[Highball116]

I made the leap and replaced my rear drums with ST discs, following threads here on the site. As someone who never had rear discs before, the first thing I noticed was the improved parking brake. The handle is a lot stiffer than the drum setup, and when it's applied, I can't move the car at all. The cables were grueling to install. The car brakes just like it did. I'm just looking forward to easier maintenance in the future.

If anyone has questions about the conversion, I'm happy to answer. I noticed there isn't really a full how-to anywhere here. I did use an impact, but otherwise no fancy tools.

Toby

 

[rambleon84]

Yeah the install isnt so bad, maybe a little bit time consuming the first time. I bet if i had to do all again on another focus i would be able to do it much quicker (especially since i have an impact now and did the job without.)

Hopefully you wont have to do maintenance on them for a long time now []

 

[felixthecat]

Awesome, you going to do the easy bolt on svt front brakes?

 

[Highball116]

Nah, I decided to pass by the SVT option. I would have to buy new rims, which would break the bank. The main reason I did the conversion was not for performance, but for easier and cheaper maintenance at home. For most repairs I have to get my car to the bus garage I used to work at, over an hour from our current home.

Toby

 

[JFrye]

I loved my old zx3 when I did the conversion. Felt like the braking power was a little better, and it looks cooler. Lol.

Can't wait for warmer weather to do the full SVT swap on my current zx3

 

[DoctorJ]

I assume the rear discs will clear the stock 15" rims? Will the 2005 front brakes clear 15" rims?

 

[sailor]

Yeah, the '05 up front brakes were once sold with the SVT rears as the "Rally" brake pkg. for the express purpose of fitting under 15" wheels.

 

[Highball116]

Speaking of that, when I bought these parts, everyone on the Focus Facebook group got into an argument about brake bias with the ST versus SVT discs. One guy was adamant that the larger SVT rears paired with the stock 2005 fronts would have the same brake bias as the smaller ST rears paired with the same. Only one guy disagreed with him with the same gusto. Personally I agree with the latter -- I don't see how the bias could be the same in both setups. For safety's sake, I would either use all ST or all SVT, not a mix of the two.

Edit: 2005-2007 fronts are the same in the S, SE, SES, and ST.

Toby

 

[rambleon84]

I used my stock 07 fronts with the SVT rear setup for close to a year before i upgraded to SVT fronts. Now, I never track the car but in my spirited driving (and hooning in the snow) I never had an issue with the brake bias between the two setups where I was worried about the back end coming around.

Now the seasoned track rat will be able to speak to it more precisely than me if they had issues at the limits. I can say in daily driving and spirited driving i did not have an issue with the 07 fronts and svt rears (both setups used green stuff pads all around.)

 

[felixthecat]

Why would you want to run 15'' wheels & pass on the svt front brakes?

 

[Highball116]

Because I don't have money spilling out of my pockets?