BIG brakes for our Explorers, this time affordable

This is some of the SuperForged Big Brake Kit from Lethal performance.
https://www.lethalperformance.com/superforged-big-brake-kit-2020-2022-explorer-st.html

Sixteen-inch front rotors with 6-piston calipers and 15" rears with 4-piston calipers, and these rear calipers have the electronic-parking-brake soleniods.. Workmanship looks very good.. These are NOT superduty, THICK rotors, but surely they'll slow our almost-5,000-pound Explorers more quickly, and for a longer time, than the itsy-bitty-teeny-weeny rotors and calipers Ford supplied.. Also, this kit is as much for appearance as performance--I was tired of those little rotors and calipers the day I bought my 1st Ex, the silver 2020, and had I decided to keep my 2nd Ex, the Atlas Blue '22, I'd be installing them on that.. But 'Blue' is part of a new-2023-ST purchase that'll happen in around a month, so I get another month to do useful things.

SuperForged makes great stuff and Bruce is an ExST owner himself. His wheel line is great too.

Thanks for the heads up. I’ve been looking for a better value in the big brake department. Ordered a slotted set. Thanks again!


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You're welcome. If you get yours on before, say, the middle of November, pls post some pics.

Looks great! Unfortunately, I'm just a daily driver with an occasional itchy foot so can't justify almost 1k/wheel when the stockers bring me to a halt on command. They are brand new w/ceramic pads so I would wear these down before I even thought about these high level SuperForgeds. Would love the look and performance but sometimes, ya hafta stay within the pocket.

Is the ST with ST Street Pack brakes not sufficient?

It is more of a want than a need IMO. I should have mine Tuesday.


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I didn’t think so. I can make those things fade to nothing in 2 hard stops. I have the Rotora BBK and I can work those things over and over with zero fade.

Sounds like it's a pad issue more so than a brake caliper issue then. Were you able to get brake pad fade with the brake pads used in the PIU?

Fade comes in when the parts are flat ass overheated and can’t shed the temp fast enough. Pads and rotors both play into that. A simple pad swap won’t eliminate it when driving hard.

Perhaps, but the driver can alter their driving style to promote brake pad endurance on the track with minimal degradation to your overall pace. For example, if you apply more braking pressure quicker and shorten your brake zones (and duration of time generating heat by applying brakes), it reduces the amount of heat transfer from the surface of the brake pad to the backing plate of the brake pad. This results in less heat transfer into the actual caliper to boil the brake fluid.

While I don't have direct experience with the Explorer ST platform, I've been fine with the most aggressive brake pad offered by most OEs to the point where they are sufficient for the white run groups with PCA and upper intermediate run groups with BMW CCA. I transitioned to track pads such as Ferodo, Hawks, and Pagids with either RBF600 or Castrol SRF brake fluid when our car would pull double duty on track weekends in two different run groups with back to back sessions for a total of 45-60 mins on track. When the sessions end and we've done a cool down lap (and sometimes driving around the paddock to continue to cool off the brakes), I'll measure the temperatures of my brake rotors with an IR laser temp gun just out of curiosity and to see how it correlates to our overall pace during the session.

I've never overheated a factory brake system while driving on regular streets and that includes driving hard enough to shred tires that are rated for 50,000 miles in a mere 5,000 miles on my work car.

As far as overheating, if it's boiling brake fluid, your pedal will drop to the ground and it will never feel quite right until you've re-bled the brakes. If you're experiencing pad fade, it will go away once there is sufficient air flow to bring the pad temps back to their effective operating range. In most cases, you're experiencing pad fade which is largely resolved once you start using pads that have a higher temperature operating range which I presume is the case for the PIU brake pads. Quality factory vented rotors are probably the last item that I would ever upgrade - it's just a hunk of steel. You really don't need some ridiculously expensive two piece floating / semi floating design unless the vehicle is really being used for competitive motorsports racing.

I can't imagine a Explorer ST with the ST Street Pack brake system with PIU brake pads overheating in any type of scenario on the street to include pursuits. I have yet to see a failure on all the Youtube car chase videos that I've seen.

Factory brake systems are generally pretty robust. It's the component of the vehicle that exposes an auto manufacturer to the most liability so it's probably one of the most thoroughly tested components.

You can “what if” it till the cows come home…but I can still drive Street Pack brakes into fade at will on the hard back road drives I do. It’s not even hard to get them to that point…2-3 back to back 120-0 stops will have you wishing you have more brakes. The Rotora kit is rock solid…no matter what I throw at it.

Oem brakes are always a big compromise. Once you’ve done any type of road racing you will quickly find the limitations in oem stuff. Once you’ve tasted excellent braking it is hard to not appreciate big brakes. Hard to argue with the physics of larger rotors, more contact area, and more pressure applied evenly across the pad.

While the street pack brakes are pretty decent, they are no real comparison to a six or eight piston big brake. Certainly not a necessity but I put money into stopping as well as accelerating.


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+1

That's my point. I don't think there's really any spirited driving on the street that will overwhelm a robust factory brake system with the most aggressive factory pads, compared to a road racing environment. There are no "back roads" that can really hold a candle to the amount of stress a 20-40 min session at faster tracks like VIR or WGI would place on a brake system.

The Big Brake Kits will typically offer better brake pedal feel which will make it easier for the driver to modulate braking pressure - in addition to greater heat capacity. Because the primary purpose of braking in racing conditions is to be able to utilize weight transfer effectively to balance the vehicle for greater overall pace with faster entry, apex, and exit speeds. Slowing the vehicle down is secondary to that.

But again, the additional heat capacity is really only exploited in a racing environment. If the system isn't able to shed heat fast enough it's only a matter of time before the BBK is overwhelmed as well. The correct and potentially far less expensive option is to explore air ducts from the front fascia to the brakes to cool the brakes down.

Got them today. First glance, impressive. Powdercoat looks good. Won’t have them installed until later tonight or tomorrow but here’s a quick comparison of the fronts.






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The brake line fittings are gonna suck…other than that it’s an easy project.

Leaving all the brake lines until I’m done with everything else. Yes, brake lines suck

I was a little worried about the wheels fitting, hence the test fit. Turns out I have tons of clearance up front.

Other than the brake lines it’s actually easier than a brake job. Pads came loaded in calipers so just pull the old, add the bracket, then add new rotor and caliper. Maybe 15 - 20 minutes once the wheel is off.

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Here’s a shot while bleeding. Installation went super smooth.




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I have a very similar garage/tool setup. That looks like an standard length Quickjack? 5000?

Also, is that an Ares vacuum bleeder? These days I will put a Motive pressure bleeder on the master cylinder reservoir and a vacuum bleeder on the caliper... makes bleeding brakes go super quick when you're pushing and pulling.

Quickjack 7000. Wanted a little insurance on capacity.

Harbor freight vacuum bleeder. I have a motive pressure bleeder, which I prefer, but don’t have a cap that fits yet. Also found out the abs bleed procedure in the Ford software assumes you are using a pressure bleeder. Might head to Ford to get another brake res cap I can adapt to my motive for final bleeding including the abs circuit.


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