A Haynes or Chilton shop manual is an inexpensive investment and will show you how to change pads and/or rotors.

To see the ranges of pads available check out the Hawk site or EBC site. There are pad choices, e.g. Hawk HPS or EBC Yellowstuff that you can run on both the street and at the track if you don't want to have pads for track only use.

I've haven't looked at this myself but if it is a well done as the rest of the info at Tire Rack it should help answer some of your questions.
http://www.tirerack.com/brakes/tech/index.jsp

The biggest single problem with changing the Mustang pads is you need a special tool to get the rear pistons back into the caliper. do a search on "cube" in this forum and you should find the thread. You do not want the cube by the way.

 

Thanks sleeper_08. I just have a hard time wrapping my head around not going big on the brake kit like everyone else at the shops are telling me to do. I think they just want my money.

 

May I just +1 the "Don't use the cube!" sentiment...ish, what a hassle. Heck, it's easier to use a pair of needle nose pliers than that damn cube. Still, the proper tool is inexpensive ($25), so go that route if you do it yourself.

Anyway, as far as pad recommendations go, I'm a big Carbotech advocate. They're more expensive than Hawk pads, but they are worth every penny (last longer, dust less, have a wider range of heat tolerance, & much easier on the rotors than Hawk pads). I love them. They have a wide range of pad compounds from which to pick, so you might want to just call them (or Hawk or EBC) for advice on getting one to suit your needs. The AX6 pad is a mighty nice dual purpose pad, but if you just want a superior street pad, the Bobcat 1521 is the easy pick. I run the XP10 at the track, and compared to the Hawk Blue pads I used to run, these things are baby-gentle on the rotors.

Best,
-j

 

Philostang do you still have factory rotors or at least factory size rotors? What all did you do to your brake system? To make it better I guess is the question? I have about 70,000 mile on my rotors and I'm thinking it's about time for some brakes. So while I have the brakes off I'm wanting to go ahead and upgrade them the right way.

 

06GTMustang, I do different things for my brake system for different uses. I track my car, so my real efforts have been to support that, not to improve street use. This means much of what I did probably won't have much interest to you, but here goes.

General:
- High performance fluid (full flush, incl. cycling the anti-lock brakes)
- Stainless lines

Track Set Up: (I do my prep a day or two before an event)
- Carbotech XP10 pads
- Dedicated track rotors (bedded for the XP10 pads): these are OEM take-offs
- Brake cooling ducts: fabricated it myself (I did a write up on this you can find)
- Bleed brake fluid: freshen it up before an event

Street Set Up:
- OEM pads (or Bobcats, Hawk HPS, whatever pad is convenient)
- OEM rotors: a different set bedded to whatever current street pads I'm running
- Remove brake duct hoses

Someone recently said that after they started tracking their car they no longer felt the need to drive aggressively on the street, because by comparison to what you do on the track anything you do on the street that you used to think was intense is just not. I completely concur. Sorry, I forgot the original author. The point is that on the street I really don't feel the need for "improving" my braking much over what Ford delivered. I'm mellow in intent, and the more track experience I get the more I can see what's happening on the road, so I'm able to be mellow in response.

I should also add that my track prep (using factory GT calipers and rotors) delivers very impressive results. I'm extremely happy with the braking, and my only real complaint is some nasty pad taper. I'm not supercharged, so once I do that and I'm flinging her down the straights under boost, I'll probably be revisiting my brake set up. For now, she'll bleed off 60 mph (from 130 to 70) on all-season tires with ease and confidence repeatedly.

So if you're not exceeding this kind of abuse, those guys at the shop are definitely just trying to take your money...and who can blame them in this economy? Hell, I'll take your money if you want to feel better about it.

Best,
-j

 

LOL I hear you Philostang. Well my job allows me to drive like I'm on a track some times too bad I'm not doing it in my own car. I use my car on the way to and from work to keep me sharp. I can't count the amount of times my car has gotten me out of almost being hit by some retard. But as my skills have been sharpened at work I find I want more and more out of my Mustang. I drive a Chevy Impala SS at work. Which is way different from driving a Mustang But performance driving is performance driving in my book. And with this I feel like I need to up my brake system in my Stang. So I'm trying to find out what I need to do. Would a track set up work for me on the streets or do I need something a little more simple? What would it hurt for me to use the set up you have in every day driving? I drive a little faster than must people FYI

 

I would not recommend the track set up for the street -- definitely not. None of it is either appropriate or really useful in that environment. Here's a brief account of why for each:

- Pads: typical track pads operate best in a temperature range from 200°F to 1650°F (depending on compound). So even on a super warm day, say 95°F, your rotors & pads start out a good 100°F cooler than that which the pads are set up to BEGIN coming into their own. Of course, the first time you brake, you'll bring their temp up, but unless you are leaning on the breaks frequently in typical street driving they're not going to stay in this upper range where track pads actually prefer to live. They will stop you when they're cold, but not as they are intended to do (so you pay for a value you never realize). Additionally, they are dustier than street pads (even the Carbotech, though these are by far less so than Hawk pads). They also make a pretty hellish noise, which I can only imagine very few people could tolerate in a daily driver. I mean, really, this isn't some cool supercharger whine that some tastes gravitate towards and others shy away...this is like just short of nails on a chalkboard. It can be bad.

- Brake ducts: NO value on the street. I've talked about this a bit in my write up. Aside from having no performance value on the street, they have an annoying tendency to suck up bugs, especially if you drive in the early dawn hours or later in the evening. These critters get spit out on the inside of your wheels...very sexy if you're into bug goo.

Now that I think of it, the brake duct write up actually discusses better my thoughts on street braking vs. track braking. I agree with you that the street is a good place to practice your high performance driving skills, but this does not require you to go fast. You can practice being smooth with your inputs, improving your line of sight, selecting and staying on your line, prioritizing your attention, and increasing your situational awareness; none of which requires you to be going fast. Indeed, on a track to be really fast the basic rule of thumb is that you should use the brakes as little as possible (after all, they're slowing you down) so as to stay on the throttle as long as possible. It turns out that you can practice this as well on the street, which further reduces the real need to improve brakes for street driving for performance purposes.

Having said that, I suppose there are a number of other reasons why someone would want to improve their street braking potential (maybe peace of mind? maybe said owner put on ridiculous 20" wheels and now needs to regain lost braking? who knows), and I can respect that even as I disagree with their belief that they really need to do so (at least under responsible street driving in stock trim).

For such folks I would recommend a pad upgrade, that's all. Hawk HPS pads will inspire greater confidence than OEM pads on the street. You can go to their HP+ even if you like, but for my money Bobcats are just awesome on the street. They'll last much longer than any Hawk pad, don't dirty your wheels nearly as much, perform much better than OEM and Hawk, and will be about as gentle on your rotors as OEM pads. You'll feel like you have a brand new brake system. They're worth the extra money, IMHO.

Best,
-j

 

You know, I just re-read your question and it occurs to me that maybe there's another way I can make my point. So pardon me another attempt.

Track prepped braking systems are not just "better brakes" where "better" means "stops faster, shorter." In a very simplified sense they do (the story to that is not as straightforward as most advertisements lead you to think), but perhaps what is more important is that they are "beefier." Most of what you pay for and get out of them is the design of a system that can withstand severe abuse. I'm talking brutal conditions in comparison to any sort of street driving. Fast and the Furious? Wussies. A track prepped brake system can absorb punishment, this is what really makes them "better."

So if you want to stop "faster" on the street, that's easy. Get better tires. They stop the car, not the brakes.

Best,
-j

 

Thats Funny.

To 06GTMustang - Didn't the first several posts already address this? The answer is very simple: new tires and upgraded pads. Do it, live with it. If its still not to your liking then consider other changes.

By the way - I just switched to Carbotech Bobcat for street and XP10/XP8 for track. No time on them yet but I'm expecting good things.

 

LOL yes Argonaut I'm sure the other posted have answered this question over and over. Thanks for the call out . Any ways I got it now. It took awhile but I got it. thanks for the help, hope to ask yall more repeat questions in the future but not about brakes.