Chaise Sparks
Detroit, Michigan · Founded SparksCustomParts after building the first kit for his own Explorer ST.
The story behind the name
My last name is Sparks. The brand named itself.
I bought my Explorer ST because I wanted something quick that could still carry my wife, my sister, and the kids. What Ford actually built was a 400-horsepower twin-turbo truck wearing daily-driver clothes — and the brakes were the part of the build they didn’t finish.
So I went looking. Brembo, AP Racing, Stoptech all sell big brake kits for Mustangs, Camaros, M3s, RS6s. Nobody sells one for the Explorer ST. The “universal” options came with brackets that may require trimming. I’d done enough trimming.
So I built my own. I worked with a manufacturing partner to bring four OEM-spec Brembo calipers to the ST — the GT350’s, the GT500’s, the RS3’s, and a rear EPB unit for the electronic parking brake. Every one bolts straight on. No bracket fabrication, no FORScan recoding, no hand-fitting parts in the driveway.
I’d seen enough red on calipers. I painted mine something more incognito, posted photos to the forum — and my DMs flooded.
That’s how SparksCustomParts started. One platform, built deeply. We don’t make parts for other cars. We don’t make universal kits. If you own an Explorer ST, we already know your hub bore, your offset, your wheel-speed sensor routing. The fitment guesswork is done.
— Chaise Sparks, Founder
Then we did the same thing with wheels
The same problem applies to wheels: you can buy a Forged Concave or Bespoke Forge for a Lambo without thinking, but try fitting one to an Explorer ST and you’re calling three places to confirm offset, lug pattern, and brake clearance.
So we curated five brands — Forged Concave, Split Sport, Heritage Mesh, Mono Forge, Bespoke Forge — and pre-validated every style we sell against every brake kit we sell. The wheel builder won’t let you buy a combination that doesn’t fit.
The depth-over-breadth bet
Most aftermarket shops cover hundreds of vehicle platforms a few inches deep. We cover one platform a mile deep. That’s the trade-off. If you have a different car, we can’t help you. If you have an Explorer ST, we’ve probably already engineered the part you’re looking for.