My First Two Emergency Stops and The Difference Between Them

[Lefty]

I drive a 2003 3.0 Ranger Edge.

I've driven a lot of different pickups over the years and notice they all share the same handling characteristics. They are light in the back and heavier in the front. They pitch downward when we make an emergency stop which in turn puts more pressure on the brakes in front. I've never liked this. I've also never liked having to turn even just a little to avoid a collision. Trucks tip sharply with sharp turns. Granted, most trucks come with sway bars, but they are too soft in my opinion.

I've driven cars that handle really well. They handle emergency moves with little or no problem.

My first emergency stop with the Ranger was typical in all of these ways. I decided to upgrade.

I upgraded to larger Cooper tires roughly 30 inches in diameter with treads slightly more than ten inches wide. Many memnbers here have done the same. I lowered the truck one inch. The Edge comes with a three inch lift, giving me a very modest gain. I installed a 1" sway bar in the front and a pair of leaf spring clamps in the back. I noticed the difference right away. The truck stays level when going around corners...The tire treads stay more or less level to the road. That gives me more traction everywhere and all around.

I also installed slotted cross drilled rotors which gave me greater stopping power.

All that work came into play on my second emergency stop. The truck did not pitch downward when I hit the brakes. Those rotors did their job. I felt my body push forward and even a little upward even. Instinctively I looked into the rearview mirror. The car behind me was not having the same good luck. I looked into the side mirror and noticed I had a small opening so I took it and cut the wheels pretty hard. Still no sway.

I got out of there entirely unscathed. Those in front and those behind me were not so lucky. My truck handled better than the cars. some of you might argue that those rotors might crack some day or wear the pads out faster. Some of you may not light a stiffer sway bar in front. Most of you may not see the need for leaf spring clamps. some of you may have tried one thing or another. But in my case I know that each of these mods worked all together. I'm pleased. I cannot recommend them ehough.

 

[SenorNoob]

Nicely done. It's always the little things that make the most difference.

 

[Lefty]

Nicely done. It's always the little things that make the most difference.

I'm no mechanic. I just followed all of the good upgrade advice that's been offered here. That 3.0 liter v6 really can't be modified much nor can it be done cheaply. Suspension, however, is a totally different story. We can do a lot for cheap.

 

[JoshT]

Congratz on the upgrades paying off, however...

You changed a bunch of things between first emergency stop and second emergency stop. I posit that your second stop would have been exactly the same, of possibly better, with plain rotors installed. Crediting the slotted rotors could simply be confirmation bias. We'll never know because outside of a controlled environment, you can not establish repeatability of the incident. A true emergency stop isn't something that can really be tested in a controlled environment at all because it is influenced by the very fact that it is being tested. Ya, know that pesky quantium mechanics crap.

What really matters is that you are happy with the results.

 

[Lefty]

Congratz on the upgrades paying off, however...

You changed a bunch of things between first emergency stop and second emergency stop. I posit that your second stop would have been exactly the same, of possibly better, with plain rotors installed. Crediting the slotted rotors could simply be confirmation bias. We'll never know because outside of a controlled environment, you can not establish repeatability of the incident. A true emergency stop isn't something that can really be tested in a controlled environment at all because it is influenced by the very fact that it is being tested. Ya, know that pesky quantium mechanics crap.

What really matters is that you are happy with the results.

You are very right about the rotors and everything else. This writing is more about subjective experience, the seat of the pants, real world applications, not road and track tests.

I seldom notice the new rotors unless I haul heavy loads and stop at highway speeds. Any kind of rotors seem to work just fine in "normal" day-to-day routines. I'm sure there must be plenty of data to prove they work. Whether or not they are worth the time and the money is entirely a subjective choice.

The same is true for the rest of these changes. Some, especially off road drivers and rock climbers, do not want a lower, stiffer ride. Some prefer bigger tires, opting for improved mileage and acceleration instead.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Yup, I have a collection of vehicles with differing suspension work. My Choptop I have a front sway bar that is held by pins so I can disconnect it for off-road. Personal opinion, my spring setup is a bit stiff for ideal off-road use. Even for that, it’s like riding a playground spring toy on the road. It’s stable enough, especially on 12.5” wide tires (10.5” wide felt too tippy). It stops rather well, even running the original 9” drums in the back I could lock up the tires and skid to a stop on 35” tires (did it once, came roaring around a bend on a back road doing 45 mph to find stopped traffic letting a biker convoy into a bar, locked up all four big tires and came skidding to a halt so fast I thought I was gonna go through the windshield even with my seatbelt). With the 4.0 and manual, it is actually capable of barking the tires on a hard downshift.

My F-150 handles better than the Choptop even with no sway bars, but a race truck it’s not. The 1-ton suspension is what keeps it planted. It’s a plodding beast. It plods along empty or loaded just the same and it’s not fast at anything. It’s roar and front bumper is usually enough to keep people far enough away though. I’m not fully set on what upgrades it will get beyond some engine work and long arms for the front suspension yet.

My green Ranger is the one that has been moving towards street performance. I don’t have drilled/slotted rotors and my suspension isn’t fully finalized yet. Plus I still don’t have rims and tires, which I’m wanting some 18” Explorer rims and get a tire size of around 29” tall and 10-12” wide, whatever that works out to in metric tire size. What I have done so far has resulted in some nice rewards. Rear is the Explorer 8.8” with disk brakes that I kept as spring-under and retained the Explorer stuff. I built heavy leaf packs and did pack clamps on front and rear of the packs, moved the passenger side shock mount on the frame of the Ranger to the rear so I could use the Explorer shock mounts and put both shocks in the rear like the Explorer plus stuffed the Explorer rear sway bar on. I think I need to make an adjustment to it yet. Rear is lowered around 4” I’m guessing. I have the front as low as I can get it, but it’s less than ideal still. In that form, performance over stock was huge. I could rail around bends fast enough to worry friends. It performs better than a lot of stock vehicles of any type. I finally added the traction bars from the Explorer before the TRS 25th and the difference that made was impressive. Not only did it make it much more planted, but I stopped hammering the rear bump stops frequently. It’s capable of a very planted feeling 4-wheel drift by cornering hard and popping the throttle. I think that’s incredible for a truck. Especially one that appears like a normal older Ranger.

 

[Lefty]

If I remember correctly I took some of my upgrade cues from you. Way back when, I felt pretty good butying 10 1/2 " tires, but next time around, I would prefer 11 1/2". You have 4 leaf spring clamps?

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

If I remember correctly I took some of my upgrade cues from you. Way back when, I felt pretty good butying 10 1/2 " tires, but next time around, I would prefer 11 1/2". You have 4 leaf spring clamps?

Yup, since I didn’t have a factory pack clamp after building my own packs and I wanted it tight, I put a clamp front and rear on the packs.

I know we talked about wider tires and the Explorer front sway bar. Think I forgot to put that in my list above, but I have the big Explorer front sway bar. My 31x10.5r15 tires that are currently on the Ranger rub and I can feel sidewall flex, so I need something stiffer for tire/rim

 

[Lefty]

I bought 15" wheels. Maybe I should have bought larger. I kept my tire size aroun 30". It feels pretty good. There is no rub. I'm going to try the extra spring clamps though. One clamp 6" in front pf the axle and another six inches behind?

I do have an explorer sway bar, butnwith those clamps I didn't think I needed it.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Yup, since I didn’t have a factory pack clamp after building my own packs and I wanted it tight, I put a clamp front and rear on the packs.

I know we talked about wider tires and the Explorer front sway bar. Think I forgot to put that in my list above, but I have the big Explorer front sway bar. My 31x10.5r15 tires that are currently on the Ranger rub and I can feel sidewall flex, so I need something stiffer for tire/rim

Meanwhile I am over here loving how my 31x10.5R15's ride over the lower profile 17's and 18's on my other rigs.

 

[Lefty]

Meanwhile I am over here loving how my 31x10.5R15's ride over the lower profile 17's and 18's on my other rigs.

You're making my day

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Meanwhile I am over here loving how my 31x10.5R15's ride over the lower profile 17's and 18's on my other rigs.

Except those aren’t lowered street performance rigs so… yeah…

I still like running 15” rims on what I can

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Except those aren’t lowered street performance rigs so… yeah…

I still like running 15” rims on what I can

Exactly, I would much love to go to a smaller wheel. My F-150 lives on crappy pavement and gravel, its autocross performance potential means nothing to me.

Whatever you want to call them, I don't care for the choppier "sporty" ride of lower profile tires.

 

[MaicoDoug]

Wider tires aren't as important as the rubber compound. They both act together, sometimes not in favor of the change. Wider is not always better. Suspension systems are that, a system. One small adjustment can make a huge difference as applied in different conditions. Every variable has its own dynamics. I do know this however, I never discount the quality of tires & brakes. Usually get the best. Overall, safety is one, and discount is last. (the first loser). The word "best" is a loaded term. Rubber (neoprene) is old at 5 years.

I also saved some $$ (over the stealership) and installed some aftermarket Wilwood 6 piston brakes on my 2013 F-150. This plus a 2 inch lift on the front with a set of Bilstein shocks, which work incredibly well, combined with some "A" temp rated tires. A huge and safe upgrade. But the mall crawlers aren't impressed, oh well.

When you drive a "trophy truck" you know the ones that go 100mph in the desert, fly like superman off the jumps, land on a dime & give you 9 cents change? Dangerous as hell driven on the street. But off road, nothing better. I'd still like to drive one on the street however, I'd figure it out...

In factory trim seems that everything is made to work barely, but it always works in all conditions, barely.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Exactly, I would much love to go to a smaller wheel. My F-150 lives on crappy pavement and gravel, its autocross performance potential means nothing to me.

Whatever you want to call them, I don't care for the choppier "sporty" ride of lower profile tires.

I always wanted a lowered street truck (also always want a lifted off-road rig, hence the Choptop). Around here the most the green Ranger will see is some rather nice dirt roads (rarely), varying degrees of pavement quality (we are talking PennDot here, lol) and some gravel driveways. I don’t want it lowered any more than it has been because any lower will likely result in a lot of bottom scraping and stuff. That’s accounting for the extra inch of lowering I’ll get from changing the tires and finishing getting the front fully down. I want the shorter and stiffer sidewalls for performance even though it will ride more like a brick. I’m willing to accept that for what I want out of the truck.

My intent for the green Ranger was a run-around and play toy. If I need something with a better ride or to do stuff other than rip up the pavement, I have those. Because I’m not trying to build a comfy dd commuter, I can go more towards the extreme ends on the toys.