TESTED: PROTEX BRAKES
A SET OF PROTEX BRAKE ROTORS AND PADS GO ON THE 4X4AU RANGER.
FOUR-WHEEL drives are often called upon to haul heavy loads over all sorts of terrain, and while your truck might have the grunt to do the job easily, you have to ask if it has the stopping power to pull it all up under brakes. Brake system upgrades are a good idea for any 4x4 vehicle and can be done without any major modification or re-engineering. Brake rotors and pads of a better quality and design than standard are all that’s needed with no further mods.
A lot of folks seem to think that Ford Rangers fall short in the stopping department, especially when towing heavy trailers, so we jumped on the opportunity to fit some uprated pads and rotors to our vehicle.
We got a set of replacement brake pads and rotors from Protex, a brand you will find in many major automotive parts retailers. There are direct replacement parts that should be able to be fitted by anyone who is handy on the tools, but, remember, this is your vehicle’s brakes! If in doubt about anything, have them fitted by a qualified mechanic; taking a guess on brakes is not worth a gamble.
The Protex Ultra 4WD brake pads use a ceramic compound to help keep dust down while maintaining good brake performance. For the greenies out there, the Protex pads do not contain any copper, which they tell us is better for the environment as the copper dust is damaging to waterways.
Who’d have thought, eh?
The Protex Ultra 4WD brake rotors use a high-carbon compound in the metal that is designed to keep up with off-road conditions and heavy towing. The rotors are slotted to help with disc cleaning, which resists pad glazing for improved stopping power under constant heavy applications. The vanes within the rotors are specifically designed to give maximum cooling, dissipating the massive heat loads that come from heavy braking.
Importantly, the rotors are specifically ground to be flat and smooth, so there should be no vibration when applying the bakes. This is something that can’t be said for all cheap brake products.
We had the boys at Street Machine Carnage Garage fit the Protex pads and rotors to our Ranger. While they might be better known for blowing things up, they did the brake job without any issues.
Then it was only a matter of a quick bedding in and the brakes are performing as good as ever.
As mentioned, Protex brake products are available from many major national auto parts retailers and used in many professional workshops. They are available to suit most popular makes and models of 4x4 vehicles, as well as your family beater.