03 Cobra Caliper upgrade

[98Nor*CalStang]

Well nt much concern on the weight just want to make sure this upgrade will work n b a great improvement than my factory single piston caliper n what I will be needing to make sure eerything works. Am getting the calipers, rotors, & pads for 400 shipped to my door. Only thing that's nt included is the brake lines to the calipers.

 

[Lee12609]

replica, reading fails you too, i clearly said that i was talking about daily driving conditions. also, i do upwards of 25 brake jobs a week. it should never take more than 2 days to bed a set of pads so long as the rotor is new or machined correctly, but to be fair it was 8 days and probably 200+ miles later that i drove the car w/ cobra stuff, so its pretty safe to say they were bedded.

there is NO doubt in my mind the cobra setup works better, but everything i read says "night and day" difference, and thats simply untrue on a daily driver. i proved this to myself by using the same pads on the stock 96 setup as the cobra setup and feel NO DIFFERENCE. put good pads in either setup and i might have a different opinion, but either way my opinion is for a daily driver the pads make the biggest difference. i have experience with Hawks and ebc's on a mustang, as well as stock replacement pads, all on different caliper setups, and honestly they are all pretty equal with equal pads installed.

^^^ none of this has anything to do with the track.

also, the PBR calipers you need new hoses, pads, and banjo bolts (everything you need for the cobra upgrade except rotors). no grinding is needed on 96+ cars...

 

[ReplicaR]

The whole reason why I was bringing up track use is because it would be silly to believe that just because the pad is different, some of the stopping power does not carry over. I'm not a kind of person who believes that something is better purely on placebo effect, or because other people say that, or because I've spent "a lot of money" as you have said. I have first hand research, and experience with multiple pads, brake systems, and different ways of cooling them. Since I road race the car pretty regularly, and I were to install Cobra brakes and feel no difference between them and GT brakes, they would be coming off fairly quick.

 

[98Nor*CalStang]

Well nt much concern on the weight just want to make sure this upgrade will work n b a great improvement than my factory single piston caliper n what I will be needing to make sure eerything works. Am getting the calipers, rotors, & pads for 400 shipped to my door. Only thing that's nt included is the brake lines to the calipers......once again...

 

[ReplicaR]

It's not a bad deal. Is that new or used? If that's used, that's kinda steep in my opinion. I'd look around for better deals if possible. I recently sold my Cobra kit which was 2 years old for that much, and it included 3 sets of rotors (two OEM PBR, one Stop Tech performance), and two sets of pads (Porterfield R4, and StopTech street)

 

[Lee12609]

replica, again you twist what i am saying.

point is, the pads make the most difference on the street. if someone wants the "look" of the cobra upgrade, great do it, if you just want a good street setup grab some EBCs or Hawk's and call it a day, or if they want a LIGHTER version go with PBR aluminums with good pads. thats all i'm saying. in my PERSONAL opinion the cobra upgrade isnt noticeably better than the PBR or stock 96 setup ON THE STREETS under normal driving.

i only mention it because i was looking into doing cobra brakes for added braking power, and every thread i seen online was "WOW, night and day" or "almost went through the windshield the first time i hit the brakes". both statements are misleading....

 

[ReplicaR]

I understand what you are saying and you are right. For street driving stock brakes will do just fine, and most people will not need any more than that in the first place. And you are right about other things as well, such as people overexaggerating how well parts work. I definitely did not get get thrown through the window the first time I tested the Cobra stuff. As a matter of fact, until I changed the master cylinder, I was not impressed with it at all. Once everything was sorted, and the brakes worked properly, I did like them. They definitely worked better than stock. I got shorter stopping distances, and they would not warp the rotors as easy. Having said that I do use my car differently than most people, so for me it was money well spent. Another thing I'd recommend is maybe getting your hands on another Cobra brake equipped car, and driving that around. It's never a good idea to base judgment just on one case, because you never know.

 

[Lee12609]

yeah, i'd never tell someone not to do the cobra brakes, i just wish some things i'd been warned about buying before i'd bought, which is basically what i was doing for him.

it would be like someone with a stock auto mustang buying 28" slicks when the car wont have traction problems on street radials....

 

[Rice_slayer]

Lee... Don't argue with replica, I can bet my left nut he knows 100x more about the suspension and brakes of our mustangs than you know. I have driven cars new edges with those PBR calipers and the breaks feel A LOT better and crisper than mine, I run stock calipers on cross drilled/slotted brembos and ceramic pads. To say that upgrading from a 1 piston to a 2 piston caliper and you felt no difference, you obviously shouldn't mod cars then. Sadly, I never had the $600 to do cobra brakes when I change front brakes but I will next time as I have some caliper sticking issues right now.

 

[Lee12609]

Lee... Don't argue with replica, I can bet my left nut he knows 100x more about the suspension and brakes of our mustangs than you know. I have driven cars new edges with those PBR calipers and the breaks feel A LOT better and crisper than mine, I run stock calipers on cross drilled/slotted brembos and ceramic pads. To say that upgrading from a 1 piston to a 2 piston caliper and you felt no difference, you obviously shouldn't mod cars then. Sadly, I never had the $600 to do cobra brakes when I change front brakes but I will next time as I have some caliper sticking issues right now.

you would loose your left nut if you shake on that bet! replica is a very knowledgeable person, but i do this for a living!
he goes left and right, i go straight.... he brakes ALOT i brake once!

also, we were not arguing. i was speaking in terms of daily driving differences (not abs/panic stops), he was talking track feel, we actually ended up agreeing....

also, my comparisons are unbiased since i've spent NO money on my brakes nor anyone elses. what would be my intention of talking bad about cobra brakes when i have stock brakes???

all i was saying is i was NOT impressed in the least with the cobra upgrade (done on a 00gt), i drove the car before, directly after, and days later (i drive his car almost every sunday at the track). yes this was with raybestos ceramic pads, and yes i agree they will be better with more aggressive pads. but with what MOST people do with their cars on here my opinion is SIMPLE, dont spend money on cobra brakes (which come with crap PBR pads if you buy the kit), spend the money on GOOD aggressive pads for your current setup and spend the leftover money somewhere else!

 

[cntchds]

Do yourself a favor if you go through with buying the brakes, and look for either Mach 1 or Bullitt brakes. They are exactly the same as Cobra, but cost way less(still do not have a clue why...). I got mine brand new in a Ford Racing box for $420 with SS lines.

Like I said in my first post... You will not notice them working better on the street until you need them to work better on the street, especially if the M/C isn't changed.