brakes that don't brake, but break

Honest John Back Room » Technical matters
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Mon 28 Apr 2003 23:44
brakes that don't brake, but break - fiesta man
I'd be grateful for comments on the following:

The car is a '97 fiesta with solid 240mm front discs, and I've had nothing but grief with the brakes. The car has covered 73K miles under my ownership, and to say it eat discs is a huge understatement. I think it is on the 5th set of discs, and at least the same the number of pad sets.

The problem is that discs either warp, crack, groan when hot (after a heavy stop, or repeated moderate speed stops), fade in the summer, etc.... My belief is that as the car weighs ~1000kg the brakes are underspecified for the job - i believe it uses the same set-up as a mk3, just with a greater amount of servo assistance, which means more energy to be diserpated through a tiddly piece of steel. As the car is a cheap tool, and a great little car asides from this niggle, I would like to either fit the vented discs and calipers from a mk5, or ideally if it is possible (cylinder matching, wheel clearance), fit the larger discs that came on the zetec s. I have also heard rumours that the mondeo / focus / escort components may fit..... ?

this is not me wanting to make a boy-racer style modification, just fix the only real flaw (IMHO) of the handy little tool that this car has generally proven to be.

I have 14" wheels on the car, and need to somehow establish whether either of the above proposals are feasible. I am loathed to go ask at a ford parts counter, as I don't trust their skill that much (sorry to anyone who works at food, but I'm just stating the situation with my local dealer), and don't want to rely upon advice from the "max power" style of website that are commonplace for the fiesta.

all constructive comments will be greatly appreciated.

thanks.

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Tue 29 Apr 2003 04:09
brakes that don't brake, but break - Dave_TD
I don't know the individual set-ups that would be compatible for your particular car, but if you can bear it then try visiting a "tuning" store or workshop, one of the ones that actually has staff with the mechanical knowledge, skills and experience to tackle this kind of conversion. They won't laugh at you, or measure your head for a baseball cap, and a lot of the time you should find that the parts they recommend would actually work out cheaper than replacing your standard brakes one more time.

Hth.
Dave.
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Tue 29 Apr 2003 07:53
brakes that don't brake, but break - james_60
Hi

does you're fiesta use ventilated discs

try using a different brand of pads or disks

J Stephenson
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