Brake upgrade

Hi i thinking of getting a brake upgrade as i find the standed one very poor at low speeds. ( ford can find on faults and has new front disks and pads)

ive been looking at a 285 big disk kit form rude racing at £220 and fitting ferodo pads at £60 but will this fit with the std wheels.

my cars a 1.7 on a 02 plate and complety std so:-

1). wound this fit my wheels?
2). would this be too much?
3). are there better / cheaper options about?

where are the discs coming from?

your current disks will be 258mm and therefore you will need new calipers to support your disks...

The st150 set up is usually and ideal upgrade as the calipers bolt straight on to the carriers.... these will hold 280mm disks

I have the Mondeo mk3 upgrade on my kat with 300mm disks, these require some modifications though

I may be wrong but if your on standard wheels the 280mm may be a tight fit, for the 300mm the calipers will need grinding...

HTH

By the look fo the kit/ad its a straight disk swap and the std calipers are moved for the bigger disk but i dont know much about these things.

and the page is http://www.ruderacing.co.uk/p480220/285" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ... uma_(2001+)/product_info.html

for £220 your probs best off getting the st150mm set up...

Ive seen a few nearly new on ebay for under £200 and thats with disks and pads...

as for the straight swap of thes eones you have located, they may well be but i wouldnt like to say for certain tbh.. sorry

i believe this kit only is cosmetic (i am not a mechnical engineer so I am not sure about the brake force part. below is my theory)

this kit utilizes a bracket to push the existing caliper further out to be able to "clamp on" the bigger discs when braking. Therefore clarity will need to be made if the brackets are strong enough and also if there is any decremental effect to braking only on 258mm of the 280mm discs.

Your calipers and pads are still only designed to brake on 258mm discs and this kit simply "moves" the caliper out a bit to accommodate the 280mm disc and the brake effectively works on the outer 258mm of the disc.

this might cause fading or warping of the discs as there is uneven temperture on the disc itself during braking.

Like I said I am not sure if what I am thinking is correct as i am not a mechanical engineer (only a electronics and computer engineer and I am analyzing this from the physics point of view )

someone with better technical knowledge might be able to give you better advise i believe.

like zara said, it is cheaper to get an ST150 brake setup (costs about £150 to £200 on ebay) and it is guaranteed to work behind standard 15" alloys, no modifications required and are 280mm in size.

I have them thats why i know

ok i seen some st150 groved and drilled disk and green stuff pads for £138.99 so say i have them what will i have to do to fit them?

It is the ST150 calipers you need first, along with ST150 discs (standard should be fine) and pads (standard or upgraded depending upon your preference).

ok so the ones on ebay at £175 + £20pp which are the 280mm are the ones i want?
and:-
1 will they fit the std 15 in wheels?
2 is the disk a straight swap?
3 is the calipers a staight swap?
4 is there any other parts needed to upgrade?
5 you lot are more help than ford and the tuning places ive been.

If you did want to go down the route of the bigger brake conversion kit I don't think there would be any issue with safety etc. It looks like a hispec kit and they are a pretty decent company, so things like bracket strength shouldn't be a concern.

There shouldn't be any problems using a standard sized caliper on a bigger disc either as it should improve the braking performance (in theory).

I've not checked but I imagine some bigger brake conversions all use similar sized calipers so the actual pad size may not change, but the main difference is the location of where the braking force acts in comparison to the wheel.
If you increase the distance from the centre of the wheel, then I hope I'm right in thinking the force would effectively be greater on the disc.
For example most bike brakes I know use a similar pad size, but just vary the number of pistons (or pots) and the diameter of the disc. Some really large diameter ones can get away with smaller pad surface due to the higher braking forces produced from the increase in diameter.

So long as they are Fiesta ST150 (Fiesta ST, 2004 - 2008)

1. yes
2. you need Fiesta ST discs and pads
3. yes
4. no

sounds great all i need now is the idiots guide to fit them.
and thx for the help ill let you know how i get on.

they shouldnt be too hard mate.... remove your old ones and fit new ones

Good luck and let us know how you get on

you might want to change your brake fluid at the same time when you are swapping the calipers. Or if you want can change the brake hose to braided stainless steel hoses as well

Brake hoses here:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;? ... 0193578312

ST150 calipers discs and pads here:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/M6-OR-MK7-FIESTA-" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ... 7C294%3A50

you should notice a difference to the setup you curently have once you swap them over. if you feel that they are not good enough, only then go ahead and purchase uprated discs and/or pads

I sticked to standard motorspot branded discs and pads as I think they are good enough (different case if you are thinking of more aggressive or spirited driving)

Hey guys...anyone watching this thread? I wanna make a brake upgrade for my 2001 Puma and besides the st150 what other options do i have? Im not in the U.K. anymore im.in Romania...cheers

There's some more info on this thread: https://www.projectpuma.com/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=33595

Cheapest would be to use Ford parts bin upgrade eg ST150 but if you don't want to do this, there are lots of expensive custom options.

Is it possible to get ST150 second hand parts shipped from UK to Romania? ST150 parts still seem to be quite plentiful here.

Try looking at this Mondeo MK3 Caliper setup which uses ST170 4-bolt 300mm discs - depending on what wheel size you have fitted it's an easy upgrade. Only modification (if you have 16" or bigger wheels) is drilling/reaming out carrier bolt holes to fit bigger bolts. Info is all in the thread linked below. All told (back when I done mine) it cost me around £100 to do if I remember correctly. Likely a bit more now depending on availability of parts nowaydays.

https://www.projectpuma.com/viewtopic.php?t=7991

It also mentions optional master cylinder but I didn't need it back then, the improvement in braking with the Mondeo MK3 calipers was immense on the original Puma MS.

I think there are other options too that people have mentioned (with standard wheels) but been a while since I read through the whole thread.


EDIT:- Checked my old accounts - Holy Moly, nearly 12 years ago!! Where has the time gone ;p
Anyway - errrm....12 years ago it cost :lol:

Mondeo Mk3 Calipers 16.05.09 - 49930m - £40.00
Mintex Pads 16.05.09 - 49930m - £14.00
ST170 Discs 16.05.09 - 49930m - £37.20
Brake Fluid 16.05.09 - 49930m - £4.95
13mm Drill Bit 16.05.09 - 49930m - £3.95
Caliper Bolts x4 16.05.09 - 49930m - £5.38