Subject: 
Focus Brakes


Tue, 19 Oct 2004 09:32:20 -0700
Date:    





Hi, just wanted to respond to your site and give you some valid info. First
of all, I am a highly qualified automotive technician. I spent over 15 years
restoring and repairing all types of cars, primarily specialising in
European cars. I am in no way defending Ford here, just want you to have
some valid information that you can make your case with. I did not read all
of the articles posted by Ford owners, only the two specifically related to
Ford brakes. I owned a 2001 Focus SE that I purchased with 22,000 miles on
it. The pads on the front of the car needed to be replaced within 12,000
miles. This is totally abnormal wear for brake pads. There was a class
action lawsuit files in California regarding this. Ford did institute a TSB
for this (not a recall). The primary problem in this matter was the use of
non-asbestos brake pads (EPA requirement). In the changover period, and in
the search for an economical solution I am certain that Ford experimented
with many different compositions on brake lining material. Unfortunately
asbestos is the best and most durable. They are also the most quiet. The
standard replacement for asbetos is semi-metallic, these types of pads tend
to squeal horribly if not properly "chamferred" and grooved (this consists
of grinding a 45 degree angle on the edges of the pads and cutting a
straight groove on the center of the pad to catch the metallic particles as
they come off the pad, higher quality pads are already made this way) I
suspect your 2003 Focus owner had this problem: Bought an early 2003/late
2002 Focus with the low quality pads on the car, wore them out, had the
rotors turned and had a cheap semi-metallic replacement installed at the
dealer, resulting in the brake squeal and probably a softer pedal than the
car initially had. I replace brake pads and/or shoes at 20,000 miles
religiously (don't care what kind of car it is) and I never have rotors
machined. The edge of ALL brake rotors and drums have a 45 degree angle
machined on them, when that portion of the rotor/drum is gone, the part is
no longer of any use. For some reason they do not include this on the ASE
tests, it is purely a manufacturing standard. Therefore most "Qualified"
technicians have no idea that this is an issue, so when they machine rotors
they are often uneven or out of spec. I have literally seen this several
hundred times. I do have a 2003 Focus, I paid 23,000 for the car. It has
19,000 miles on it and the brake pads have more than 60% left on them, they
are getting replaced within the mext 1000 miles regardless, the rotors will
not be machined. It is a very late model 2003 with AdvanceTrac and has had
no problems (this is of course a limited production Focus, built in the
U.S.A. many of them are built in Mexico, the V.I.N. will identify this)as of
yet. In your case, this is a very simple problem. 1 of 2 things have occured
with this car. Either the brake booster has ultimately failed (when boosters
fail they either lose ALL power braking capability and force you to use the
master cylinder manually, or they create intense vacuum, possibly from a bad
one way check valve that causes them to dramatically apply the brakes on all
fours), or the master cylinder has leaked into the brake booster (improper
brake fluid will destory a master cylinder in short order, ABS requires DOT
5) causing the rubber to swell and create excessive vacuum within the
booster. I would suspect the check valve being bad or the vacuum hose being
improperly routed. I once had a Dodge RAM pickup in my shop that had a
perplexing electrical problem. It had been to several dealers and finally
made it to me (a specialty shop), after some extensive investigation we
determined: 1)The car was built in Mexico 2)The car had the wrong wiring
harness installed for the rear half of the car (just an example), this was
the root of the problem and the dealer(s) could not solve the problem with
all of their gadgets and tools. In your case I would demand that Ford
replace the brake booster, master cylinder, and repair the damage caused by
the accident, or tell them to replace the car (new warranty included) and
you'll drop it. I would also check to see if the car was made in Mexico. If
it was, I would avoid that in the future. Just a long winded tip on brakes
and manufacturing of automoblies. Hope this helps you in your situation.
Good Luck and best wishes to you. P.S. You may logon on to
www.focusfanatics.com for helpful info, but I do caution you to take this
info with a grain of salt, I have visited the site a few times and got some
good info (brake problem and lawsuit), and a lot of bad info.

Sincerely,

	thefiatek