Mustang Forums - View Single Post - Cobra vs. Bullit vs. Stock GT brakes, are they worth it? lets find out.

r3dn3ck · 05-31-2006, 01:15 PM

Teal I have to chime in here.. with more hp you accelerate faster. Faster acceleration means you're more likely to be goiing too fast for a turn when you get there because of the way most people drive. They romp on it and stop at the last second. It's not that you require bigger brakes with more HP it's just common sense to add more capacity as you add power.

I've had the following experiences on my 03GT. These are all from runs over 1 hard driving mountain road that I've been over like 950 times so the results are pretty well normalized. the first 4 are with OEM type pads:

stock front/GT rear = MASSIVE fade under hard driving. So much so that after one particular trip over my favorite mountain road at speed, I had to slam on the brakes to avoid a horse in the road and the front end lifted after about 5 seconds because the brakes overheated. That required an emergency maneuver I don't want to have to do again. They took forever to cool back down and it just felt wrong for a V8 car to stop that slow. A car that lethargic in slowing down makes me nervous.

stock front/cobra rear = no real change in stopping distance or reliability but ebrake slides were easier. Car was a tad unbalanced in uphill right cornering braking.

Cobra front/GT rear = Wicked stopping. Minor fade under extreme braking but they cooled quickly and returned to normal. Tires were the limiting factor on my stopping distances. Rears would smoke after a trip over the hill.

Cobra Front/Cobra rear = Same basic stopping as the Cobra front/GT rear except that I got a little lockup on the rears now and then. Very much a confidence inspiring feeling to be yanked to a halt that fast.

Cobra front/cobra rear w/ EBC green pads = A serious workout of the ABS system. bites hard and never lets go. No fade that I could induce. Increased rotor wear. tires are still the limiting factor.

So, to break it down. For a v6 the stock brakes are adequate for most driving. For a V8, there's just too little rotor mass and area to let you stop hard more than once without fade. The cobra kit stops about as well as I can stand and there's plenty left over for a second sudden stop.

As for drag cars... most of the guys that I know that drag race use pretty small brakes for the power they make. They also use parachutes so I can't see that being really a valid basis for comparison.

05-31-2006, 01:15 PM	#31 (permalink)
r3dn3ck Wowbagger hates me too! Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Magrathea/California Posts: 6,708	Teal I have to chime in here.. with more hp you accelerate faster. Faster acceleration means you're more likely to be goiing too fast for a turn when you get there because of the way most people drive. They romp on it and stop at the last second. It's not that you require bigger brakes with more HP it's just common sense to add more capacity as you add power. I've had the following experiences on my 03GT. These are all from runs over 1 hard driving mountain road that I've been over like 950 times so the results are pretty well normalized. the first 4 are with OEM type pads: stock front/GT rear = MASSIVE fade under hard driving. So much so that after one particular trip over my favorite mountain road at speed, I had to slam on the brakes to avoid a horse in the road and the front end lifted after about 5 seconds because the brakes overheated. That required an emergency maneuver I don't want to have to do again. They took forever to cool back down and it just felt wrong for a V8 car to stop that slow. A car that lethargic in slowing down makes me nervous. stock front/cobra rear = no real change in stopping distance or reliability but ebrake slides were easier. Car was a tad unbalanced in uphill right cornering braking. Cobra front/GT rear = Wicked stopping. Minor fade under extreme braking but they cooled quickly and returned to normal. Tires were the limiting factor on my stopping distances. Rears would smoke after a trip over the hill. Cobra Front/Cobra rear = Same basic stopping as the Cobra front/GT rear except that I got a little lockup on the rears now and then. Very much a confidence inspiring feeling to be yanked to a halt that fast. Cobra front/cobra rear w/ EBC green pads = A serious workout of the ABS system. bites hard and never lets go. No fade that I could induce. Increased rotor wear. tires are still the limiting factor. So, to break it down. For a v6 the stock brakes are adequate for most driving. For a V8, there's just too little rotor mass and area to let you stop hard more than once without fade. The cobra kit stops about as well as I can stand and there's plenty left over for a second sudden stop. As for drag cars... most of the guys that I know that drag race use pretty small brakes for the power they make. They also use parachutes so I can't see that being really a valid basis for comparison.