Moonbaby1973

Im hopingsomeone herecan help me out with this. I need some information on upgrading my break system. The one area that i realy dislike on my Mustang is the brakes. I live in southwest Virginia so pretty much everywhere you go, your either going up a hill, or down the other side.
Even though i pay close attention to my breaking habbits and dont ride my breaks while going down hill, my breaks tend to have a slight grind to them when im going down hill. There is no shimmy to the steering wheel, but i can feel a slight grind in the pedal and i can hear a low growl. Not very loud, buy i notice it. I have checked the rotors and they are perfectly smooth. I have even taken the Mustang to the dealership and they can find no problem whatsoever with the break shoes or rotors. The problem started at around 12,000 mile, i had the car checked at 17,000 and the car currently has 23,000 miles on it.
My theory is that the breaks are getting hot. I believe this because the grinding and noise increases with heavy use. For instance when i drive this particular stretch of mountain road with a lot of curves and hills that requires breaking and then acelerating repeatedly, the grinding increases in the pedal and the noise gets louder.
Bottom line, im unhappy with the breaks and i want to upgrade. I have been told that the best way to get rid of the heat is slotted and drilled rotors. The problem is that i know little to nothing about this type of rotor.
Can anyone give me some advice and or recomend a manufacturer? What do i need to know before buying? Would changing to this type of rotor require changing to a different type of shoe as well? Would the rotor be a direct replacement for the stock rotor or would it require modifications of some sort?
What are the does and donts of this type of rotor?

Thanks
Moonbaby

06GT4RAD

Well if you really want to improve the brake then a Big Brake kit is really the only true way to get it done. That can cost about 1500-3000.00.

Some disagree that Drilled and Slotted rotors will improve your overall braking but i am one who has felt the difference. If your on a budget then i highly suggest you upgrade to Braided Stainless Steel Brake Lines, Rotors Pros Premium Slotted/Drilled Rotors and some nice pads. Maybe the EBC Redstuff or some aekbono pads.

These will give you a nice improvement without breaking the bank.

http://rotorpros.com/index.htm

http://www.perfectbrakes.com/brakesf...ytunedcars.asp

http://www.steeda.com/products/stain...rake_hoses.php




Big Brake kits.

http://www.steeda.com/products/gt_front_brake_kit.php

http://www.steeda.com/products/steed..._brake_kit.php

http://www.steeda.com/products/steed...e_kit_s197.php




Richard

suoperdave84

Drilled and slotted rotors are mainly a gimmick. If you experience any cooling at all it is insignificant. They look good, and that's the only real upgrade.

Real upgrades will be better pads and/or larger rotors. My wheels won't allow for the larger rotors, so I just did the Rotorpros rotors.

I doubt that heat is your issue. Brake parts are meant to take a lot of punishment. If you're not racing around a track all day at 200 mph, your brakes should perform fine. If it's grinding you hear and feel, it has to be the pad/rotor interaction. Replace them both and you'll probably get rid of the problem.

Rotors are a snap to install. See Tacobill's post:
https://mustangforums.com/m_3083874/tm.htm

PROMETHEUS PRIME

DBA make a good 2 piece rotor that is a dirrect replacement for the stockers.
http://www.dba.com.au/2006/default.asp
I know from experience that they do improve the braking a lot. Not as much as a big brake kit but for the money well worth it. Just replace the stock pads with some Hawk pads and the rotors and there will ba a big improvement.

jerjan

I agree with Dave, but I havesome comments to make. Without physically seeing your pads and rotors it is impossible to know if there has been overheating. Therefor no one on this forum would be able to give an adequate diagnosis of the problem without close-up pictures of the pads and rotors. Remember this, once your rotors have overheated the surface will harden and discolor. Also you may see what appear to to be cracks in the rotor surface. If at any time your brakes have overheated like this, the only way to repair them is to either turn the rotors or replace them and install new pads. Obviously I would not recommend the factory pads as there are much better high performance pads available. Extended low speed driving with lots of braking can easily overheat your brakes as there is never enough air flow to cool them properly. In your case it sounds like they have at leastoverheated once, and possibbly may overheat regularly. The best option for this would be larger rotors and better pads if that is the case. Also there are a few companies that have brake air duct kits to provide better air flow to the brakes. In years past I've quite a few problems like this in my customers cars. Some of it can be explained by driving habits, some by driving conditions and some by equipment failure. The general rules are: If you have a stick shift, downshift whenever possible. If you have an automatic, select a lower gear when on hills and winding roads. Don't "Ricky Race" by over accellerating between point A and point B and slamming the brakes on when you get there. I had one customer that regularly burned their brakes up by using a Sentra for a paper route in a hilly area. They were on and off the gas and brakes for acouple ofhours each day. The result was new rotors and pads about every 3000 miles. Needless to say they had to get a different vehicle. Hope this helps.

MexGT

What do you guys think about this rotors?
http://www.lethalperformance.com/pag...kit-front.html
http://www.lethalperformance.com/pag...-kit-rear.html

Both 14" and can use the factory caliper.

Any thoughts?

howarmat

baer means good, clearance might be your only problem.

schapman

I have the front set on my car and you will need min of 18" wheels. Go to baers website and you can download a wheel fitment guide for them. Also, you wouldnt need the rear since 80% of your braking is accomplished with the front.

CataclysmGT

The Steeda's are nice....with having slotted rotors front and rear to keep the same look. Might have to look into that.

A_J

+1 on what souperdave84 and especially jerjan said... it sounds like you may have overheated and/or glazed the pads and rotors, get another shop to look at them. That would be the first thing to address.

Then, if you'd like to improve them overall, there's a few options:

Slotted / drilled rotors - slotting/drilling is intended to help vent the gasses generated during hard braking - the gasses can actually get "sandwiched", in a sense,between the pad and rotor. This mod can help the overall effectiveness when braking, but for 99.9% of the population, it's an expensive look-cool part. There's also some debate as to whether slotting is better than drilling, from a metallurgical standpoint.

Bigger brakes - probably money better spent than slotted/drilled rotors. But the rub is that it usually is a very expensive upgrade, can require bigger wheels, and usually dictates replacing the calipers also (part of the high $). Again, improves overall braking power.

Stainless brake lines - inproves brake feel mostly, as it takes out the "give" of the rubber lines

Brake cooling - A few companies have kits to run air up to the rotors in front (the fronts carry more than 60% of braking demands) and keep them cool - as brakes heat up, they're going to be more prone to fading, that is, reduced brake effectiveness from overheating the pad material. Can be so bad as to permanently warp your rotors (ever see in a race where the rotors glow red-hot on a corner?) So improved cooling helps brake endurance.

Improved pads - a relatively low buck upgrade, Hawk and EBC make several grades.. can help braking force and fade resistance, depending on the construction.A caution though - some 'race' pads perform horribly when the brakes aren't warmed up - don't use those on a street car, where you won't reach full temperature just going to the store for smokes. Stick to those that are at least listed as Street/Track - these usually perform better across a range of temps.

So address the grinding issue first, then see where you're at. Also pay attention to your driving habits - do you ride the brake pedal, or ona long downhill hold it at 50% all the way down, rather than separate harder bursts of braking to reduce speed? Things like that... the way you use your brakes can have as much to do with it as any bolt-on part.