just did brakes on the 89 gt last july new pads, calipers, rotors, hoses, and flushed the whole system and thebrkes still suck. i know the fox brakes are not the greatest, but the car had to of had better brakes when it was new coming off the production line! the pedal is firm no air in the lines but the pedal is hard and they seem to fade. you have to use a lot of foot pressure to come to a stop. almost impossible to lock them up! maybe it's in the booster? anybody have a suggestion? thanks jason 89 gt
fox brakes suck
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It does sound like a booster problem. See if you hear vacume leaking when you hit the brake pedal, it will make kind of a whooosh noise. You can also try disconnecting the vacume supply hose to the booster after shutting of the engine. You should hear the vacume release when you disconnect the hose. If not, than the vacume is bleeding off somewhere. (most likley the booster diafram) I have also seen a bad booster cause the car to run poorly because it creates a large vacume leak.
If the booster had failed, a hard pedal would be an understatement. One way to check it though it press it down after the car has been sitting for a few minutes, it should hold it's vaccume for quite a while. If it was air in the lines it would be a soft pedal that would nearly go to the floor.I'm an auto tech at a Goodyear and this happens alot, it usually turns out to be glazed rotors. It is caused by exsessive heat. This usually comes from people riding thier brakes, or many times the rear brakes will be out of adjustment so the front has to do all the work, causing them to heat up alot.
Try cleaning your rear drum brake system with brake cleaner and adjusting the shoes until the shoes and drum just slightly drag. Then either have your front rotors turned and scuff the pads, or just scuff the rotors with some emory cloth or sand paper to take that dark mirror finish off it. Scuff the drums as well.
Try cleaning your rear drum brake system with brake cleaner and adjusting the shoes until the shoes and drum just slightly drag. Then either have your front rotors turned and scuff the pads, or just scuff the rotors with some emory cloth or sand paper to take that dark mirror finish off it. Scuff the drums as well.
Icepick
Founding Member
Mine are just spongey and soft and i've tried bleeding without much success and replacing all four pads, you can lock up the fronts but you have to stand on them.
YardSpecial
New Member
Did U install the stainless caliper sleeves??
I run Steeda sleeves and Motorcraft pads, stops on a dime, low dust, ZERO noise.
The Brake Tech
I run Steeda sleeves and Motorcraft pads, stops on a dime, low dust, ZERO noise.
The Brake Tech
YardSpecial
New Member
Um, OK.
Just don't have 2K for brakes, so did what I had to do.
Car need brakes, had Bendix junk on there.
But what do I know.
Just don't have 2K for brakes, so did what I had to do.
Car need brakes, had Bendix junk on there.
But what do I know.
BlackFox5.0
Founding Member
Matt90GT said:
Me either. the stock brakes just suck, at least upgrade to 73mm Calipers in the front.
93 LX
Founding Member
on my 82 Capri which had 10 rotors up front when stick now wears 11 inch 93 Mustang rotors, spindles with 73mm calipers and on the reat has a 87 Turbo T-bird coupe rear disks with a 85 Mustang Master cylinder. The pedal is hard because I didnt upgrade the booster but the car stops way better then it did new and much better then my 93 mustang does now. It was a cheap upgrade, I think it was under 400 bucks with the rearend setup. Something to look at I guess...
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YardSpecial
New Member
Well Matt, U have a great site with great info.
But there is no way I can do the mod for cheep IMOP.
I hate doing things twice so everything has to be replaced and upgraded.
So the Stang stops better then stock, not racing. Thats my point.
The Baer kit is what I want, so I will drive slow till I can buy the kit.
But there is no way I can do the mod for cheep IMOP.
I hate doing things twice so everything has to be replaced and upgraded.
So the Stang stops better then stock, not racing. Thats my point.
The Baer kit is what I want, so I will drive slow till I can buy the kit.
93 LX
Founding Member
YardSpecial
New Member
93 LX
Founding Member
Well then you can get rear brakes for a 9", much cheaper. Maybe get the explorer rear disks with built in e-brake drum.
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there is not a vacuum leak( have vacuum guage on a piller) haven't had a chance to check car with vacuum line disconnected(too much snow on the ground) can the check valve that goes between the line and the booster be the problem? it just seems that replacing so many parts should help it out a little. it feels the same! i even went with hawk pads and drilled and slotted rotors! jason 89 gt 
Lightweight
New Member
jason 89gt...My car does the EXACT same thing. I can literally stand on the pedal without ANY chance at all of locking the brakes up! I ease to a stop no matter how hard I push it down. And I've got 4w discs! I've just got it back from having a 94-98 v6 master cyl installed and I gutted the stock pro valve. I guess my next move will be the booster also. This is getting ridiculous 
I moved up from my old '67 coupe to this car because I wanted a car that turned and stopped, as well as it accelerated. Much to my dismay, the old pony with manual drums stopped better than this car with 4 wheel discs! I'm going to get a 94-98 v6 booster to match the MC and see if that gets it. It's nice to know I'm not the only one with this problem...
I moved up from my old '67 coupe to this car because I wanted a car that turned and stopped, as well as it accelerated. Much to my dismay, the old pony with manual drums stopped better than this car with 4 wheel discs! I'm going to get a 94-98 v6 booster to match the MC and see if that gets it. It's nice to know I'm not the only one with this problem...
BlackFox5.0
Founding Member
A bigger booster will definately make the pedal easier to press. With my MC and booster, I have a very soft pedal, which I like, and it's very easy to lock up all 4 tires
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