Big Brake Kits: the options spelled out- Expanded version

[Todd TCE]

Let’s talk brakes.

The Focus comes with different set ups and the aftermarket makes even more options. This is not intended to promote one brand or set up over another but rather to lay out the options more clearly for everyone. This is a general guideline to show what can and cannot be done to change the brakes on the Focus. Each aftermarket manufacture may vary the kits a bit but the basis of what you read here is sound.

Fronts:
The ZX comes with disc front.
The SVT with larger fronts

UPDATE; January 20, 2004. Not mentioned here in the first rounds of this post are the various options for replacement rotors retaining the stock calipers. These from companies such as Powerslot and the latest; Red dot rotors. These upgrades should not be confused with a Big Brake kit, but rather considered a brake enhancement package. When combined with decent pads and braided hoses, these 'kits' will improve pedal feel, add some sticky pad and provide a modest improvement in torque. They will not however add to thermal management in any way given that the base rotor is still the same size as stock. Once heated up under repeated hard stopping the heat saturation of the stock size rotor will have met its match, combined with aggressive pads this can lead to faster pad fade and or fluid boiling given the added heat generateed by the added 'bite'. Options such as drilling, gas slotting or both will only go to spark the long held debate of peformance increases, but are not a trade off for improved thermal management from a larger and or wider rotor. In fairness, these packages are a very good first step in making things better than stock, just be sure that for hard use you allow ample cooling time between use.

For those who want to step into completely different braking worlds the first thing to understand is how they bolt onto the Focus.The ZX and SVT however have different knuckles, or spindles we’ll call them so this will have an impact on your selection or purchase. Folllow along as the difference are explained below.

There are a couple of companies who make kits for one or both of these. There is NO brake kit that simply bolts onto the front of the ZX without some sort of modification or adapter. There are kits that DO bolt on to the SVT. If looking at kits you can either; 1) Get a kit with the properly modified front spindles, or 2) Get a kit for the SVT spindles, then supply your own SVT spindles from a wrecking yard or dealer. Of course if you have an SVT vehicle you’d simply buy the SVT application. The cost of kits vary with this respect but depending upon what you pay for the spindles from the junk yard the total price for the package will be about a wash. Some manufactures may only offer kits for a particular spindle so be sure to ask this ahead of time.

UPDATE: Jan, 04; The recent release of the BAT front kit has changed this outlook a bit for those who wanted a true bolt on without the need for knuckle mods or echange. This pacakge includes slider brackets for its PBR calipers which in turn are adapted to the stock slider and pin mounts. The kit includes calipers, pads, hoses as well as larger SVT rotors and a few options beyond this. For the buyer who wants a nice upgrade with out the need for more advanced mechaniccal requirements this is certainly worth consideration. BAT also offers a rear kit which appears to be the same or identical to the Stainless Steel Brakes Corp rear kit.

Rears: (here is where it gets messy)
The ZX has drums.
The ZX Advance Track has discs.
The SVT has discs.

If you have an SVT the ‘big brake’ options are pretty clear; you can choose one of the aftermarket kits for the SVT and bolt it right on as they supply it. Be happy, you have it good.

If you have an AT car you can do one of the ‘big brake’ packages offered to increase the diameter and or function of the rears or you can bolt on the SVT parts, or you can bolt on the aftermarket SVT kits too. Again, this is not too complicated as the spindle parts needed are on both of these models. There may be some variation in cables and hoses so be sure to check.

Ok, so what do we do here if we want discs on the drum Focus??

First you must understand that any conversion from drum to disc will cost you about $1000, so if budget is an issue then you’d best stop reading now. They share some common parts but not all common parts. First you will need all new hubs and bearings as well as the bolt on spindles. We’ll simply call these spindles again, but it’s more than one part. Here are the options and how they play out.

1) Buy all the related AT parts and bolt them in place of your existing drums.
2) Buy al the SVT parts and bolt them in place of your existing drums.

Both are pretty straight forward conversions and require new hubs, bearing, spindles, hoses, rotors, caliper, caliper brackets, pads and hardware. But of course most owners are looking for something more. (Both of these options are Ford only upgrades and a dealer can help you source the required parts, or you can search here for the part numbers list)


There are aftermarket kits for the Focus in various forms. The first level is stock, slotted or drilled rotors and pads combined with stock AT or SVT spindles. The fit of these kits will require the owner to get the spindle related parts, and cables. Some companies supply these for you, some let you shop these parts on your own. Many owners have shopped the junk yards for some of these related parts and does this on their own then purchase only the performance rotors and pads as they need them. At this level you have made an ‘enhancement’ to the discs and put them on the drum car. But if you want to go to the next level….

Most the aftermarket ‘big brake’ packages use the same spindles so now you have the following options available;

1) Fit an AT enlargement or replacement kit as if you had an AT model.
2) Fit an SVT aftermarket kit to your model.

Each of the aftermarket suppliers offer kits at various levels. Some package entire kits to include the spindle parts some do not. In both cases many of the same parts are needed to finish the job. You are now simply putting on an AT or SVT ‘big brake’ kit on your drum vehicle. It is pointed out that the SSBC kit uses a modified bearing of sorts and that they carry a core charge on returning one. That means you still have to supply them with the factory part in exchange or lose the core fee.

The point is that each of these represents a level of change slightly above the other. Still the base parts behind any of these, Ford or aftermarket, use the same factory spindles.

Complete BBK kits are currently offered by;
TCE
BAT
Baer
Focus Central
SSBC
Brake Man

Alternate rotor/pad kit options from:
Powerslot
Red dot


* plese email with others



This will be edited as needed.

[arskiker]

Both AP Racing and Brembo also make bbks for the Focus, be it the SVT or otherwise.

[sexy2002svt]

helpful post

[ulackfocus]

Just one question:

What big brake kits will fit under 16" 6 spoke stock wheels?
I did notice the bat kit mentioned a 16" minimum.

[Todd TCE]

The 12.2 NDL set up fits stock wheels WITH the related spacers and longer studs.

The BAT kits using the PBR calipers should fit no problem. The Dynalite kits may or may not require spacers.

Can't tell you more on other brands, but in most cases the fit of a fixed caliper will compromise spoke clearance to the point of problems. Figure most any fixed caliper will require spacers.

[ENZI]

First, let me say THANK YOU! For the great write up on brake options for us.

I have one questions that I'm sure has been answered before but I can't find the search feature, so I'll ask again: If I upgrade to SVT rear disc from stock drums can I still fit 15" wagon wheel over them?

Thanks in advance...

Enzi

[darkpuppet]

Great Post.

KVR also makes a BBK.. the 4 piston Python caliper that comes with the kit requires a 3mm spacer bare minimum to clear the stock 16" wheels.

[Jeffery]

Is it possible to get all the part numbers for the SVT brake system in this sticky? I think I'm going to buy the parts one at a time.

[Rodewaryer]

Good info, I praise the writer, I'll wager a lot of people have had questions answered by this write-up. Just a note since I did the Baer front big brake kit on my SVT Focus (their track kit as found on the Cobra Mustang I believe), this was cake to install, kudos to Baer, nice instructions esp the bed in procedure. Install took two of us 90 min from jacking to test drive and the driveability has been excellent, they don't feel any harder (they came with stainless braided lines) pedal pressure-wise than the standard brakes did and feel really confident from pretty high speeds, ie 115+. I was skeptical of this kit due to the pad coverage of the rotor, but they work very well, especially since they were less than $750 for everything, zinc dipped crossdrill/slotted incl tax. Very good value.

[Pzev]

What size wheel will it fit under?

[Rodewaryer]

Mine are the Team Dynamics M/sports in 17", they require 17's and Baer makes sure we all understand the wheels have to be aftermarket due to offset, this brake kit will NOT fit using the factory SVT 17's. They were pretty specific about that.

[Honda Hunter]

TCE:
Could you please post photos of your BBK's on Foci? Maybe pictures of each different brand caliper that you offer with your kits? That would be really great! I would definatly like to see the kits you offer on some different cars before I would drop the dough for one.

Thanks, -Nick

[Hubris]

Why are new hubs and bearings required when switching from drums to discs? There's a guy over in another forum who just bolted front and rear spindles...calipers etc on....and he believes everything is working fine.

[Todd TCE]

Nick, send me an email and I'll shoot you some ideas.
There are some pics on the web site. And if you click on 'calipers' you can see the different offerings.

FJ doesn't seem to have a simple way to post jpg pics that I know of.

[Todd TCE]

NO rear disc kit will simply bolt on a drum car without changing the hubs etc.

Fronts are a whole different animal.

[Z63R]

How about adjusting rear bias on a non-ABS car that has gone from drum to disc? Say a ZX3.

[Todd TCE]

You mean what to do about it?
Not too many options really. This swap may in fact add rear bias, but let's give Ford some credit and assume they have some data to show that the rears are at or near the same % be them disc or drum. On the other hand I think all the discs may be ABS....

I give you that I have no idea the rear bias % while using the drums. We know the OD, and maybe the Cf but I'm not sure how to calculate pressure or effective piston area of the mechanical levers. I'm sure that there's a way but it's not something I put into my excel programs.

So...what can you do IF you have too much rear brake? A few things really. I'll put them in order.

1. Buy a BBK, thus shifting bias back to the front.
2. Buy better, sticky front pads for the same reason.
3. Put crappy pads in the rear, thus reducing effectiveness.
4. Put 200lbs in the cargo hold to allow rears to work more.
5. Brake earlier, thus reducing dynamic effects.

You'll note my use of the larger kits on the front when combined with the 11.75 rear and the factory caliper do a good job of shifing these numbers around nicely.

The bottom line is that there's really little to be gained in performance by installing the discs out back. For track guys it's more about heat then rotor torque. For street guys it's all about the look. Real world braking won't be too effected by this change.

[Z63R]

The bottom line is that there's really little to be gained in performance by installing the discs out back. For track guys it's more about heat then rotor torque. For street guys it's all about the look. Real world braking won't be too effected by this change.

Thank you.

My next Q refers to a stock ZX3. Again, non-ABS.

Leave the stock (8"?) drums alone and add a 300mm rotor to the front; like BAT's kit or something (if you have something similar, I'd like to know) which uses the PBR caliper.

What happens to front/rear bias in this sitch?

I assume the bias balance remains safe or it wouldn't be a reputable kit.

Thanks for your time and expertise.

[Todd TCE]

I can only assume the bias is going to be acceptable, but given that's not my kit I don't know how it compares. And I don't use floaters either so the whole thing is a bit different. I can't speak too deeply for other company's products.

[Chris F]

Here is one of Tods offerings. 11.75" rotors with Forged Superlite (FSL) caliper:



Stock drums in back, no ABS. Yes the car is obviously more front biased but its not a big deal. Overall, its a minor tradeoff for knowing you are going to get the exact same brake pedal lap after lap after lap after lap. Makes it easy to trailbrake at higher speeds.

[Z63R]

Here is one of Tods offerings. 11.75" rotors with Forged Superlite (FSL) caliper:



Stock drums in back, no ABS. Yes the car is obviously more front biased but its not a big deal. Overall, its a minor tradeoff for knowing you are going to get the exact same brake pedal lap after lap after lap after lap. Makes it easy to trailbrake at higher speeds.

Thanks, Chris.

And thanks for the pic!

What is this conversion called and/or part#?

[Chris F]

Its a slight modification of Todds standard kit offered on his website. It uses 11.75" rotors instead of the 12.2"/13". You can fit certain 16" wheels over this setup which I intend to do sooner or later.

[CTRacing04]

Hey guys im a newb and would apreciate if the links are put in the first post that way whenever another newb comes in they can just click on the link.
thanks.

TCE = http://www.tceperformanceproducts.com/
BAT = http://www.batinc.net/
BAER = http://www.baer.com/
FOCUS CENTRAL= http://www.focus-central.com/main.asp
SSBC= http://www.stainlesssteelbrakes.com/
BRAKE MAN http://www.thebrakeman.com/

[UltegraSTI]

how i'd love 2 convert the drums out but keep 15in wheels.

-ult

[CharlesWA]

I'm 99.9% sure 15" rims fit over the Advance Trac rear disc setup. Not sure about the SVT setup since the front requires 16" rims (or a few select high-dollar 15" rims).