PowerStop Z23 Evolution Sport Brake Rotor and Pad Kit; Front and Rear (99-04 Mustang GT, V6)

Video Review & Installation

Justin: The PowerStop Z23 Pad and Rotor Kit that we have here today will be a solid upgrade for all '99 to '04 GT or V6 owners looking to replace those worn-out factory components, increase your stopping power, and improve the look behind your favorite set of wheels at the same time. Now, this very popular kit will include a brand new set of slotted and drilled rotors along with a new set of Z23 carbon-ceramic pads for both front and rear, all for right around that $400 price point. Install, at least according to the site, guys, is good enough to achieve a middle-of-the-road two out of three wrenches and about two hours to knock out from start to finish. But hang with me for a bit and we'll show you how it's done later in the video.Now, the Z23 kit that we have here today is not to be confused with the Z26 kit, which you can also find here on the site for roughly the same price point. Now, what's the big difference between the two? Well, I do wanna point out that your only difference really between those two kits lies with the pad itself. Now, the Z23 kit that we have here is gonna utilize a slightly less aggressive carbon-ceramic material along with a rubberized shim on the back of that pad, which will combine for a relatively noiseless and relatively dustless operation. Now, that Z26 pad, on the other hand, will utilize a more aggressive compound along with a stainless-steel shim that might produce just a little bit more noise and maybe a little bit more dust compared to the Z23 that we have here.So, now that you know the difference between PowerStop's two most popular kits for the new Edge Mustang, let's talk about the rest of the kit. And your foundation here, guys, will be the cross-drilled and slotted G3000 iron rotors which have been finished off in a silver zinc coating to help resist any rust on your non-friction surfaces. Now, that slotted and drilled design is designed to help with cooling, and PowerStop claims that surface temps are dropped nearly 180 degrees compared to Astra, a solid blank rotor, which in turn will greatly reduce fade, especially when we're talking about working your brakes hard in your GT.Now, the second part of the equation again will be that Z23 pad, which we've kind of already covered a little bit. But again, what you can expect here, guys, is that low-dust carbon ceramic compound which will offer about 20% more stopping power compared to your stock pad, along with that rubberized shim on the back which will help keep noise to an absolute minimum. Now, this kit does also include all of your hardware and lubricant needed to get everything installed, and, by the way, is backed by a three-year 36,000-mile warranty, which is pretty solid in the land of a budget brake kit.Now, as far as your install is concerned, well, I'd say pads and rotors are one of the basics of automotive wrenching. But since there is a little elbow grease involved here, site did kick things up to pretty soft two out of three wrenches on the difficulty meter, and maybe a couple of hours of your time from start to finish. But now to give you a better idea of just how this job will go down at home, here is a detailed walkthrough and tool breakdown now.Man: Tools used for this install, 1/2-inch drive ratchet, a 15-millimeter socket, a flat blade screwdriver, a 13-millimeter ratcheting wrench, and a 12-millimeter ratcheting wrench.Hey, guys, I'm gonna show you how to install our front and rear pad and rotor kit here on our '99 Mustang. So, let's get started. So, the first thing we're gonna do is uninstall our front caliper here and remove our caliper bracket that holds it in place. That way we'll get these out of the way, give us access to removing our rotor, and we'll pull our rotor off.So, now we're going to take our caliper off. By doing that, we're gonna have to remove this 12-millimeter bolt and this one up here. I'm gonna take my 12-millimeter ratcheting wrench, get it on there, and break it loose and remove it. And that's that one. Now we have one up top here. I'm gonna do the same with this one. And now I have those two out of the way. Just gonna be able to take your caliper and slide it out of the way like that.So, next, we're gonna remove our two pads here. I'm gonna take a flat blade screwdriver and just pop them out. Get this one out of the way. Same with this one. Pop the pad out of the pocket it's in. I'm gonna sit this one over there. Next, we're gonna take this bolt here and this bolt here out. That'll remove our caliper bracket, which will give us access to remove our rotor. So, now we're gonna remove these two bolts right here. They're 15 millimeters. I'm taking my 15-millimeter socket with my 1/2-inch drive ratchet, and I'm gonna break these loose. And these are on pretty tight, so you could use a breaker bar. I think ours have been off already, so I think I can break it with just this. That's one. Same on the top one. And there's two.So, now I'll remove these and get these out of our way. I'm just gonna set them up out of the way up there. Same with this one. And now I'll remove our caliper bracket. So, now we have our bracket off and our caliper. Sometimes you have to smack the rotor with a hammer. Ours have been off a couple of times. I'm just gonna have to just wiggle it and pull it right off like that. And then you're gonna wanna repeat this whole uninstall procedure on the opposite side.So, now we have our old rotor off, we're going to install our new rotor. Just gonna take it like this, slide it on. So, now we're gonna install our caliper bracket. I'm gonna push in on our rotor here, get our bracket in place. Take our 15-millimeter here and get this through, and line up with the hole. And then I've got that one started. Do the same on the bottom here and get this one started. I'm gonna run them in by hand as much as I can. Then I'm gonna take my 15-millimeter on my 1/2-inch ratchet here, tighten these up. Now, you're gonna wanna make them pretty tight. Matter of fact, you're gonna wanna look and torque them to manufacturer spec. They gotta be very tight when you put these back on.So, now what we're gonna do now we got our caliper bracket in place, we're gonna remove the old metal clips that they give us, or that worn-out caliper here because in the kit, they give us new ones here, like this one here. We're gonna put this on. I'm just gonna pop down into place like that. Same with the upper one. I'm gonna get this one in place. Sometimes you gotta just bend the tab a little bit just like that. There it goes. And now with those two in place, what we're gonna do next, so I'm gonna bring the caliper over here. And I'm going to explain how to push the pistons back in the caliper.So, what you're gonna do to push these pistons back is I usually take an old brake pad, stick it in place like this. Then you're gonna want to grab a C-clamp or a large pair of channel locks and squeeze back each side till you get both pistons completely back. As you can see, ours are already back. But if you just use a C-clamp, put it in the center, get it in the back of the caliper here, tighten it up, you'll be able to push them back. That'll allow you to get this onto our new brake pads when we go to install the caliper.So, before we put our pads on, we're gonna take some of the graphite they give us. I'm gonna squeeze it out here and put it on our pad. Here we go. And I'm just gonna smear it around. Take some of it and put it over here. It's gonna be right where the pistons ride or the back plate of the caliper rides. And then you're gonna just wanna repeat this same procedure on the other new brake pad. So, now we'll install our brake pads. I'm just gonna push it down into place here. Same up top here. Get it started. Push it up against the rotor like that. And we'll install our front one same way just like that.Now we'll install our caliper. So, now we're just gonna take a caliper and install this back into place. And I'm gonna take my two 12-millimeter bolts, run these in. Same on the top one here. Get that started. I'm gonna take my 12-millimeter ratcheting wrench, tighten these up. Now, you're gonna wanna repeat this whole same install procedure on the opposite side.So, now I'm gonna show you how to remove our rotor here on the back and our caliper and caliper bracket. First thing we're gonna do is get a 13-millimeter and remove our caliper, then we'll remove our bracket. So, now we're gonna remove our caliper. I'll take my 13-millimeter ratcheting wrench here and remove these two bolts right here. That's one. I'm gonna get up here to the top one. That's two. And I'm just gonna wiggle the caliper a little bit. I'm gonna pull it off and sit it out of the way like that. That'll give us access to our pads, which I'm just gonna slide out, one like that, and push the second one out just like that too.So, now we're gonna take off these two bolts here that hold our caliper bracket on. I got my 15-millimeter socket on my 1/2-inch drive ratchet, and I'm just gonna break these loose. That's one. And same with the bottom one. I'm just gonna pull these two bolts out. There we go. And we'll remove our caliper bracket. So, now we got our caliper and caliper bracket off, we're gonna be able to remove our rotor. Now, sometimes you might have to smack your rotor with a hammer to get it off. This one is ready to come right off just like that. Now, you're gonna wanna repeat this whole same uninstall procedure on the opposite side.Now that we have everything removed, we're going to start by reinstalling our new rotor here. I'm gonna just take it, slide it into place like that. Next, we'll install our caliper bracket. So, next, we're gonna install our caliper bracket. I'm just gonna get it in place here. Start my two 15-millimeter bolts. And start the one on the bottom here and get that in place. And then I'm gonna take my 15-millimeter on my 1/2-inch ratchet, tighten these up. And they're gonna have to be pretty tight, so you're gonna wanna tighten those two or torque these, I should say, to manufacturer spec.So, now on our rear caliper, to get our piston to go back, there's two little nubs inside the piston here. And what you're gonna wanna do is go to your local auto parts store or your tool guy, whatever, and you'll be able to buy a caliper tool that will go into here and you'll be able to screw it back. And your piston actually screws back inside. Now, as you can see, ours is already back. But you're gonna wanna put that tool, take it in, get your piston all the way back so you can put your new pads on, and that way, your caliper will go on pretty easily and slide in and out.So, next, before we put our pads on, we're gonna put our new clips on that come in the kit. I don't know if you can see them, but they look like that right there. And they're just gonna go on like that. And press on the ends of the pads. So, you're gonna put two on this, and then two on the other one. And then once we get those all installed, I'll put these on this one quick and pop them right on like that. Now, once we get those all installed, what we're gonna do again, take our graphite that we have. I'm gonna squeeze some out, and I'm gonna smear some of this on the back of this pad. And then the same with this pad. That'll help it from squealing. So, now that we have this all done, we're ready to install our pads.So, now we're gonna take our pads, slide them back in place here. We might have to push down on the tab to get it to slide like that. That's that one. Same with the front one. Try to put the bottom in and push down, and then push the little tab in up top here. Now that we have our pads in, we'll install our caliper. So, now we're gonna take our caliper, reinstall it onto our pads. There we go.And if you notice, our pads have two little spring clips on the top. Just gonna wanna make sure you get those and push them down like that. And then start our bolts. Sometimes you gotta tap it. And now that I have them both started, I'm gonna take my 13-millimeter ratcheting wrench, tighten these up. Same with the top one. And now you're gonna wanna just repeat this whole install procedure on the opposite side.That wraps up this review and install of our PowerStop Z23 Evolution Sport Brake Rotor and Pad Kit, Front and Rear for '99 to '04 Mustang GTs and V6 models. Thanks for watching. And for all things Mustang, keep it right here at americamuscle.com.