Disc Brake System Rebuild/Replacement/Servicing // 02.2024

[NEURO]

1997 Ford Thunderbird LX Sport
A couple weeks ago, finally finished rebuilding/replacing/servicing The Car's brake system...and I'm still alive...although I hurt so much after two weeks of this and The Car being offline.

The work was documented with photos & commentary that are on Google Photos, in case it helps anyone.
Link: https://photos.app.goo.gl/MPUWX8G8nFTHWTog7

Special thanks to @supergordo (Gordon) & another friend for their help, food, coffee, and extra pair of hands when I needed them or ran into issues.

Afterwards, it was time to grill some beef for dinner.
Because that's what heroes do

 

[supergordo]

She sure is Pretty!

 

[KevinVarnes]

Beautiful car. Not a ton of great pads available for the rears of these.

 

[NEURO]

Beautiful car. Not a ton of great pads available for the rears of these.

Went with the Duralast Gold Semi-Metallic for the rear pads.
They don't make Gold's for the Sport fronts, so went with the ACDelco Professional Semi-Metallic.

I wanted more than just basic SM, which is why I chose them. I have no idea how good they are or how long they'll last, but I typically pop for Motorcraft or higher-tier products for The Car. There aren't too many factory original Sports in this condition around any longer, so I keep her in the best shape I can.

But she only sees about 1000-1500 miles/year, so it'll be a very long time before they're replaced again.
I probably could have gotten another 10K miles...or another 5-10 years out of the original brakes at that rate, but after almost 30 years of service...and a few panic stops that were weak...I knew I had let the brakes go too long and had overstayed my bang for the buck value on the factory ones.

 

[Grog6]

PBR swap, then pads are varied and numerous, lol. Also powerstop makes drilled rotors that look really cool.