bluey1 Member 68 Member For: 16y 1m 8d Gender: Male Location: Melbourne Posted 29/12/10 11:34 PM Share Posted 29/12/10 11:34 PM so its that time of the year again and my latest service revealed apparently there is not much right with the car. along with a 'noisy' idler pulley, cracked belt and a leaking high pressure power steering hose, it turns out my pads have about 500-1000k's left in them and the rotors are way too thin. so rather than let them charge me 500 buks for it I thought id do it myself and maybe do a bit of an upgrade.my first question is how often to discs need to be changed as the car only has 98,000 on it? I had a look around and it seems everyone uses rda or pbr discs. I had a look on ebay and there are ventilated disc and pad kits as cheap as 120. im guessing these would be the same size as stock though (is it 298mm? for bf). my next set of questions are myth-busting and physics related - the ventilation only helps for cooling yes? and the stock discs are solid? for any upgrade in braking performance I would have to either get larger discs or a stronger caliper? I guess in a nutshell what im after is your opinions, what would you guys do? will a set of say standard size rda rotors and pads make any difference to braking? and are larger rotors a lot more hassle to install, as im guessing youd also have to purchase an adapter to move the calipers or something? the car has the standard 17inch bf wheels like the bionic xr in the forum letterhead thing.also I was planning on installing it myself since you can find everything on the internet these days and I was under the impression that as long as I use the same disc size its a fairly straight forward swap. or am I mistaken? sorry for all the questions guys, any opinions would be appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xpl0sive Member 421 Member For: 15y 11m 3d Gender: Male Location: Melbourne Posted 29/12/10 11:59 PM Share Posted 29/12/10 11:59 PM Hey Mate,Speak to Hiro Performance on this site, he sells DBA rotors at good prices, he should be able to help you out with a set of new discs. The standard Ford stuff is pretty sh!t, so swapping to DBA slotted discs and some good pads will make a good improvement over the standard stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benny Member 1,869 Member For: 21y 4m 18d Gender: Male Location: Newcastle Posted 30/12/10 10:57 AM Share Posted 30/12/10 10:57 AM I believe the BF N/A has 298 front rotors and the turbo has 322 front rotors which are both ventilated. If you got 98000ks from your rotors then great work that's plenty of k's.If I was you I'd invest in DBA rotors rather than RDA and some good pads. I use DBA 4000's and Ferodo pads which are great for spirited street use.Benny Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluey1 Member 68 Member For: 16y 1m 8d Gender: Male Location: Melbourne Posted 01/01/11 02:45 AM Author Share Posted 01/01/11 02:45 AM Thanks for the reply guys!Called Race Brakes the other day and I think im gona get a set of slotted dba 4000 (298mm for the non premium pack BF apparently) and their own RB24 pads, as ive yet to hear someone complain about the dbas and ive heard the RB24s are great and produce very little dust. Since everyone complains the Bendix and Ferrodo make even more dust than the stock pads and my stock pads cover my wheels only a few brakes after a wash I was a little hesitant . Plus these are aussie made and almost half the price! My only hesitation still is like I said, when I mentioned slotted rotors to my dealer he mentioned they cant machine them so when it comes time for a pad change according to him id have to change discs as well otherwise the new pads dont have a new surface to bond or bed or whatever you call it with. But since almost everyone here does this upgrade from what ive read im guessing theres no real mystery and there must be a way round it. Maybe if I use the exact same pads they have the same compounds etc and isnt a problem or something. I guess ill found out in time.If anyone has the slotted rotors and has done a pad change if you could shed some light id really appreciate it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EvilDaifu Cruise Whore Moderating Team 5,130 Member For: 19y 4m 19d Gender: Male Location: Melbourne Posted 02/01/11 09:11 PM Share Posted 02/01/11 09:11 PM Find that hard to believe about when it comes time to change pads - wud be a pretty expensive change over Yep, I've even chatted with dba support on other things so their in-country support is responsive. There's even one of them active on this forum dba steve. Try PM him to get his attention on your query. My RB24 pads (front and back) still working okay and I've had the fronts on for about 1 1/2 years now with dba 4000 slotted rotors. Just be aware there are 2 types of dba slotted. You need the more expensive ones - I did a write up with my experience which I think you read based on your PM. Hardly any dust up with RB24s. Only occasional squeal after they get wet but doesn't always happen. As soon as they are dry no squeal. But if you want the real stopping power rather than an OEM replacement drop in - from what I can tell you'd be on the right track choosing Brembos. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trough Lolly Member 4,349 Member For: 20y 3m 16d Gender: Male Location: Mildura Posted 03/01/11 12:53 PM Share Posted 03/01/11 12:53 PM just stick with some DBA slotted (std or 4000's) and some decent pads unless you want to spend $1000+ on a brembo or similar upgrade.Ive got some QFM A1RM pads coming for my phoon, cant wait to try them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arronm Dropping a turd Gold Donating Members 9,520 Member For: 17y 1m 27d Gender: Male Location: Perth Posted 03/01/11 01:24 PM Share Posted 03/01/11 01:24 PM REPCO have a deal at the moment 2 x discs , a set of pads and 500ml brake fluid all for $99 what a bargain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trough Lolly Member 4,349 Member For: 20y 3m 16d Gender: Male Location: Mildura Posted 04/01/11 07:36 AM Share Posted 04/01/11 07:36 AM I bet its quality gear too....spend the extra and KNOW your gunna have good brakes, not $99 on sh*t that's going to shudder and fade-out in 5 minutes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DBA Steve Member 16 Member For: 15y 5m 25d Posted 12/01/11 12:15 AM Share Posted 12/01/11 12:15 AM Hi Guys,Yes slotted rotors can be machined, they just cant be machined the same way normal discs are done.I have attached a PDF that explains it all.Regards,DBAstevedbasteve@dba.com.auT014 - Machining Disc Rotors_0.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ralph Wiggum Moar Powar Babeh Lifetime Members 19,323 Member For: 19y 3m 1d Gender: Male Location: Perth Posted 12/01/11 01:09 AM Share Posted 12/01/11 01:09 AM just stick with some DBA slotted (std or 4000's) and some decent pads unless you want to spend $1000+ on a brembo or similar upgrade.Ive got some QFM A1RM pads coming for my phoon, cant wait to try them.Im running the same setup on my car. Just make sure you follow the bed in procedure too the letter. I "forgot" about the 500km's of gentle braking (bedded the pads in, car sat for a month then i took it out forgetting it still needed another 450kms of gently use and belted it ) by the end of my spirited drive in the hills I had bulk brake fade and the stench of cooked brakes.....I removed the pads and deglazed them and rebedded them in. Not they are fantastice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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