Vorshlag has offered "ducted hose" style brake cooling backing plates, inlet ducts, and tubing for a number of cars for many years - and we still do. This is how everyone cooled the brakes for track use for many decades. Well there are issues doing that, namely the corrugated hose has some serious flow restrictions and the tires and wheels can rub holes in them. But there is another way...
This is our brake "deflector" cooling kit for the S197 Mustang (2005-2014) for the 14" Brembo or larger kits. This is modeled after the 2015 Mustang GT Performance Pack brake deflector design - which were much smaller versions of these. This kit also fits the following brakes:
- 2011-14 Boss302/Track Pack/GT500 14" dia 4 piston Brembo brakes (shown)
- Aftermarket 14" and 15" big brake kits
- 2013-14 GT500 15" dia 6 piston Brembo brakes
These deflectors might not work with 12" or 13" 2 piston brakes on earlier GT and V6 Mustangs. We have not tested them with those brakes.
How do they work? The incoming airflow from *brake inlet ducts and tunnels in the front fascia as well as from under the car feed air to these air deflectors, which then pump air inside the rotor hat. You will need to remove the factory dust shields inside the rotors, obviously. This massive volume of air cools the hubs then the vanes inside the vented rotors pull air through like an air pump, which cools the rotors and pads. It works surprisingly well. On our S550 in track testing, this design worked better than our 4" ducted hose brake cooling.
These deflectors are built 100% in-house here at Vorshlag. This version takes considerably longer to form the aluminum, create the L-shaped steel bracket, then rivet together than our S550 versions - and is priced accordingly. Remember: There are no 3" or 4" corrugated "consumable" brake cooling hoses needed. These hoses can get smashed by tires while near steering lock, and have to be replaced regularly. This kit is still less costly than our ducted backing plate + hose kits.
BRAKE INLET DUCTS OR TUNNELS
The brake deflectors need to be fed cooling air from a high pressure sources, such as the front of the car or tunnels in an undertray or splitter.
Brake inlet ducts can be fashioned from the factory fog light housings, such as the OEM 2010-12 CS / Boss 302 lower grill insert (above), aftermarket inlet ducts like we sell for the 2013-14 GT, or any other combination you can think of.
Above is the backside of the 2010-12 CS fog light opening with a short length of 4" tubing added. A smooth hose or tubing on the back side of the inlet duct through the fender liner is needed to direct air towards the deflector.
Alternatively a well placed "tunnel" molded into an undertray or added to a splitter can feed as much or more air to the deflectors.
The example above is a splitter we built with tunnels (or ramps) that feed these production S197 deflectors. It works WELL. See our S550 Brake Deflector Kit for ideas on tunnels.
NOTES:
- This deflector is made to fit around an OEM S197 spindle, OEM lower control arm, and with the OEM height control arm ball joint.
- This deflector is made to fit around OEM and most aftermarket struts
- We have seen interference when used with Ground Control struts, which have "longer than stock" mounting ears at the spindle mount
- Other struts with unusual mounting ears or "kicked" designs to "add camber" might also cause interference (Cortex, etc) when mounting this deflector
- Taller than stock control arm ball joints can also cause interference
- This is the warning - any weird geometry around the spindle, strut or control arm can cause interference and might require modification to the Vorshlag brake deflector or mounting bracket
INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS
Installing the Vorshlag S197 brake deflector kit is easy if you have the factory lower control arms. We designed this on a car with the factory 14" diameter rotors and 4 piston Brembos but it works on virtually any 14" or larger rotor setup on S197 Mustangs that use the factory front control arm. First step is to remove the factory dust shield on the back side of the rotors.
We designed these to mount with a bracket on the backside that fits over the lip of the stock LCA, and then a mounting slot that bolts through the factory lightening hole in the arm.
Slip the bracket over the arm and line up the hole on the arm with the bracket, as shown above.
The steel bracket has a slotted hole, which allows you to adjust the placement of the deflector left to right. This way you can adjust the location of the deflector slightly to get the optimum clearance. Check the steering at full lock with the suspension raised in the air.
The oversized washer takes up the difference in the 14mm hole in the arm and the 8mm bolt/nut hardware included in this mounting kit. Once you have the lateral location locked down, tighten the nut and bolt to 20 ft-lbs. If you drive the car and hear any noises, adjust the deflector further away from the back of the rotor.
