Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Brakes Ford rotors : not good

I believe this is common knowledge by now, but let me rant a bit, if you will.

My rotors are beyond repair at 45K miles. They have rotted, spalled, and pieces have broken off the outside edge (from rust). I thought the guy was full of BS when he told me he could not turn them, but it was true. They would not have met minimum thickness for sure, and the heat cycling had formed cementite (look for it, its like gold colored zones, often near the hub). Cementite is a form of carbide, which does not machine very well.

I would expect a horror show if i was hard on the brakes. But I mostly do highway. So, either the rotors are too small, or the Ford rotors are the cheapest thing on the face of the earth. At almost 100$ us a pop, I would expect better. Anyway, all the corrosion I have seen inside the vented part warrants plating my next rotors.

rant out.

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Marco Tatta
98.5 SE MTX, Duratec
EGR block, fog light fix

Mine were warped at 32K and I don't race or autocross at all. Got a brake kit from SPmotorsports on the way.

Chris
99 SE V6 5sp

You are lucky that you got 45k out of your rotors. Mine were replaced alongwith pads at 30k service, and the car mostly had highway miles. The mechanic that I talked to said that that could turn them, but decided not to bother. Since ford picked up the tab, I did not object.

On any 'vented rotors',stock or aftermarket,its a good plan to paint the inside of the vents with say Sperex VHT,it reduces rust and improves the life,the better cooling also helps.

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V6 MTX
'Buy the tools and dodge the fools..."
'Its only nuts & bolts!'
Terry's Website

Arn't you happy that it's not a Volvo or a BMW? Rotors are typically worn out by 45,000 miles, but by then you have replaced the brake pads two or three times (without machining the rotors).

Let's remember that these are actually european cars and as such still have a few european traits, among them, the tendency to wear out rotors. At least the brake pads don't need to be replaced every 15,000 to 20,000 miles.

I agree that this is not really acceptable by US standards, but it could be worse.

Jim Johnson
98 SVT

Jim,

Are you sure that our rotors are European spec? I thought only the SVTs get the Euro-sized rotors, and then only in the front. But I agree that about 50K miles is a decent lifetime for rotors.

I think he is referring more to the design of the caliper which utilizes a single slide pin design which is found on a lot of european cars...

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Atlanta, GA
1999 Silver Frost 2.0 SE Zetec
K&N Filtercharger
Mintex Street Pads
BAT Rotors
Sony ES Mobile Xplod
Pioneer 3-way 6X8's all around
BAT Bright Whites
Fog light re-content
Painted Grill and Interior Accents

I suppose it must depend on the specific model and usage. My father went 120000 miles on his stock rear BMW 528 rotors. Granted, it was not driven hard, but it was an automatic.

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Marco Tatta
98.5 SE MTX, Duratec
EGR block, fog light fix

Basically I'm refering to the entire car as european, not specificall the brake rotors. When the Contour was first introduced it became common knowledge that the rotors needed to be replaced when the pads wore out, but things improved (I think part way through the 96 production). Ford claimed to have improved the materials for better rotor life with new part numbers for both the rotors and pads. It did help in that the newer ones seem to have a bit less rotor wear and longer pad life.

My 98 E0 SVT still has the original front brakes at 100,000 miles and it looks like they still have a lot of pad remaining. I miked the rotors when I replaced the tires a few weeks ago. They are close to minimum thickness so they will need replacing when the pads wear out. They were machined once under warranty at about 18,000 miles due to warpage. There is a very pronounced lip on the outside edge, what Volvo referred to as "dish" as in the edge of a dish. Showing that the rotors have worn much since they were machined. Just for reference though, a 100,000 miles on Contour brakes would be about like 30,000 miles on a Volvo.

Jim Johnson
98 SVT

Wow! 100K, in my opinion, is phenomenal for front rotors. I think it does help that you've got an SVT with more massive rotors up front.

The rotors on my Tour (front and back) warped at 40K and since the cost of turning them was equal to new rotors, I threw the OEMs in the trash. The new OEM sized Bendix rotors have been great so far, but I've only put 6K miles on them, so I really can't draw any conclusions about their construction.

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96 Contour SE