Thanks Tosh/bdcardinal. I know that Honda requires the grease.
1. ya i either use NAPA Syl-Glide or CRC Synthetic Brake Caliper lubricant(its green). i use them on the back of the pads and on the sides of the pads where they contact the caliper. also use them on any moving slides. all fasteners get installed dry, no loctite, and torqued.
2. generally i am completely against turning brake rotors. my feeling is that if they got warped at thickness X, then machining .020" or more off of them will cause them to warp easier. if a rotor is not warped i will generally do a very slight cut, maybe take off .004-.006" total or else just leave them. i much prefer to install new rotors, especially on setups where the bearings ride inside the hub and the hub and rotor are all 1 piece.
when i do turn rotors, i either use a special 120grit brake rotor hone and then wipe with a wet then dry paper towel, or else a 1000 grit sandpaper scrubbed hard on the rotor to create the effect of a non directional finish and then clean off.
On my cars i do pads and rotors at the same time. when i change the rotors, i put anti-seize on the hubface to prevent sticking.
3. the current pads on my mustang are Galpher front and Varga rear. they were the pads that came with the calipers, i have a Brembo 4 piston front and 04 cobra rear setup. i have a set of Hawk HPS pads waiting to go int that i want to try out. i might end up using those for street and getting a Carbotech or Porterfield for a track pad. i also am installing brake cooling ducts, as i somehow warped my front rotors the last time i went to the track.
i also have a 2000 Mercury Grand Marquis. i went cheap the last time i did brake work and got the cheapo Satisfied pads from tire rack. they stop well, however they squeal louder than my front mustang brakes after a hotlap session. when i do brakes again on that car i plan on getting Brembo black rotors from tirerack and either CarQuest Gold pads or Ford OEM pads.
for rotors i much prefer the Brembo blanks as they have a very high quality. the Centric brand is what one of our suppliers from wor uses and they seem to work well. we use Wagner ThermoQuiet as our in stock brake parts and i hate them. their only redeeeming value is that their pads do not use the squeal shims, they have extra material in the backing plate that take up space. they are ok on most cars, but i have had random comebacks for noise that only an OEM pad or a CarQuest gold pad will fix.
on my mustang i generally dont mind the noise, its my daily driver and i would rather have hard grip with little fade. i dont mind the dust either cause i have wheels that are very easy to clean. also that car has a Bassani offroad X pipe, no cats, so its very loud and that muffles most of the suspension and brake noise, i have coilovers. plus i want a pad that will last a 30minute hotlap session with little to no fade. with the setup i have now i was one of 3 cars in my rungroup that could go the whole session without fade, one was a 2000 Cobra R with the same setup i have(OEM on that car) and the other was a 2003 cobra with a Willwood 6piston front, 4 piston rear setup with full cooling ducting.
on the grand marquis, the noise is #@$%! me off, so thats why i am leaning towards the carquest or maybe akebono. i generally avoid autozone/kragen/pep boys for brake parts because i have seen very poor quality in some of their stuff.
for brake fluid, both of the cars get Valvoline Syntec DOT3/4. ive been impressed by the fluid and would really only consider that or Castrol GTLMA. i have a thing against mailordering fluids. both cars have speed bleeders and get a flush every year. the mustang gets a caliper flush after a track day.
