bmartin8732

I have a 2007 GT 5 speed and I was just wondering if anyone else has had issues with the factory brakes. Now I realize these are no Brembos but I think they should perform better than they do. I was recently engaging in a friendly race against a wrx. After realizing that he wasn't going to catch me, I looked down and saw I was now doing 120+ mph. Woops! I let off the gas and barely touched the brakes. I felt a horrible shake as if the rotors were warped, my tires were out of balanace and all my lug nuts were about to fall off. I had plenty of room ahead of me so i just put it in 4th gear and slowly started to decelerate without brakes. At around 80mph I tried the brakes again. Everything seemed perfect, as they should. I checked everything the next morning and it all looked/felt fine. I have been driving it since then, every day, with no issues. I was just wondering if I might have really crappy pads on this thing (just purchased the car 4 weeks ago), or if they are all that bad at high speeds?

Any help would be appreciated.

MustangFirstCar

Yeah mine does that too, and I have a V6. Any decent pressure on the brakes over 70mph makes the pedal vibrate and makes the car shake. I figure that mine is so intense, the rotors must be warped. It's ok, because I am getting new pads and rotors anyway, and I suggest you do too.

DPE

Sounds like you have some slightly uneven pad deposits on the rotors, so that when used at high speeds like that you get the vibration whereas at lower speeds they feel ok. This point seems almost overdone on the internet, but rotors rarely warp; rather, pads that get overheated leave uneven deposits of pad material on the rotor face thus effectively making them feel warped. Thus the cause of the problem is likely whatever front pads are in the car not being all that great.

OEM rotors are cheap; on an '07 I'd be inclined to just buy some fronts from newtakeoff.com, then get yourself some decent street pads like Hawk HPS or even the OEM 'upgrade' Performance Friction pads that come on some of the 2010s all around (I also really like Carbotech Bobcats, but they do cost more), and maybe for grins flush your brake fluid with some new DOT 4 (a 'big' bottle of Valvoline DOT 4 at Advance Auto is $7 and will be more than enough), and you'll be set. Provided you don't do any track days or serious canyon carving, with a setup like that you'd be solid for many, many miles.

As an alternative, you could try just having the front rotors turned, but if you've got more than 30k miles and you don't know the history on the car then I'd personally spend the $100 and go new.

Despite their smallish size and unsophisiticated arrangement, the OEM brakes on these cars are surprisingly good with a few upgrades. Good luck!

parchisi

Agree with DPE. The stock brakes aren't to bad. Get some new rotors, or if you need to save bucks, get them turned. Make sure to bed the pads in properly as well. You can do a search for bedding procedures on this forum or Google.

Argonaut

I agree with DPE also, the stock brakes are certainly capable of stopping the car from high speed, its the pads that are the limitation. On a race track with proper pads, DOT 4 fluid and cooling ducts the stock calipers and rotors will work fine stopping from 120-130 lap after lap. The stock pads are designed to be quiet and perform with minmal dust, performance is secondary and lets be honest, how many people drive their car at over 100mph? (not counting the crazys on this forum :-). Better pads will in almost all cases prevent the problem you have described. As mentioned above, the carbotech bobcats are a great street pad, they do dust a bit, any high performance pad will, but have always been quiet for me.

bmartin8732

Ok, thanks for the help. I work part time at a local Autozone and I was wondering if anyone thinks the Duralast C-max pads would suffice for the time being. They have a lifetime warranty so when they wear out, I get new ones for free. Does anyone have experience with them or should I just fork over $100 or more for a big name brand set? Also, if I wanted to upgrade my rotors, what are some good brands to use and how long do they typically last?

DPE

If on a budget, I'd strongly encourage you to spend the money and get a real performance pad and instead skimp on getting new rotors and just get your current ones turned. The pad is the real problem, and no 'store brand' OEM replacement pads are going to be able to handle heat any better than your Ford OEM pads if I had to guess. Or whatever has been fitted to your car that apparently isn't working. Carbotech Bobcats would be my first choice, followed by Hawk HPS. And if you could find some take-off OEM Performance Friction pads (the 'upgrade' pads) from a 2010 GT, those would likely do the trick as well. Not sure how much they are brand new.

Rotors last a long time if the car isn't tracked. I'd say 100k miles is common. Ford OEMs are just fine, or if you want aftermarket I've had good luck with Power Slot and Brembo Sports. I suspect the Centric rotors from Tirerack are good as well. The thing to avoid would be no-name or store brand cheapies, as you just don't know what you are getting. And there's no sense in it as you're not going to save a significant amount of money buying the cheapest rotor you can find. I'd just turn the OEMs (if they have enough material to be turned) before putting a no-name rotor on your car.