Mitchell,
Let me first preface my thoughts with the disclaimer you are certainly free to do any brake modifications to your car as you see fit. But let me offer a countering opinion to those given above.
The Brembo OE brakes and Ferodo pads Ford supplied on our GT are pretty darn good for 98% of the ownership population. Understand Ford’s perspective from a liability stand point when it comes to releasing a 200+ mph capable auto to the general public. You want to make certain the car has good high speed handling/stability as well as speed rated capacity in the tires and brakes. Ford did just that. Improvements can ALWAYS be made but at what cost and compromises on other brake attributes (noise, dust, cold stopping power, wear, etc.).
Those owners who want an ultimate track car are willing to compromise brake attributes to achieve their modified (relative to OE) design goals. Stormy’s brakes are fantastic adaptations of the Corvette brakes onto the FGT. Andy’s Padgid pads do squeak, but he does not mind. All well and good to tailor the car to your liking.
Your post indicates your use “Would be primarily for street driving, and a possible upcoming road event.” And you really do not want noisy track pads. Given these goals, I would stick with the OE Brembo calipers, rotors and Ferodo pads. I have tracked my GT a number of times and the brakes way exceed my expectations.
Remember too during new vehicle certification, the GT was put through the AMS-DSTOP test. This test consisted of-
1) Accelerate the car to 80% of Vmax or 164 mph.
2) Stop as quickly as possible at threshold ABS intervention.
3) Upon stopping, immediately accelerate to 61+ mph and again stop as quickly as possible.
4) Repeat this accel/stop cycle to 61+ mph for 9 more consecutive times. Thus ten total times after the Vmax stop.
5) For acceptance the car shall not demonstrate any brake fade. The GT brakes passed this test.
Oh, and by the way the last three accel/stop cycles were the shortest stopping distance recorded during the test.
It is my belief you could not detect any “noticeable improvement” between slotted vs. drilled rotors. And titanium shims are installed between the caliper pistons and the brake pad to restrict heat flow from the pad into the pistons of the caliper. This is supposed to lower brake fluid operating temperatures which it probably does to some extent. Remember too all the FGT certification testing was done with every day (low cost relative to SRF fluid) DOT 3 Motorcraft fluid (500F dry/284F wet boiling point). I echo the above advice, change out your brake fluid at least annually if you track you car and you can find a number of good brake fluids with higher dry/wet boiling points than the Motorcraft fluid without the high SRF price tag. But the SRF fluid (608F dry/518F wet) IS the best brake fluid choice if money is no object.
Hope this helps!
