How to improve brake performance? Had

3811 Views 2 Replies 3 Participants Last post by Raze, May 7, 2009

eldo99er

Discussion Starter · May 6, 2009

A while back I had a sobering experience on the highway. Was following a Ford Focus wagon at about 65-70 mph on the left lane, 3-lane highway. The highway was getting fuller / denser, suddenly the Focus in front of me brakes and stays on the brake. Maybe I was too close, but I braked hard but realised it is not going to be enough. There was some space on the middle lane, so I steered towards it while braking hard. The car fishtailed a little bit and really dipped to the front. Then it snapped back into postion. Fortunately, I made it onto the middle lane and came to a stop next to the Focus. Conditions were dry.

Was I just lucky that the car didn't spin or did Stabilitrak really position it back properly? I didn't see any lights coming up and always that that something like "Stability system engaged" or other would come up.

What can be done to improve the brakes? Do Hawk brake pads exist for the Eldorado? Replacing the brake system entirely would probably be too expensive.

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Submariner409

· #2 · May 6, 2009

:thepan: You gave your own solution to following too close while driving a 2-ton car: Back off.

While $450 worth of EBC Black Dash rotors and Redstuff pads will stop you 50 feet quicker from 100 mph, they won't make a bit of difference in a single panic stop from 55. That mostly depends on your reaction time and just how soon you apply enough brake to trigger ABS. Once a wheel skids or wheel speeds begin to differ by X percent, ABS and Stabilitrak take over, rotors and pads be damned. In that case, your tires may well be the answer to slightly shorter stop distances.

A single panic stop is a far different situation than constant braking/acceleration under track or road course conditions.

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Raze

· #3 · May 7, 2009

What Sub said, but better pads will help some, just don't expect them to stop you significantly faster using stock rotors or calipers, if you want to stop faster you'll need bigger rotors, multi-pot calipers, and wider tires.

As far as 'performance' pads go EBC, Hawk, Axxis, have at it. OEM pads suck IMO...

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