Thanks Sean. I'd love to see a more detailed video on the handbrake side of things, including adjustment, next time you have to deal with it. All the best.
On my fg I did the xr6t/xr8 upgraded caliper carriers along with territory rear brakes. Honestly the best bang for buck brake upgrade. I own a VF SSV with Brembo brakes. Yes, is stops better than the upgraded brakes I did. But the difference between standard falcon brakes and my upgrade was heaps heaps greater than the difference between my brembos and on the ss. Also, ended up doing braided lines. Pedal feel is AMAZING.
Also, don't beat yourself up if you tune the handbrake perfectly and it still rolls in reverse... These handbrakes are terrible for some reason. I have adjusted many. Often was a lot of forward and backward adjusting.
Yes on my XR8 I upgraded to the bigger rotor off an FPV 315 and wow what a difference, I also upgraded the rear rotor to both the XR8 BA sedan and the FPV ute to the Territory rear brake rotor which is ventilated. and that made the biggest difference.
I put new 6 pot brembos and dba slotted 355mm rotors on front and safe brake braided lines all round and man what a difference, brakes are so strong it gives me a temporary headache when braking hard and cold braking is perfect too with standard front brembo pads. Not cheap but worth it.
I did something similar on my old XR8. It made the world of difference. The standard brakes are woeful. I went through four sets of rotors through warping before doing the upgrade and had no issues after that.
If you have standard rims with those horrible dust guards behind use those as frisbees and throw away as all they do is trap airflow thus increasing heat on the brakes.
Hey Shaun that looks like a great brake upgrade, reasonable price to.I buy what i can from Spares Box even with freight its still a lot cheaper than here in NZ. Something for next time mate, when pushing the pistons back into a calliper that is controlled with ABS its best practice to clamp off the flexy line and open the bleed nipple to allow the dirty old fluid in the calliper to escape into your bleed bottle. By pushing the old dirty fluid back up the lines you run the risk of harming the ABS unit with the old muck. Keep up the good work Shaun, cheers from NZ, Phil. ( it started raining here in June and its hasn't really stopped)
Good job mate I went through the same process back in 2016 on my BA 5.4 L Fairlane My process was change the brake fluid to DOT 5.1 Standard slotted discs from DBA with Bendix standard pads I pulled the calipers off and put a PBR caliper kit through all 4 Believe it or not the Pistons in my calipers were Bakelite plastic and PBR sell steel pistons for better reliability so I replaced all four Pistons all around the car with steel Bakelite Pistons crack and when you take them out they fall into two pieces in your hand and secondly if they don’t crack being plastic it’s porous and they weep black fluid There was a company here in Victoria that was addressing the notorious BA brake shutter and they sell upgraded front caliper slide pin kids and they seem a bit more robust and on the end of the slide pin they incorporated a rubber bushing - which is a setup Toyota uses- I think they were 99 bucks per wheel for the front The same company did a modified aftermarket brake booster because the BA is known to cause steering wheel shudder because when you take the foot off the break in some cases the brakes don’t release completely off and the pads drag then overheat the discs and the discs warp thats a sign of a dodgy brake booster you can check it by taking the break booster off carefully pulling it back from the firewall check the play between the Rod and and the seat and if you’re unsure just back it off a one or two full turns if that doesn’t fix it you might need the upgraded booster….. Bendix make this break caliper grease call Bendix blue highly recommended don’t use it on the slide pins use pure silicon grease if you use Bendix blue on the slide pins it swells the rubber seals - but it’s excellent for everywhere else highly recommended I think in 2016 I spent about 550 all up in parts to do that job but I did not replace the brake booster mine was okay and only now is it squealing and I really need to pull all four off and do it again And my car had trouble with brake front end shudder and I kept chewing through discs ever since I gave the whole thing a major overhaul as described above zero brake shutter for the last six years I did spend a fair bit of time doing my homework before I took on the job I rang a specialty break place in Canberra he reckons every BA taxi had brake shutter - what I did was the fix they used on taxicabs I’ve also heard another upgrade is regarding the rear install the brakes from a Ford Territory the calipers and discs will fit on the rear of a BA sedan and everything is bigger and you can still fit a 17 inch wheel over okay I might give that a go I haven’t decided yet but just as a Fairlane to drop the kids off at school and pick them up and do the shopping on the odd road trip to Philip island or Bendigo I’ve never had issues so I might just leave it Sorry for typos I’m using voice to text
I paint wheel studs and any mating surface (except the discs) with copper grease. Makes a difference with both removal & cleaning when changing pads. It will be interesting to see how these Bendix rotors go with time. I used the BA GT PBR calipers with the 325mm rotors on my AU3XR8 with braided lines, the difference in performance is excellent. Thanks for another outstanding episode.
Definitely a must upgrade for the BA! The standard brakes are awful. I experienced constant warping issues with the front brakes of the BA I owned. At the time it was still under warranty and every service the front rotors would have to be machined. The dealer refused to upgrade the rotors under warranty.
Here is a hot tip for painting brake calipers, you will always get a better result if you take them of the car. It will take the same amount of time when you know how - unless you are lazy and don't mind overspay everywhere! All you need is a clamp to pinch the brake line (most auto parts retailers have good ones at a reasonalble price), some fresh brake fluid, tub to catch the old fluid in and a hose to direct the fluid into a tub (again autopart stores have kits for this), the rest you can do with normal tools. Once off the car pull apart the caliper (you can leave the pistons and bleeders in), clean everything up and mask pistons and bleeders and paint. When done, reasseble with a bit of cooper grease and reinstall (squeze a little brake fluid into the caliper to minimse the beading, not realy needed but some people like to do it ). Once back together unclamp and open the bleeders a little so the fluid is trickling (using the hose an a catch tub) out a bit and let it sit for a while keeping an eye on the fluid level (Gravity bleeding). After about 10 minutes you should be staring to get clean fluid out, if not just wait until you do, close the bleeders, pump the brakes to make sure you have a good pedal and you are done. You will get a better result and with no overspray to clean up or extra masking to worry about and it will take about the same amount of time, while also replacing your brake fluid with new stuff. If you are not sure just search for Gravity Brake Bleeding and there are pleanty of instructionals on this, so give it a go, it's pretty hard to stuff up.
Did the 322mm upgrade on my XR8 with decent pads and rotors. Its a small but noticable difference. Mainly just hoping they dont warp like standard ones do (and to help fill out the 19" rims)
Stock brakes are always abit iffy on these old nuggets... I found that putting 323mm territory rotors on the front with a cheap calliper slide upgrade kit to work wonders in helping stop my falcon... It's a super simple job and worked a treat on my bf xr6...
Nice job, good to see you spent the time to clean up the hubs, people often overlook that. That f*cking Falcon handbrake is the stupidest thing ever - even if you follow the adjustment procedure from the workshop manual, they'll be out of spec again in a year for sure - it was the thing they always failed me on my annual inspections on my G6E-T to the point where eventually I just did it before each inspection to save myself having to go back for a re-check... and they NEVER changed it to a self adjusting mechanism like most cars have had since the 1980's, right through to the FG X!
enjoy the brake dust I've got Bendix Ultimate up the front of my car and my rims are covered in dust within about 150-200km of driving. Euro+ at the back looks the same after about 1000-1500ks. Very glad i got "stuck" with Euro+ on the rear. Cant wait to take these off and put something else on. (Lookin at you DBA Xtreme) very bitey though, i will give em that. Territory 322mm is a nice upgrade on a B series, as well as a PBR Premium if you can find it (325mm). Moves you to a double piston caliper. also pro tip: just undo the 10mm nut near the back seat area to loosen the handbrake a bit. never had this issue myself where it binds too much.
I went the cheaper option from Spares box DBA slotted rotors (322mm) $320 , the Bendix premium pads were $100 (Super cheap). Ford quoted me $1100 to replace the front brakes!
I have the exact same brake package on my BA XR6 as you have now and it works great. The only real downside is the dust that coats the wheels a small price to pay I suppose.
The one thing I hate about my BA is the brakes, I did the fancy disks but still didn't like the pedal feel,so I went for some 6pot wilwoods, plus I have a 20" rim which makes the standard brakes look tiny
I am counting down the days and saving any amount I can to get my falcon. I don't care if it is a XT or fairmont, BF would be a little better because it is just a few refined fixes from the BA, I will aim for the XR6. But just doing the XR6 look, giving it well needed TLC and little upgrades would just make me proud to keep my mechanical skills up. I currently work for Subaru, ok cars but can't help being a Ford guy.
Keep saving for a bit. The prices are softening a bit and If petrol hits 2 bucks a litre I reckon they’ll drop further. These cars drink fuel like a drunken sailor. 😂
I can’t wait until the Tim comes to replace my pads and rotors for the bendix upgrade Question do they sell the bendix kit at supercheap or autobarn? And another question when is the best time to replace rotors and pads on a na xr6 fg?
Just dont buy from sparesbox , they bullshit and fk u around they dont stock them like all there parts especially ford items , massive headaches and drama and there customer service people are rubbish , every part that i got had missing bits , and the other parts i ordered they never had , sparesbox is rubbish dont be fooled
Hi great videos you explain them clearly making it easier to get jobs done. I have a problem with with removing my rear passenger side rotor driver side I adjusted the star wheel adjuster in to remove drivers side rotor but when I replaced that side with everything went to other side could not find the star wheel adjuster and struggling to get rotor it’s moving but feels like hand brake is stopping it I feel I’m doing something wrong could you please help thanks and keep up the great work
Make sure the handbrake is off and the car is in neutral (chock the wheels if necessary so the car doesn't roll). The star wheel should be in a similar location compared to the driver's side.
Did you get any ticking noise with these? I have the full pbr upgrade kit off a bf xr8 on mine with the additional larger vented rear rotors. Ive got rda slotted and dimpled and they tick like crazy so i'm thinking of changing the rotors. Sounds like a sprinkler going down the road! I can vouch for them being a worthwhile upgrade, pedal feel doesn't really change much but when you brake hard they definitely feel stronger.
I have this same problem and im not blaming the new rotors, it started happening with the old brakes and for the life of me I can not figure out was it causing the ticking noise, also only happens when hot so its something expanding, someone help me out 😂 haha
@@MotoringBoxTV It comes from all 4 corners, its the rotors or the rotor pad combo. You can hear them make a swish/tick noise as the pads run over the slots and it gets much louder when you apply the brakes. I've heard similar complaints with the model of rotor before. They came new in a box with the brake upgrade. That's what got me interested in the bendix rotors you're running as a possible alternative
Hey Sean, are these direct fit for the XTs as well? Ive got an 03 XT Sedan that i need to freshen up a cradle for. Was thinking of these as I'll be going NA+T in the future and eventually rod and piston down the track
I believe the XT's ran the same brake size, so you should be in luck there. 298mm front and 305mm rears if you want to double check. Not sure about the brake pads.
Seems like the bigger rotor kit is a bit pointless when you realise they use the exact same brake pads. They probably just take a little longer to heat up / brake fade.
I don't like the Ult Pluses. They seem to be an adhesive pad and once they get a little bit of a workout they pulsate. Old ultimates that I used for years were an abrasive pad and kept the pads true. Have moved to DBA extreme which seem to be ok so far. They never should have used ultimate in the name imo
hey mate any chance l can inbox you l wanna put these on my FG Falcon but get the bendix street/track pad also l wanna uprade them to the turbo the front rotors
bro, so you already done the larger BF upgrade then? doh, gotta watch till then end before commenting next time....lol do really like your channel though, cheers
Thanks for getting back to so soon I have loosened it from hub area it’s moving freely but something at the bottom area where brake comes in feels like there something there not allowing it to come of used jimmy bar wriggled it i can move it out to look down in directly behind it but can not see if there a bolt or something there to stop it really testing me it’s ba falcon 2003 I’m missing something? Hope you can help
Sometimes if the handbrake hasn't been loosened off enough it can keep catching on the rotor and stop it from coming off. If the rotor is moving I would just pry the bugger off. Sometimes it gets jammed on the centre bore of the hub too.
Thanks for your help just got it of I feel like I owe you a beer just follow your other steps to back together and hopefully it will work out, again thanks for your help needed it
Ok, firstly, are you a mechanic? If not you should not be doing your own brakes, the amount of trouble you were having with that rear rotor gives me that impression 2nd, if you are going to paint your calipers, have a mechanic strip them down completely, leaving the pistons out, tape up and paint them yourself ,have them reassembled and refitted to your car, if you are going to do it yourself good luck, be patient ,it does look like you know a bit about what you are doing