gt 500 brake question!
- Thread starter ovrstr08
- Start date
ClassJ
Powershifter
Yes they work great! And are real F50 Brembo calipers! Make sure you get the rear pads too. Backing plates, pad install kits, etc. Keep in mind that the FRPP was a good deal last time I checked. BUT!
They will NOT fit with factory polished 18" bullitt wheels without a bunch of creativity and really taking your time to make sure the car is safe. I have written a few posts and one thread on this somewhere. It can be done. But it involves another 300 bucks for TUV approved 1" wheel spacers. Some cutting and grinding on the studs on the car with a pneumatic or electric die grinder , moving the wheel weights on the wheels, and doing some clay checking/fitting in the end. Even after all that. I check the torque on the spacers twice yearly. (not a big deal since I am swapping to winter wheels at that point anyway)
Also, spacing 18" pol the wheels out 1" is about equivalent to the deep dish 9" wheel offsets out there. To me, I bolted everything up before lowering the car 1", and it did not look right. The wheels were too far out. After the suspension went it it looked great. GT500 rock guards out back help a lot to clean up the car and the GT500 chin spoiler looked good too after a lot of fussing (that is until a raised sewer plate damaged it a little and I took it off since I got sick of crawling up every driveway cut with only a 1" drop)
Worth it to me? Yes since I like the factory 18" rim, and had already bought a second set in argent that I run snows on. But if I liked the GT500 factory wheel, and did not have to buy 8 of them, I would have bolted them on instead.
But the brakes are indeed great. Not many wheels will fit though unless there are more GT500 wheel choices now than last spring.
Oh, one more thing....the factory Brembo front GT500 pads work really well. They stop great hot/cold and withstand a little abuse well. Quiet too. But as with all Brembo pads, your rims go from shiny to BLACK very quickly. It washes off easy enough though. PS21 cleaner helps.
good luck!
They will NOT fit with factory polished 18" bullitt wheels without a bunch of creativity and really taking your time to make sure the car is safe. I have written a few posts and one thread on this somewhere. It can be done. But it involves another 300 bucks for TUV approved 1" wheel spacers. Some cutting and grinding on the studs on the car with a pneumatic or electric die grinder , moving the wheel weights on the wheels, and doing some clay checking/fitting in the end. Even after all that. I check the torque on the spacers twice yearly. (not a big deal since I am swapping to winter wheels at that point anyway)
Also, spacing 18" pol the wheels out 1" is about equivalent to the deep dish 9" wheel offsets out there. To me, I bolted everything up before lowering the car 1", and it did not look right. The wheels were too far out. After the suspension went it it looked great. GT500 rock guards out back help a lot to clean up the car and the GT500 chin spoiler looked good too after a lot of fussing (that is until a raised sewer plate damaged it a little and I took it off since I got sick of crawling up every driveway cut with only a 1" drop)
Worth it to me? Yes since I like the factory 18" rim, and had already bought a second set in argent that I run snows on. But if I liked the GT500 factory wheel, and did not have to buy 8 of them, I would have bolted them on instead.
But the brakes are indeed great. Not many wheels will fit though unless there are more GT500 wheel choices now than last spring.
Oh, one more thing....the factory Brembo front GT500 pads work really well. They stop great hot/cold and withstand a little abuse well. Quiet too. But as with all Brembo pads, your rims go from shiny to BLACK very quickly. It washes off easy enough though. PS21 cleaner helps.
good luck!
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ClassJ
Powershifter
Not a chance on mine! I mocked it up every which way to sunday. No good! I originally thought that was the case based on rough measurements, but it is really not. I have about 0.100" face clearance which is the Brembo min recommendation. It is tight! The Brembos stick out just about 1" further than stock. The stop tech 4 piston setup has the rotor moved inboard so that makes life a little easier.
18" fanblades have more clearance. and may only need 1/2" to 3/4" clearance. But I have never tried it.
The other problem is that once you get past 1/2" thick; the slip on spacers are not really as trusted as the bolt on ones. You end up putting 3/4" longer studs on the car approx then hang the wheel off of the end of them. The thinnest they make the bolt on spacers is 1".
The slip on spacers that thick are not bad per say, just not too good IMO.
Oh. Forgot to mention. There is no way in the world the spare tire will fit on the front of the car with the Brembo's. So if you get a flat up front and need to get a tire on the car you will have to swap front to rear and then put the spare on the back.
I ended up keeping the spare in the car along with a plug kit (which I have in all the cars anyway). I also threw in the GT500 air pump/sealer kit for good measure.
I guess the factory way of handling it would be to have no jack or spare and just have the GT500 kit. But I think the spare is still a decent idea.
18" fanblades have more clearance. and may only need 1/2" to 3/4" clearance. But I have never tried it.
The other problem is that once you get past 1/2" thick; the slip on spacers are not really as trusted as the bolt on ones. You end up putting 3/4" longer studs on the car approx then hang the wheel off of the end of them. The thinnest they make the bolt on spacers is 1".
The slip on spacers that thick are not bad per say, just not too good IMO.
Oh. Forgot to mention. There is no way in the world the spare tire will fit on the front of the car with the Brembo's. So if you get a flat up front and need to get a tire on the car you will have to swap front to rear and then put the spare on the back.
I ended up keeping the spare in the car along with a plug kit (which I have in all the cars anyway). I also threw in the GT500 air pump/sealer kit for good measure.
I guess the factory way of handling it would be to have no jack or spare and just have the GT500 kit. But I think the spare is still a decent idea.
Androdz
Banned
hmm can't you get stop tech rotors + the caliper mounting brackets and kinda modify something to push it in. Sounds like a good idea.
Andrew
Andrew
blacknlte
Senior Member
ClassJ
Powershifter
The problem is that the GT500 caliper backhalf is modified for ford to be a bolt on OE fitment for their mounting pattern and brake likes.
Normally Brembos have their standard mount like the stoptech (which is pattered off of Brembo).
What Ford had Brembo do is integrate the mustang caliper mount right into the back of the caliper.
So unless one was able to change the back half of the caliper, or bought some after market F50 calipers along with the stoptech rotors, brackets, etc or something... it would not be possible.
The other thing that is nice is that the GT500 brakes use the stock style hoses with the crush washer setup, not some rigged deal with pipe thread like some setups.
Also, you can buy rotors for the GT500 setup cheap. They are heavy and one piece genuine brembo and were 75 a piece at ford last year. Can't beat that even if the price doubled. Brembo gets 350 for the same 1 piece repl rotors in drilled or slotted and over 500 for 2 piece each.
One thing about aftermarket brakes bugs me. If 3 years from now, I still have the car, and need rotors, and the aftermarket company is out of business, the brake kit becomes really useless really quick.
To me they should always list an alternate source of supply for all that stuff.
Androdz
Banned
I bought 2 sets of gt500 brakes and haven't mounted even one because of the weight and the need for a damn spacer. I will mount the brakes as soon as a two piece rotor comes available for the gt500. It is simply ludacris what some companies charge for a pair of rotors for the gt500. Then they say no because "our manufacturing technique assures you get a truely superior rotor" and all that mumbo jumbo and at the end they all rust, warp the same after severe duty.
Andrew
Andrew
ClassJ
Powershifter
I am not sure if two piece lightweight rotors will drop in price substantially. I will say that I was told the two piece Brembo rotors they sell on the after market for their GT kits fit fine. But are pricey. Over 1K a pair I think.
To me, I don't want drilling or slotting on the street. Not a must have for me given the little, if any at all, and possible decrease in performance. Additional thermal mass can be a good thing. And yes, it is a disposable part that will get chewed up soon enough on the street, let alone the track. Thats why I love the combo! I added a tad bit of unsprung weight (which I cannot certainly feel), but the brakes work wonderfull, and I have genuine Brembo 1 piece rotors I can replace any time I want for 100 bucks or so a piece without even a second thought.
I don't want to turn the cost of brake rotors on my street car into a $350 a piece endever just to save a little weight and have pretty(er) brakes. But that is me.
Years ago when we were doing BMW racing at lime rock, Watkins glen, etc. Stock BMW rotors would have a certain lifespan, but were cheap and easy to get at any dealer. We tried all the high end aftermarket BS ones, slotted, drilled, etc etc etc. They all warped and turned to shit about twice as fast as stock at the time and were 2-3X the cost.
The only rotors that actually seemed better were factory BMW ones we sent out and had cold treated. They would last longer, but the cost/vs additional lifespan was really not worth it. Actually, we did use them twice, on the couple 24 hour races we did. Cooling ducts help a lot too on the faster tracks especially.
On a side note, if you add the weight of the spacer to your stock wheels, and compare that to the GT500 wheels. You will note that the spacer/bullitt wheel is still lighter.
Regards,
Nick
To me, I don't want drilling or slotting on the street. Not a must have for me given the little, if any at all, and possible decrease in performance. Additional thermal mass can be a good thing. And yes, it is a disposable part that will get chewed up soon enough on the street, let alone the track. Thats why I love the combo! I added a tad bit of unsprung weight (which I cannot certainly feel), but the brakes work wonderfull, and I have genuine Brembo 1 piece rotors I can replace any time I want for 100 bucks or so a piece without even a second thought.
I don't want to turn the cost of brake rotors on my street car into a $350 a piece endever just to save a little weight and have pretty(er) brakes. But that is me.
Years ago when we were doing BMW racing at lime rock, Watkins glen, etc. Stock BMW rotors would have a certain lifespan, but were cheap and easy to get at any dealer. We tried all the high end aftermarket BS ones, slotted, drilled, etc etc etc. They all warped and turned to shit about twice as fast as stock at the time and were 2-3X the cost.
The only rotors that actually seemed better were factory BMW ones we sent out and had cold treated. They would last longer, but the cost/vs additional lifespan was really not worth it. Actually, we did use them twice, on the couple 24 hour races we did. Cooling ducts help a lot too on the faster tracks especially.
On a side note, if you add the weight of the spacer to your stock wheels, and compare that to the GT500 wheels. You will note that the spacer/bullitt wheel is still lighter.
Regards,
Nick
Androdz
Banned
compare the weight of the stock rotors to the gt500 rotors a light weight rotor will give you a huge increase in performance. Remember thats rotational weight at 1lbs rotational weight has the same effect as 5lbs or so in any other part of the car. So imagine the effect what 20lbs difference can have there...
Andrew
Andrew
ClassJ
Powershifter
I know. It can indeed be significant. But to me, on the street with an occasional trip to the track, I would rather do something else with the money I saved on the rotors and just enjoy the new brakes.
Now if you are on the track every weekend making lap after lap around a road course then it is worth it assuming that is where you think the extra money is best spent.
Everyone has their own method for prepping a car for a little track time. Some people get a gram scale and start weighing wheels first and stripping things off the car. Others go for suspension work and leave the car complete. Others throw on a supercharger or do engine work. Or do all three.
They all can improve lap times. I am in between
somewhere.
I let my my buddy with his little 4cyl acura worry about things like gram light wheels and drilled aluminum lug nuts while he bends wheels on every pot hole.
Now if you are on the track every weekend making lap after lap around a road course then it is worth it assuming that is where you think the extra money is best spent.
Everyone has their own method for prepping a car for a little track time. Some people get a gram scale and start weighing wheels first and stripping things off the car. Others go for suspension work and leave the car complete. Others throw on a supercharger or do engine work. Or do all three.
They all can improve lap times. I am in between
somewhere.
I let my my buddy with his little 4cyl acura worry about things like gram light wheels and drilled aluminum lug nuts while he bends wheels on every pot hole.
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Androdz
Banned
ClassJ what are your plans exactly. How long is your track? what speeds you typically see, how many laps are you out at a time?
Andrew
Andrew
ClassJ
Powershifter
I will post some pics asap. I have to see if I have any with the new brakes, etc or if I have to take them.
My plans for the stang? Mostly street driving and having fun as it is my daily driver. Some laps around watkins glen and lime rock park. NJ motorsports park looks fun too.
My plans for the stang? Mostly street driving and having fun as it is my daily driver. Some laps around watkins glen and lime rock park. NJ motorsports park looks fun too.
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