My '92 needs new brakes. At almost 100K miles, I'd like to do more than just pads and flush the system. I see in Eckler's and MidAmerica all sorts of rotors (OEM, slotted, drilled, 1-piece, 2-piece), Pads (OEM, "heavy-duty" carbon-metallic, semi-metallic, "Hawk HPS Ferro-Carbon (Eckler's)), and braided hoses. I want to feel distinct improvement in terms of firmness and stopping distance. ANY HELP OR SUGGESTIONS WILL BE GREATLY APPRECIATED! Assume a budget of $600. Thanks!

 

The brakes on my 1996 were as bad as any brakes I had on any car I
ever had. Purchased on ebay drilled and slotted rotors, got from Auto-
zone a set of PFCs Z rated pads and changed the brake fluid to a syn-
thetic at a total cost of just over 350. Now I have no brake fade due
to heat and they STOP.

 

With a budget of $600, I would recommend a new set of stock rotors (the service manual does not recommend turning the old rotors), Earl's braided brake lines (they do provide a firmer pedal feel and if you get them from Summit Racing, they are cheaper than OEM rubber ones!).

Pad selection is pretty wide for the money you will have left. Performance Friction Z pads, Hawk HPS or EBC Greenstuff pads will all have very good cold bite and work even better when they are hot.

Go to the Tire Rack website and you can find Brembo standard replacement rotors and the EBC or Hawk pads. AutoZone or Shucks (Kragen) wil have Raybestos rotors and the PF Z pads. Rotors for a 92 are not terribly expensive until you get into the slotted or drilled versions. Standard Brembo rotors from the Tire Rack are around $50 each. Quality slotted/drilled rotors will be very expensive.

The Tire Rack also carries Brembo slotted rotors, Baer and EBC performance rotors. A standard rotor should be just fine for street use.

Go to your local Ford dealer and get 4 cans of the Motorcraft High Performance brake fluid or a parts store for some Castrol GT-LMA fluid for a complete brake fluid flush. The Ford fluid is a DOT3 and the Castrol is DOT4; either one will work just fine. DO NOT use a DOT5 fluid with ABS systems. You will need about a quart for a flush and that really needs to be done with 100K on the car.

Components like these will give you much better braking performance and not break your budget.

 

The best thing you can do for your 92 is upgrade it to the ZR-1 or Grand Sport Calipers and use the thicker rotors that came with these, coupled with a good set of pads, I really like the Performance Friciton Z-rated pads. If you're running ZR-1 wheels you can upgrade to the C5 brakes which are even better still.

A brake bias spring only costs about $12 and is a nice toy to have, especially if you further upgrade the front brakes. Try to stay away from any of the gimmick rotors unless they are from a respectable brand like Baer, Brembo, etc, etc.

Honestly though the brakes on my 92 are very adequate, just using stock rotors and PFC-Z pads. I just installed a bias spring this weekened and it helped a lot. To give you some idea of how good these pads are, I boiled my fluid once at the track. This happened because the brakes got so hot that they allowed that to happen, yet there was never any pedal fade.

 

You might be able to do Z06 fronts with $600.....

 

Seems that everyone likes "Z-rated" pads and most seem to feel that stock rotors are OK. So.......

I'll probably go with new, GM, stock rotors, braided brake lines (they're cheap enough) and the Z-rated pads. Question then is: are the OEM pads Z-rated? I am assuming they are NOT, and thus I should look into the brands you guys have referenced: EBC, HAWK, BAER (is any pad brand regarded as the best?).

Nathan referred to a "bias spring". I saw these in one of the catalogs -- what does that do exactly?

I will also make sure that the mechanic uses the proper brake fluid! (I would think they'd know, but given that a dealership once used dino oil for an oil change instead of synthetic, I assume nothing).

THANKS AGAIN!

 

The bias springs changes the braking bias of your car and puts more pressure towards the rear than stock. This makes the rear do more work and keeps the car more level under heavy braking. It also keeps the car more stable for late braking entering corners and such. For the price, less than $20, it's well worth it.

 

To get everything you are looking for, switch to C5 front brakes, install the DRM proportioning spring and go for the Hawk mid range pads.

I have seen reports that C5 calipers will fit behind your saw blade wheels, but I would want to verify that. Parts can be found relatively inexpensively if you shop around. Lots of C5 guys "move up" to Baer or Willwood and have their calipers and roters on sale cheap at C5 parts for sale.

Ed salinas can set you up with the new caliper brackets and you can choose your own pads.

If you don't have to change wheels, this can be done for less than $ 600 if you shop around.



PS drilled and slotted roters look cool but do little if anything to improve your braking

 

with c4cruiser based on your budget.

stock rotors + braided lines + best pads you can afford will keep you within budget. i just got my non-HD (12") rotors from Tire Rack for a hair under $230 shipped.

if you can afford more you might want to go to the HD brakes (J55).

if you go to a C5 setup, you will break the bank if you have the stock sawblades as they will not fit under there. you will need another couple of hundred to upgrade your wheels.

 

And the reason why the move up is?

 

Nevermind, DRM right?
Cool

 

Chris, you can get it straight from DRM for 13.00 or some cheap price. All other vendors seem happy to charge 29.00

BTW, shoot me a email.

 

Done and Done!

 

Stock C4 rotors from Parts Plus, $25 each
Performance Friction Pads will be very nice on the street but they are like $250 for the fronts alone.
Speedtoys.com.

I wouldn't bother with much else for a street car
Evan

 

Do what? I got all 4 of the performance friction pads for like $130. Just got see your local AutoZone.

 

Who knows why C5 Guys will spend $ 4,000.00 to stop 9 feet shorter!

 

Because they still suck. The C5 caliper spreads and tapers.

 

Dude, get off it. We're talking about street cars here, not track cars. The C5 brakes kick butt over any stock C4 system and the conversion can be done for about $500 if you take the low road so THAT'S why people with C4s switch to C5 brakes. Why do C5 owners upgrade to better brakes? Well, you answered your own question in your last post. Thank you for your expertise.

 

Why don't you let the original poster make an informed decision. I've seen the lemmings here say use the c5 brakes for people who are going to be tracking the car.

I need to dig a set of trashed c5 calipers out of a box, they came off a 99 FRC, the lightest of the line up. It still spread the calipers.

 

loiq, calm down. The C5 brakes may be better than the stock C4 brakes, but after seeing that picture there is no way I want them. I'll save up the money and buy a 6 pison willwood system before I buy something that'll do that!

You're right they may be street cars, but overkill is one of the things that makes for reliability. If you have brakes than can hold up to racing abuse, you know they'll last a long time on the street. Why compromise and certainly why attack those who share information?

If you look at those pictures and think that it will never be an issue for you than so be it. For me I don't know what the future for my car might be, and I only want to upgrade the brakes once.