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SuperForged Big Brake Kit Review

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Location
Delaware
Vehicle
2023 Explorer ST
#1
Finally got the big brake kit from SuperForged Wheels installed and put through it's paces after a month of waiting for shop time to open up.

Before I go into the review of the product, I want to take a minute to give a huge shout out to Bruce Criscuolo who has gone so far above and beyond with his customer service he's earned a lifelong customer in me. I had an issue with fitment in the rears, which my shop overcame quickly and easily, but I reached out to Bruce to let him know as he asked me for feedback after my install on an earlier thread. He was instantly in communication with me, got info from me to follow up on his end about, and was unbelievably generous in making the small situation right. I can tell how much pride he takes in his company, and how serious he is about providing a product of the highest quality and standards.

Now onto the kit itself - they are AWESOME! I have a track day mustang with all the performance pack goodies and fancy brembo 6 piston setup, and those things will go all day without fading and I can honestly say my 1,000 lb heavier SUV now brakes with similar performance and longevity. Bringing this big pig down from 130+ mph on the stock brakes was a sketchy affair, and after that you didn't trust the brakes for a good 3-5 minutes while they cooled down. Well now I can jam on them at any speed and they slow down quickly, without drama, and I can do it over and over again.

I took the car out today to my favorite set of twisty back roads, a good 25 mile circuit with a ton of hard braking sections, and the car performed as well as my mustang in the braking department. No fade, pulled big time deceleration G's. It'll rip your head forward if you stand on the brake pedal.

No squeaks, minimal dust, and tons of confidence. For less than the cost of just the fronts of the other big brake kits out there for our cars, you can get the whole superforged kit with all 4 corners, braided brake lines, and finally get the whoa pedal to match the go pedal in these STs. I can't recommend this kit highly enough. I'm so very glad I did the upgrade. Most of us have 11 second 4,800 lb SUVs, the stock brakes are no match for that, and the powerstop stuff is cute, but you're not going to significantly improve our stock system with just some new pads and different rotor material.

Plus I love supporting people like Bruce, Adam, and Brett, who put in the work to bring us the performance parts that nobody else takes the time and effort to develop.

If you've got any questions, fire away. But do yourself a favor and buy this kit.
 

2020FordRaptor

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#2
Very nice writeup. Are you on stock wheels? If so post some pics!
 

Cruising68

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#3
Thanks for the review!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

zdubyadubya

Active Member
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Location
Utah
Vehicle
2020 ST
#4
Agreed to all of the above!

I've got over 25k miles on my set now. Been running HAWK 5.0s since day one (it gets driven hard at ALOT of events) and just swapped in my second set of pads in the front. rear wear looks really good. really really happy with them as well. and ditto to everything said about Bruce.
 

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Location
Sacramento, CA, USA
Vehicle
2021 Explorer ST Carbonized Gray
#5
Very nice write up! Can you share the link to the set that you purchased?
 

OP
S
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2023 Explorer ST
Thread Starter #6
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Location
Bear, DE, USA
#7
How did you end up routing the front brake lines for the install? Just curious if you can snap a pic of the front brake line (through the wheels is fine) so I can get an idea of what I need to chop off the stock brake line bracket on the hub.
 

Cruising68

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#8
How did you end up routing the front brake lines for the install? Just curious if you can snap a pic of the front brake line (through the wheels is fine) so I can get an idea of what I need to chop off the stock brake line bracket on the hub.
Here’s mine.



I threw a zip tie on the inner brake line bushing. One popped out of the holder last time I rotated tires.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

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#9
Here’s mine.



I threw a zip tie on the inner brake line bushing. One popped out of the holder last time I rotated tires.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks
 

Cruising68

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#10
So I’ve been doing some good highway thrashing the past month. Washed up yesterday and I noticed an interesting color change. My Superforged hats have turned gold. Similar happened to my CTSV Brembo Calipers. They went from silver to gold after my first road race day. Guessing I got the Superforged nice and hot




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#11
So I’ve been doing some good highway thrashing the past month. Washed up yesterday and I noticed an interesting color change. My Superforged hats have turned gold. Similar happened to my CTSV Brembo Calipers. They went from silver to gold after my first road race day. Guessing I got the Superforged nice and hot




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
wow interesting!
 

Cruising68

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#13
How much is a fair price for install. I could do it myself with a good YouTube guide, but love paying a pro for brake work
It took me about 2 hours to do it on a quickjack. That includes time for beer. I would guess 300 and up.

It’s really a pretty easy job. The hardest part are the brake lines. I also use a $15 HF vacuum brake bleeder to make it even easier.


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2020FordRaptor

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#15
How much is a fair price for install. I could do it myself with a good YouTube guide, but love paying a pro for brake work
I would guess around $600-700 for full front and rear install. I payed around $300 for install of a front BBK on one of my other vehicles up in Northern Nevada.
 

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Location
Fort Worth, TX, USA
#16
It took me about 2 hours to do it on a quickjack. That includes time for beer. I would guess 300 and up.

It’s really a pretty easy job. The hardest part are the brake lines. I also use a $15 HF vacuum brake bleeder to make it even easier.


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Getting ready to tackle this install tomorrow. What was the hang up on the brake lines and any Monday morning quarterback advice?
 

Cruising68

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#17
Getting ready to tackle this install tomorrow. What was the hang up on the brake lines and any Monday morning quarterback advice?
Brake likes just messy. No problem installing them. Can’t think of any issues I had. Did have some extra wire to zip tie the brake harness. Also had to use pliers to snap the connectors onto the e brake module. Don’t let the brake reservoir run dry or the bleeding gets a lot bore difficult.

Good luck!


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Last edited:
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Location
Bear, DE, USA
#18
Getting ready to tackle this install tomorrow. What was the hang up on the brake lines and any Monday morning quarterback advice?
the ford brake hardlines are known for stripped threads. They get messed up when you remove the factory brake line from them easily so just take your time and be careful not to mess up the threads on the hardlines.
 

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#19
Well I got everything mounted yesterday and after many tries could not get the vehicle out of Brake Maintenance mode. Had to update Forscan and through the service section I was able to find and tell it to exit the maintenance mode. Now if I depress the brake pedal with the engine off I can feel a bunch of vibration in the pedal itself and hear a lot of sound coming from the brake reservoir area. Also the "BRAKE" light stays on whether the rear parking brake in engaged or not and I get the check brake system notification. Everything is hooked up and bled so I'm not sure what to check issue wise. Any guidance would be appreciated.
 

Last edited:
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#20
Well I got everything mounted yesterday and after many tries could not get the vehicle out of Brake Maintenance mode. Had to update Forscan and through the service section I was able to find and tell it to exit the maintenance mode. Now if I depress the brake pedal with the engine off I can feel a bunch of vibration in the pedal itself and hear a lot of sound coming from the brake reservoir area. Also the "BRAKE" light stays on whether the rear parking brake in engaged or not and I get the check brake system notification. Everything is hooked up and bled so I'm not sure what to check issue wise. Any guidance would be appreciated.
You either aren’t actually out of brake maintenance mode, the parking brake did it reinitialize to find its new start and stop positions?

otherwise check for leaks of brake fluid maybe air is getting in the lines?

I used the pedal procedure to enter and exit service mode.
 



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