Brakes
If you run the Sport-Technology (ST) Explorer hard, and are tired of brake fade, you might want to look into a brake upgrade. Brake upgrades range from just a rotor and pad change, all the way to 8-piston caliper, 405-MM rotor brake kits.
Stock Brake Upgrade
Stainless Steel Brake Lines
A good brake system upgrade, whether you have a BBK (usually they should come with SS lines) or stock brakes are a set of Stainless-Steel Brake Lines. Stock rubber lines will swell and stretch when pushed hard, causing a mushy brake feel, diminishing brake feel, and poor braking. Stainless steel brake lines will not do that, and improve brake feel, and slow down brake fade.
PowerStop Z23
An option other then OEM rotors and pads is the PowerStop Z23 system. It includes slotted and drilled rotors (which look neat behind the wheels), and performance pads. It is a great looking upgrade, however you will not see any brake distance or fade improvements though.
Big Brake Kit
BBK is going to be the ultimate brake upgrade option. It will practically eliminate brake fade, improve braking distance, and improve brake pedal feel, not to mention look awesome behind the wheels.
Shelby GT350 Front Brake Kit + Adapter Brackets
One of the best just-front BBK is the GT350 front brake upgrade. To work, this uses the stock GT350 6-piston calipers, 15.5-IN. rotors, and adapter brackets from Tony Hernandez on Facebook. It is a great kit for a great price, and costs just less than $1,700 if you use the GT350R brakes (which are red) and less than $1,500 if you use the regular GT350 brakes (which are black). If you are still using stock wheels, then you need to use 3/4” spacers, which isn’t all bad. If you bump that up to 1” spacers, it will give the stock 21″ wheels a perfect stance, flush with the fenders. Sadly, you can’t use the rear GT350 brakes since they aren’t compatible with our electronic parking brake in the rear.
GT500 Front Brakes + Adapter Brackets
Just like the GT350 Brake swap, the 2020-23 GT500 brakes will swap over very easily. Using the massive stock GT500 6-piston calipers, 16.5-In. rotors, and adapters from Tony Hernandez, this is an awesome upgrade, my personal favorite.
Trackhawk Front Calipers + Racing Brake Rotors and Mounting Hardware
Another just-front BBK choice is using Trackhawk Front Calipers and Racing Brakes Rotors and Hardware. This is comparative to the GT350 swap, but is probably $1k more. The rotors and hardware from RB alone WITHOUT the calipers is the price of the whole GT350 brake swap. It would be a good option if it wasn’t for the extra price, but the GT350 or GT500 brakes are a better option.
SuperForged
SuperForged is the best choice if you want to go all out with a front and rear BBK. SuperForged’s brake kit includes 405-MM front rotors clamped by 6-piston calipers, 380-MM rear rotors clamped by 4-piston brakes, stainless steel brake lines, all the mounting hardware, and an 1-piston caliper for the parking brake (although there is a $100 option to integrate the parking brake into the caliper, which I assume saves unsprung weight). This kit retails for a fair value of $3,800 at time of writing.
Rotora
This is the ultimate bragging rights kit. Rotora has many options for BBK, but they all come at a price. All feature 8-piston front calipers and 4-piston calipers in the rear. The kit is just too expensive. The price for a front kit alone is the price of a front and rear Superforged kit. The performance benefit is not better either. In this case, bigger and more expensive is not better.
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Explorer ST Enthusiasts 