Front Brake Rotor Upgrades ?

dkmccarty5

Registered User
'92 SC. After installing new (throw-away) front rotors and metallic pads, I only get about 5-7.000 miles before they start to "pulsate" again. This has happend on the last 3 sets of rotors/pads. Seems like the rotors are warping. The pads hold up well, but the pulsating gets progressively worse. On the last set, I had the rotors ground to "clean up" - surface ground the pads flat and re-used them. I only got about 5,000 miles before they started to pulsate again. Are there "high quality" aftermarket rotors available ? Any other ideas on a more permanent fix ? thanks in advance.
 
That seems a bit excessive. Have you made sure that your mount surfaces on the spindle hubs are smooth with no deformity? Are you torquing your wheels down in a proper pattern?

How much are you paying for your rotors? Good quality rotors seem to be in the $50-$80 range, with cheap ones available for $25-$35.

Make sure your rear brakes are helping out and not frozen up. The lower slide pin on the rear calipers are notorious for freezing up.

If none of that helps, the only real upgrades are the Mark VIII brakes which use a bigger rotor (11.57") rather than the stock 10.9" rotor and a larger single piston caliper. Or go to 13" brakes from a mustang, but that requires 17" wheels. Both of these upgrades would require new spindles for your 92 as well. As all brake rotor upgrades require the 93+ spindles to mount the calipers properly.

There is a FAQ entry on the available upgrades:
http://sccoa.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=17830
 
make sure that you torque down your rims, meaning use a torque wrench to avoid the warping of the rotors. It is a common Ford problem to warp rotors, that's why torqueing them down is a necessity. Also like said before make sure none of the pins on your calipers are frozen.
 
Thanks Guys ! I've never installed the rotors/pads myself - always had the mechanic do it. I'll talk to him about your ideas - makes sense that if the wheels are not torqued properly that the rotors would warp. But wouldn't you think they would warp almost immediately - and not wait until 5-7,000 mile later ?
 
My 2 cents on the subject:-
1). Make sure you follow the new rotor break-in proceedure (drive a short distance at max. 25mph, brake down to say 5mph about 3 or 4 times; then let the car sit for a few hours before resuming normal driving).
2). You can upgrade to KVR cross-drilled 10.87" or the 11.57" rotors.
3). You can also just upgrade the calipers to the PBR twin piston units used on '99 and up Mustang GT's.
Jim.

PS - I've never had that short a rotor life before warping, maybe 20,000m min.
 
Where the surfaces of the pads worn down parallel before you
ground them flat?
IE: Did the pads look like this l l or like this l / ?
 
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