Hoping one of you very knowledgeable and helpful people will be able to answer this. I have a 2003 Focus 1.8tdci Zetec estate and I want to upgrade the brakes on it. Since I've had it (about 4 months), I've bled the fluid through & changed the pads & although they are now a lot more solid I still think that for the standard performance of this car, they are RUBBISH! I previously had a Pug 306 estate and although it had its own selection of faults, the brakes were superb. Strangely I find that the brake performance seems better at higher speeds than it does at lower speeds but that may be just my perception.

The current pads I'm using in the car are standard pads from Partco, that I've always been happy with in the past. When I first got the car I was horrified to see how small the postage stamp size rear pads were and thought no wonder they're not very good! Can anyone advise on the simplest & cheapest way to get respectable braking out of the car, I don't want to spend hundreds on fancy solutions in order to stand the car on its headlights. I have thought about uprating the pads with some EBC or similar pads but I want to know what is going to work before I spend any money.

 

Well, Its personal opinion......

Don't worry about the rear brakes, their only there to stop the back catching the front. Although a slight increase in disc diameter, its the same calliper and pad on the ST170 & RS.

The front is a problem. You can get 'better' discs and pads which can increase the braking effort and feel. As with tyres and many other such 'comsumables' you'll find a large range of opinions on what is good and what is bad.

Unfortunately, the strange design of the front knuckle means there is no easy modification to a bigger brake. The easiest is to fit the ST170 knuckle/hub, discs and callipers. The knuckles alone are a good start for other more serious upgrades through to large, but expensive, AP kits.

You can get a kit of new Ford ST170 parts, but pre-used are still around from recycle yards.

Martin

 

Just use grooved/drilled discs all round with either EBC REDSTUFF CERAMIC or Yellowstuff, if they do these for this model.
Even the boggo EBC KEVLAR will be a massive improvement for around a tenner a set, do both ends of the car, partco pads are not a performance pad, so I would change these and use braided lines also.
tabetha