Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Brakes Performance Brake Upgrade

My friend wants me to upgrade to brakes off of the SVT Focus. He wants me to buy SVT Calipers, SVT Rotors, SVT Brakes Pads, and the SVT Brackets.....Will this help me in braking on my contour...I own a 98 Contour SE with the V6

thanks,
Jason

A few questions before someone can answer intelligently.

1. How/where is the car driven. Track driven, occassionally track driven, or just on the streets?

2. Can you lock up the brakes now?

If the answer to the first one includes some track time, then there MAY be benefit to some brake upgrades such as less brake fade in larger brakes.

However, if you can lock up the brakes now, you have more brakes than your tires know what to do with.

Tires stop the car, so typically the best brake upgrade is the stickiest set of tires you can run.

Of course, I hear big brakes look cool, but I've never been into cool.

FWIW,

TB

Speaking with a Focus owner the other day, he tells me that the Ford dealers are unable to get the calipers, rotors and such for this right now. Seems that Ford has caught on to the plans of not only the standard Fccus owners but maybe even the Contour folks who want to do this. He indicated that the prices have gone up on them ove what they were not long ago. You may want to try sourcing the parts to help make the decision.

Also try Bill J., he gets CEGers, NECOers and FJers a nice sized discount...1-800-876-3280.

Originally posted by LoudnQuik:

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My friend wants me to upgrade to brakes off of the SVT Focus.

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I had a friend that wanted me to jump off a bridge.

You need to have atleast 16" wheels to get the brakes installed. And spacers. I have to get a pic of the home depot packaging of the washers I used.

My car is only street driven, and no right now I cannot lock up the brakes. Probably has to do with the wheel upgrade. I have 17inch rims with 215/45's.

Although recently I went to pepboys and they had all the parts in stock for the whopping price of 450 bucks, with the good ceramic pads.

Hmmm, pepboyz has them. Probably not SVT Focus brakes. If you really go that route, you better check the parts closely.

FWIW,

TB

Originally posted by tboner:

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However, if you can lock up the brakes now, you have more brakes than your tires know what to do with.

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That's not to say you won't get a benefit from bigger brakes. For one thing, brakes don't just stop the car, they first have to slow the wheels which have a huge amount of inertia at speeds, and while they are indeed connected to the road, they need to be considered as part of the equations. A bigger brake will offer more braking torque which will make that mass more transparent. So what, you might say, you'll still lock the wheel. Well, the bigger brakes also allow you to slow the car hard more frequently and furthermore the bigger effective lever makes them easier to modulate at threshold. If none of this were the case we'd all be driving around on 9-inch discs and call it a day.

That doesn't answer the question of will there be a significant upgrade going to the SVT setup, but it's true nonetheless.

In reply to:

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A bigger brake will offer more braking torque which will make
that mass more transparent.

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More torque for a given pedal force...

But total torque required to lock the wheels is still constant, given the same tire/road surface combination.

Nothing is free. Bigger brakes are a heat management issue, primarily, and part of a "driver feel" issue, and I suppose they look cool, too. The tradeoff is higher unsprung, rotating weight, which is bad, bad, bad. (If I didn't like how my brakes felt, I'd go with better pads, steel lines, and a host of other improvements before I'd add more weight to the hub. Only when the heat becomes a problem would I consider up-sizing.)

Pretty much unless you do track time with the car, or drive downhill riding the brakes, you don't "need" bigger ones.

MHO.