Upgrade Brakes on a 2015 Ford Taurus SHO

Upgrading the brakes on your 2015 Ford Taurus SHO will improve the stopping efficiency and eliminate the "wheel shake" many SHO drivers experience from the OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) brakes. Upgrading the brakes can be accomplished by amateur mechanics. It will save you money, and when completed properly, will not only provide more efficient braking for your SHO but can also provide you with a sense of accomplishment of upgrading your own car.

Steps

Getting Started

  1. Purchase a brake upgrade kit to suit your needs. A kit to upgrade the brake pads and rotors will include brake pads for all 4 calipers and 4 rotors (2 front and 2 rear). The kit will specify which brake pads are front and rear, and which rotors are front and rear and driver or passenger side of the vehicle. The kit will also include new caliper clips and some caliper bolt grease.
  2. Move the vehicle to a safe level area. The area must have enough room to utilize the floor jack at all 4 wheels.
  3. Place the floor jack at an appropriate jacking point on the vehicle.
    • Please refer to the vehicles owners manual to ensure a proper lifting/jack point is selected
  4. Place "stop blocks" at the three remaining wheels. Place them in front and back of each wheel, to prevent the car from rolling while in the jacking process.
  5. "Break" the wheel lugs loose, using an air gun, lug wrench or ratchet and socket. This means to start the lug removal by loosening the lug until it just barely starts to loosen.
    • Do not strip the lug nuts. If a lug nut starts to "twist" without loosening, ensure the tool is properly on the lug nut. If it continues to happen, you might need to seek help from a professional shop.
    • Then when the vehicle is up on the jack stands, the car will not rock while trying to loosen an extremely tight lug nut.
    • The suggested method and the most time effective is to properly place the vehicle on the (4) jack stands and perform the brake upgrade all at once. This saves time.
  6. Jack the vehicle up until the wheel you are lifting is not touching the ground.
  7. Properly position a jack stand to support the vehicle.

Disassembling the Old Brakes

  1. Remove the lug nuts.
  2. Remove the wheel.
  3. Loosen and remove the upper caliper bolt and lower caliper bolt.
    • If you remove the caliper bolt, and it has a "brown burned" color and even smells, the caliper bolt might be going bad. Clean the caliper bolt thoroughly and inspect the surface for "pitting" and "bulging". The end of the caliper bolt has a groove and washer. Ensure the washer is in the groove. Upon inspection of the caliper bolt, if you find these symptoms, you might try to clean the caliper bolt with a wire brush and put all fresh caliper grease, or replacing the caliper bolt is the best option.
  4. Remove the caliper.
    • Use zip ties to suspend the caliper from the spring. This can help prevent damage to the caliper and the brake line.
  5. Remove the upper and lower caliber bracket mount bolts.
  6. Remove the caliper mount bracket.
  7. Remove the clips and brake pads from the caliper mount bracket. You will be replacing with new ones.
    • If you have uneven wear on the brake pads, or you have a "burned" look on the surface of the brake pad, you might have a caliper going pad, or a caliper bolt that is starting to seize up. In this situation it is recommended to inspect the caliper bolts and the caliper.
  8. Remove the Torx bolt from the front face of the rotor.
  9. Remove the rotor.

Re-Assembling the Brakes

  1. Install new rotor. Clean the mounting surface of the wheel and the hub assembly of all the corrosion and build up before installing the new rotor.
  2. Install and tighten the Torx bolt.
  3. Install the new clips received with the brake pads on the caliber mount bracket prior to installing the bracket.
    • To ease in reassembly, use a wire brush (manual or power) to clean the caliper bracket surfaces, especially the clip surfaces
  4. Reinstall the caliper mount bracket and tighten both bolts.
  5. Install the new brake pads onto the caliper mount bracket.
  6. Compress the caliper to allow the caliper to fit over the new brake pads.
    • You must loosen the brake bleeder valve before compressing the caliper or risk damaging the caliper.
  7. Install the compressed caliper.
  8. Install and tighten the caliper bolts.
    • Before installing the caliper bolts, clean the old grease off and apply a liberal amount onto the clean caliper bolt.
  9. Install the wheel onto the hub.
    • Clean the mounting surface of the wheel and the hub assembly of all the corrosion and build up before re-installing the wheel. Tip, you can apply a very small amount of anti-seize on the face of the hub to prevent some corrosion.
  10. Install and hand tighten all lug nuts, utilizing a “star pattern” method.

Finishing Up

  1. Re-position the floor-jack and lift the car off the jack-stand.
  2. Lower the jack-stand and remove from under the car.
  3. Lower the car to the ground slowly.
  4. Remove the floor jack.
  5. Use a torque wrench to tighten the lug-nuts. Again, use the “star pattern” method, to the specified torque recommended by the auto manufacturer.

Tips

  • If you are going to place the entire vehicle on all 4 jack stands at one time, it is suggested to "break" all the lug nuts on all 4 wheels, before beginning the jacking process. This will prevent extremely tight lug nuts from causing the vehicle to "rock" on the jack stands.
  • You can place a plastic hose over the bleeder valve and bleed the brake fluid into a container, or place the caliper in a position which allows it to bleed into a container while you compress it.
  • See the owner's manual for the recommended torque specification for your specific vehicle.

Warnings

  • This task does involve jacking the vehicle up and securing the vehicle with jack stands. Never work under your car without jack stands.
  • It is a good idea for amateur mechanics to inform somebody that they will be working under their car.
  • Do not do this work in the street or on an incline.
  • Property damage, personal injury, and death are possible if proper lifting and securing on jack stands is not followed.
  • Do not do this upgrade if you are leasing the vehicle.
  • If you have a manufacturers warranty still applicable, check the warranty to ensure upgrading the brakes will not void an

Things You'll Need

  • Purchased package of upgraded brake parts: Rotors, brake pads, new clips, and caliper bolt grease
  • Floor jack
  • Jack stands
  • Lug wrench to remove wheels
  • Various sizes of sockets
  • Container to catch brake fluid when compressing caliper and when bleeding the brakes.
  • Brake caliper compression socket adapter for compressing rear brakes
  • Torx bit for removing the rotor
  • Torque wrench
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