Ford COBRA brake upgrade

Just some information on this upgrade...IT ROCKS

Kent H and I did the upgrade on my car the other weekend while he was in town. It was a fairly straight forward drop in. RTMs brackets on my 1991 1GA did require a little shave on the area where it goes into the carrier brackets but just slightly.
Had a little issue with some warped rotors but thats resolved at this time.
The brakes are unreal the stopping powers what you would want from a car the pedal feel is bang on and the stopping power is unreal. Went through a proper seating of the pads with the new rotors (in my case they were white box rotors) the stopping power on some of my pulls from tuning runs were impressive. I have all new brakes all 4 corners but once I upgraded to the fords on the front I have to say my confidence in stopping powers way up now. If your boosting more and want to stop faster get these or go one better and do the brembo or willwoods! You will be happy you did

Haven't done mine yet, waiting for better weather and 17inch rims to make them fit (Have Baers for the 1g) and glad to see another good review on them. I've always heard great reviews on their ability to stop. Only disadvantage as with most brake upgrades, you need bigger rims to have enough caliper clearance.

Yeah I run Konig Heliums and they fit very well. I will say you can notice the rotating mass difference how ever. They dont want to turn in as easily.
Baers will dtop you like youve been hit by a bear so that will be an awesome upgrade. I wish their was something that you could do with the left over fronts to moe them to the rear but thats not possible

I love my Cobra Upgrade but I'm in the process of going non-abs in order to get a more street friendly F/R brake bias, last season there were a few moments where it was (dare I say) too much.

I'm running 18x8 with a +42 offset and 3mm spacers on my 2g, the cobras are tight but well worth it.

I will be running 16inch rims so I am hoping that the two pots will make a good enough difference from my singles I have now.

should be night and day, get some sslines too if you don't already have them

I've had mine for a few years, they are a great setup. Rebuild parts are readily available for the calipers and much cheaper than the ones for Brembos. I'm still on my original drilled and slotted rotors provided by Baer.

Not sure on a 1g, but on a 2g they won't clear anything less than a 17" wheel, and not all 17" wheels.

Where can you get rebuild parts for them? Ford? Just wondering for later, one of my sets will probably need to be rebuilt.

Anywhere that sells parts for a 94 Cobra. I got them at Advance Auto in the states for like $5 per side.

Rock Auto sells the whole re-manufactured calipers for $37 each.

Nice! Thanks

Jason you are rocking the 94 cobra calipers? I slapped on the 2002's with ziggys install kit. is there much difference between the years?

Yes I have the 94 calipers, I'm unsure of the differences.

I'm rocking what ever Rob C had bought and their not going to clear many 16s if any what so ever. Very tight clearances. Maybe a set of OZ rally wheels from a STI

Sorry to hear about warped rotors. Since I re-sold those (after buying from Rob C) I feel responsible for one warped rotor. PM me your email/cost and I will PM you EMT

Jason W. what kind of pads did you use?

I believe they are Hawk Performance pads. Not the race. I have had nice brake upgrades in my past and this is one that I have to say I am very impressed with.

Sorry to revive this thread, but I would like to know if you guys had to deal with the gap between the rotor stud holes by making a spacers for each stud.

I am looking at tracking the car at the end of this year and seeing I currently have to buy new full brake setup (mismatched rotors / caliper), I might as well go bigger instead of buying stock.

Was also contemplating the VR4 Calipers. Anyone track either?

Wilwood would be nice but too $$ to replace rotors.

Actually, some Wilwoods, the ones that are two parts, it's decently cheap to replace as you only replace the worn surface, not the hub area. Just an FYI.

Interested in this as well since I'll be doing this this summer.

The idea of making spacers for each individual bolt hole is ridiculous. EVERY rotor needs SOME clearance here. As long as the rotor is properly centered, once the rim is bolted on, the rotor is clamped solid, and if it moves the amount of the clearance in the holes, you have done something very wrong and you have bigger issues.

I didn't read the whole thread so I'm not 100% clear what you meant Charles, but note there should be some clearance around the wheel bolts for heat expansion. As long as the rotors centers properly on the hub you shouldn't have a problem.

The space around the lug seemed a little larger than the space from stock rotors. This guy used lug nut backsides to create spacers to reduce the gap (but still leaves a gap) as shown above.

Thanks Ziggy. I was just concerned cause that is a big gap . Looks to be 1/8th inch or more.

What I'd be worried about there is the rotor and spacer expand when heated and break a lug. Maybe a minor risk.

I think that person might have been solving a problem the wrong way. Rotors are meant to be hubcentric not lug centric. I see quite a bit of space around the hub area, so maybe it didn't center nicely and he solved it with the spacers. I know there are centering rings for rotors in some applications. I'd look into that instead, or if there's an off the shelf rotor with the center bore.

You are correct. The gap is bigger than stock. The Cobra rotors are sized for larger wheel studs (1/2") compared to a DSM (12mm). But the question remains: what mechanism is going to cause the rotor to "slide" through the stud gap? The rotor is being clamped to the hub via 5 nuts torqued to 100+ ft/lbs. But if the gap worries you, you are correct, the only solution is to source/make and install bushings.

Mine have been on my car for 8 years and this gap has never been an issue, I think they get shoved to one edge the first time you get hard on the brakes and stay there, you'll never be on the brakes hard enough in reverse to move them the other way. There's no sign of wear on my studs, plenty of 130mph stops on them.

So long as you have the hub centric rings you're good to go.

So they do move as suspected. 100ft/lbs clamp is < than force exerted when braking. Thanks all. Good to know.

I will not use the bushing method and just stick to the hub centric ring. If anything happens I know where to post with the I told you so

Thanks to all

8 years and many 1.6 60' launches, my lugs didn't shear off, prove me wrong

I hope that I don't prove you wrong! That would be bad for me.

100 ft./lbs on EACH of five lugs on EACH wheel. I don't believe they move even the first time the brakes are hit hard. I think the guy who made those stud spacers was solving a problem that does not exist.

As someone pointed out, the gap in the centre bore looks large in that picture, and that WOULD be a problem....so maybe he went about solving a DIFFERENT problem in an awkward way.

I don't think they move either, I didn't pay attention to the centering of the studs in regards to the holes, only to that the rotors sat on the hub centric rings, I may have put them on that why or my impact vibrated them into that position. Either way it doesn't matter, it's a non issue.

Heres how the baer looks under slipstream 16x7, offset 40, no spacer.

And just to confirm Steve that is the 13" rotor

Yes it is the 13'', it is tight, saw some pics of someone running them with 3mm spacer for more clearance.