it anymore (pads, rotors and maybe line, calipers seem fine). Im going back and forth on if I want to upgrade both the fronts and rears to the ford racing cobra set up or if I want to just fix the rears and go with the brembo upgrade in the front. I really would almost rather go with the brembos just so I can get the 4 piston calipers in the front instead if the 2 pistons they use in the ford racing kit.

let me know what you all would do, also if there are any other options I should be looking at let me know.

Jazzer The Cat

If you want VERY good brakes, but without the expense of upgrading those items, upgrade just the pads, fluid and to SS lines and will be probably 80% as good in almost all areas. 4 piston will give you a little stiffer pedal feel, but with a larger rotor will give you a small amount of improved cooling.

I would recommend Hawk HPs pads
DOT 4> fluid
SS lines in front and rear

Cobras out back will be difficult to even notice, as I had them and could not even sense the difference. There was some for sure, but not noticed from the seat of the pants point of view.

Jazzer

Aereon

x2 this, I would also like to point out that if you want to get just a 4 piston caliper, look into the focus 4 pot caliper, I have heard that it fits with minor modifications.

I ended up with a brembo gt kit, I love the 4 pots, feel much nicer on repeated hard stops than the mach 1's I had before.

TimmyGt

ok, I'll just upgrade the stock parts then for now and do the brembos later. my back brakes are almost all the way shot and the rotors and pads need to be replaced asap. do the hawk pads really make a difference vs other brands? also anyone know how well the wilwood kits stacks up to the brembo kits?

LilRoush

Wilwood vs Brembo is (IMO) a brand picking game. Both make good stuff.
Jazzer is right on the money with doing a fluid, line and pad upgrade.

I run 13" on all four corners of my white car, and am about to upgrade the black car to 14" 4 pistons. The 13" where night and day difference over stock. I can't wait to see the the 4 pots will do.

TimmyGt

to get the 13" in the rear did you buy one of those crazy pricey kits or just put it together yourself?

LilRoush

Roush set up. Wasn't too bad price wise, but I had a hook up when I did it.

Jazzer The Cat

There is a problem with upgrading beyond the OEM calipers and is due to end-play of axles. They move in/out for approx. 1/8" of travel, maybe more, and is a function of the Ford rear-end. The OEM caliper is "floating" and the body of it moves with the axle so your brake feel is always consistant. When I had my 4 pot Wilwoods installed:





... they were perfect while I was on a straightaway. As soon as I turned left/right a couple times for cornering, the axles would move that 1/8" in/out and push fluid BACK into the calipers and leave the pads this distance off of the rotor. This meant that the pedal had LOTS of travel to get the pads back up against the rotors BEFORE any braking would occur. I had in-line check valves to hopefully eliminate this issue of reverse flow of brake fluid, but pressure of axle movement would overwhealm them. Finally Griggs had to get hardcore and go seriously custom to completely ELIMINATE this end-play, so I have none at all. I actually posted how it was done initially, but Griggs Racing asked me to remove the info, due to competative nature of racing and trade secrets and all (shhhhhhh)

Jazzer

TimmyGt

wow he must be paying you or giving you really good discounts to keep quit, that or you're really gullible to keep a secret upgrade you had done to your car just because you where asked! I'm sorry but if I had to pay for someone to fix a problem on my car I'm going to tell everyone what was done. I hadn't even heard of Griggs racing before you so they must not be that competitive of a race team. also seeing they had to file chapter 11 in Dec. of 09 they must not have been that great.

I got my new pads and rotors in just the other day and I tried to install them and I can get my rear pistons to go back into my caliper no matter how many time I spin them. so I pumped the brakes to see if they where seized and they went out fine and just wouldn't go back in for the life of me. I tried for hours and they don't seem to want to go back in at all. does this mean I might need to rebuild them or what am I not doing right?

LilRoush

You've never heard of Griggs!?!?