I Need Your Opinions On What To Do With My Brakes

right, so i cant afford to upgrade to AP or anything like that, but i am considering changing pads, discs and hoses

a few very well respected members here who drive to the limmit dont think its necesary, but im interested in what others think

im very interested in what the guys that have upgraded think, as well as those that dont think its worth it

please state why you voted the way you did

I have a stage3 ST, so consider this before you vote

If you want to upgrade without going down the AP route - Ferodo DS2500 Pads on standard discs is my recommendation.

Don't bother with upgrading the hoses unless you're planning on using it on the track. I do run HEL hoses front and rear but in all honesty I cannot feel any improvement in pedal feel, and a good friend told me that was what was to be expected but didn't want to be giving me bad news So I found out the hard way after buying them and spending a good few hours swapping hoses and bleeding new fluid through each corner of the brake system

The Ferodos are way better than the Mintex pads I ditched with loads of life left cos they squealed loads, left hot-spots on the discs and were wearing the discs with a slightly narrower sweep than the standard pads meaning a stepped lip was being left at the edge of the discs and would require skimming before fitting other pads.

I run standard front and rear discs, Mintex 1144 front pads, OEM Ford rear pads, Goodridge hoses all round and non silicone dot 5.1 brake fluid.

I feel there is a very slight improvement in pedal feel with the hoses, but not a lot.

Mintex recommend using OEM rear pads, I find the uprated pads very good, havent noticed a lot of squealing off them, However uprated pads do wear discs more than standard pads, Over the years i have fitted a lot of uprated discs (drilled/grooved) and they do create a lot of noise.

The set up i run cant be bad - My wife even said after i done it all that the brakes were better...

Unless you drive like a complete on the road, in which case you are going to get then in my opinion the standard brakes are more than good enough. They have good feel, work well, are cheap, last a long time and are more than capable of triggering the ABS at any road legal speed... If you do more than 2 or 3 trackdays a year though, then thats different...

Why not try simulating a track style.

Find a straight "private" road build your speed up and brake from the highest speed possible - scrub maybe 60-70 mph off, accelerate again then repeat. Do this untill your brakes no longer work due to excessive fade, continue till the discs are warped and start to judder. After replacing the worn discs and pads, hopefully you will realise that if you need better brakes on the road you deserve to lose your licence.

Just a bit of friendly banter there