The Sheriff

I was in a Hyundai dealership this weekend, picking up an 2011 Elantra for my girlfriend & noticed that the Genesis coupe in the show room had Brembo calipers front & rear. My question is what gives? Why does the Brembo Brake Pkg on the Mustang only get front calipers???

LEwis26

Ford is cheap?

So much of the braking is done in the front anyways, so it doesn't really matter anyways.

Stinger1982

the reason is that the Mustang has a solid axle. There is some tolerance in the axle shafts and that side to side movement is what necessitates a floating caliper on the rear. If you were to put a fixed caliper on the rear by simply bolting it to the bracket the side to side motion of the axles would knock the brake pads back as you drove along and when you would go brake the pedal would be very squishy and delayed until the pads made contact with the rotor again.

In an IRS setup the wheel position is fixed.
Same reason the Camaro and Challenger have Brembo’s (fixed caliper) on the rear and the Mustang does not.

It has NOTHING to do with cheap etc.

The Sheriff

Thanks for the education. I had no idea, that the fixed axle made such a difference. I knew someone here would have the answer.

SoSlowGT

New guy here, don't fully understand can you help me out? You can buy big brake kits for the rear of a mustang, so back to the original question, why did ford decide not to but a Brembo brake kit on the rear of the mustang?

conv_stang

I doubt the Brembo brakes on the rear make that much of a difference. And I am sure the brembo brakes on the genesis and camaro and challenger all add more to the bottom line. i guarantee you pay for them. you can add big brakes to the rear, but unless you change the fronts im sure you wont notice much in the difference in stopping distance

according to Motor Trend the V6 mustang stops from 60mph in 104ft, the Genesis Coupe stops from 60 in 111ft. So obviously the Brembos on the rear are that great.
http://www.motortrend.com/roadtests/...t_numbers.html

Stinger1982

no problem.

The back brake "big brake" kits all involve a larger rotor and a caliper re-location bracket.

A few places sell a fixed claiper on a slider, the same way the floating caliper is on a slider. However those kits are a collosal waste of money. They add no real stopping power and are crazy expensive. Its just doesnt work.


If you look at ANY solid axle Mustang race car campained in professional racing NONE have fixed calipers on the rear. Money is not an object at these levels, if it works yet they run a floating caliper

SoSlowGT

Thanks

rhumb

I can't imagine that lively axle has that much slop, errrr, "tolerance," to it, but then again, maybe it does and yet another reason to go 21st century, i.e., IRS.

I generally figured that it was more for cost reasons and that the rear brakes have a far easier time of it than the fronts, especially in a car that hound-dogs it so much with brake dive like a stock Stang, and that spending money on more pricey rear brakes would basically be a waste of money.

12C/OBoss

The Brembo's front and rear also theoretically have more fade resistance over multiple stops. BTW the Genesis coupe's front pads only fill half the caliper as the full pads made a little too much noise. Upgrading the pads on this car drastically shortens stopping distances.

BTW I have worked at a Hyundai delaership for 13 years so if you have any questions about Hyundai PM me!

2010MustangGT

Kinda... It's as if they were to advertise as part of the Brembo Package it would include Dual (2) piston rear brakes and then just give you a single piston.


Oh wait- they did.

rhumb

True that. The benefit of Brembos or any other big brake kit is not that they're any stronger than regular brakes -- any brake system that can lock the wheels up is strong enough -- but rather, that they stay strong and consistent stop after stop after stop rather than overheating and turning to mush. Thus, that one car can outbrake another car, at least on the initial stop, is probably more reflective of other factors such as tires and overall brake/weight balance than anything else.

Now if that car can keep outbraking another car after 10 hard stops/laps, then that is saying something about the brake's themselves.

Cdvision

Not really a solid rear axle problem but more of a 8.8 rear end problem. It's the way the axles are retained in the 8.8 that allows for too much axle movement that would cause caliper pulsation that would be felt in the brake pedal. You can mount non floating multi piston caliper on the Ford 9 inch rear due to the way the axles are retained. There are aftermarket rear calipers for the 8.8 that use a more expensive floating multi piston caliper. Cost was probably the main reason Ford opted not to put multi piston calipers on the rear of the Mustang.

908ssp

It can be done. It isn't easy and it isn't cheap. But it does look cool.

My brakes.

The Sheriff

Yeah, I was a bit dissapointed when I found out they were single piston rears, after reading in the Ford literature that they would be dual piston.

nite

let's be frank, what the vast majority of the people who crave rear brembos want is for their cars to look as cool as others with big brakes all around. they don't want them for additional stopping power, nor sustained stopping in a racing environment. it's simply a cool factor. so now that we're clear on that, let's try to keep any further practical discussion/applications out of this topic.

those do look cool, 908!