jrv15

So, i had this dually for 2 year now. always have used the most expensive brake products from autozone. i go through a set every 4 months. rotors get warped and everything wears out. anybody have any suggestions? should i not use autozone parts?

Purplezr2

Napa is a good choice, autozone is more then likely chinese junk.

Doj Dewd

i've heard the factory rotors are great.

have also heard of guys using duralast gold pads from autozone with lifetime warranty . . . wear em out then replace for free . . .

Thundercraft

Something ain't right here.
You sure your calipers aren't binding?

rebal

what he said I still have the factory pads on my 01 at 150K

jrv15

hmm, not sure. the calipers are fairly new.... Im goin got look into factory rotors and keep putting the duralast pads on. they are free forever at this point!

Midnite

You should verify that your rear brakes are working--most of the time the rears are out of adjustment and the fronts are doing all the work, resulting in exactly the kind of behavior you're seeing.

dsldan

Well said Midnite...........

nickg

I'm with the above 2 posters.

rears need to be adjusted every month especially if you use your truck for a living... I used mine for courior work and I too would eat thru pads like they were candy (3-4months) I did the GM wheel cyl mod and finially upgraded to 3rd gen rotors and pads.
This extended/improved my brakes so they lasted a yr under commercial use. you cannot do the 3rd gen mod with a 99, the GM mod will help a bunch and cost less than 20$

I did find the Bendix commercial full metalic brakes were the best I could find, noisy but would stop and not brake fade.

here is a post I put up a long time ago, at the time I sold my truck I had logged 225,000kms/4yrs of intown driving(prior to doing the large rotor mod)

*****

Here my two cents,
First a little background, then you can decide if what I'm telling you is valid. I bought my truck 2yrs ago, its used for a delivery service(courior) it sees 8-10hrs a day in city stop and go traffic, hauling loads up to 2500#, I have logged approx 130,000kms of city driving (75,000miles approx)I'm I retired Military Mechanic, so i do all my own repairs. I also have the GM 1 ton rear wheel cyls, and adjust the rears every month, each month sees approx 5000-8000kms.
I believe the longest any brakes have lasted me was 23,000kms or just over 4 months.

OEM pads, were approx 60$ lasted about 2 months, they were quiet, but after a couple hard stops brake fade was evident, to be fair I used these before I had done the rear GM cyl mod.

No Name local parts store pads, lasted a month, lots of brake dust, word not stop worth crap. and were cheap (about 35$)

Wagner thermo Quiets (100$ approx) they were quiet, not too dusty, suffered brake fade, lasted about 3 months,

Raybestos Sure Stops, up till this point were the best of the lot, they flat out stopped, good bite when standing on the pedal, did not seem to brake fade when doing a extended hi-speed stop, lasted 3-4 months.

Bendix (commercial application) they came with a warranty that was good for one replacement set of brakes if you wore them out, but alas they dont honor this in Canada.
These are the holy grail of stopping power, the bite when you hit the pedal is absolutely amazing, they are fairly low dust, and long lasting, a little longer than 4 months and 23,000kms. the ONLY down side is the noise, they squeel alot when under light braking, when approaching a stop, if you push slightly harder the noise stops. These pads were approx 125$

Hawk pads, I have them on there now and they have only about a months use on them, they bite OK, are low dust. and are quiet, were 140$ . they are susposed to be a thicker pad material to help extend brake life. for what I paid and their performance I won't be using them again, I expected better,

NONE of the above pads are hard on the rotors, I replaced the rotors a while back as they were showing some wear, but it was faster to replace them instead of waiting for them to be re-surfaced. I kept them so I could turn them and re-use them the next time I was needing to replace them, just to speed up the down time.

I have read good things about EBC, but cant get them locally, so I stuck with what I could get. right now as soon as I've burned off the Hawks I'm switching the rotors and pads to the bigger 3rd gen brakes, I've already bought the caliper brackets and have 2 sets of factory chrome 3rd gen wheels (17inch) the difference between the 2nd and 3rd gens is huge.

here is how I rated the brakes, factoring in stopping power and longevity, and price, Plse note for each brand I bought the most expensive pad they carried in their line.
Bexdix: By far the best pad! just noisy, excellent stopping power, no fade under repeated hard applications
Raybestos: next best, good stopping power, and quiet
Hawk : Might last longer I dont know yet, but does not stop as good as the above 2 brands, they are close, but I would not buy them again even if they last longer.
Wagner: Quiet, better than OEM for bite, brake fade evident
OEM : cheap pad good if you dont use your truck under hard conditions
Local House brands: a waste of money, if the pads are cheap, thats exactly what they are

Take my opinion for what its worth, every one has brands they like, and use them under different conditions, remember my info is based on my use
__________________
Nick

SOLD 2001, 2500 Edge J/A Hot unlocked,Magna flow exhaust. HE351, 100hp inj. BHAF, DSS,3rd gen Track Bar. Carli Suspension, 3rd gen Brake upgrade,GM wheel cyls, "T" steering set up. Firestone AirBags May 07 297,000kms Sept/10 512,000kms RETIRED Military Mechanic (20yrs)

Copenhagenjunkie

As said check the rears for adjustment and recheck every 10k. The adjusters will need to be cleaned and have anti seize or grease applied so you can adjust.

Do not use full metallic pads and expect to keep rotors.
Chevy brake cylinder mod helps.

nickg

I used full metallic pads(bendix) at least 3sets, at least 2 sets of raybestos, 1 set of oem, 1 or 2 sets of wagner, and some others, on the same set of rotors, in 223,000kms I used 2sets of the smaller rotors, of which neither warped or were below spec,

my experience has been that full metallic pads are not going to shorten rotor life..

do the math even if they did..

rotors 60$ each

pads that lasted 4 months cost me 120$ a pop, I'd go thru 700-800$ in pads before the rotors required replacement, so if I could have found a pad that would would last longer than the rotor I would have been pretty happy indeed

to the original poster I missed that the rotors are warping on you, I would suspect strongly your rears are not functioning properly, next time you drive the truck and used the brakes, get out and check the rear drums for heat, if you can touch them, they are either out of adjustment or need bigger wheel cyls(use caution when checking for heat with a bare hand)

Totallyrad

Two more cents here. Since you bought the truck used you really don't know how the service was performed previously. Midas used to allow their techs to use vice grips to clamp the flexible brake lines shut to prevent the calipers from expanding while they removed and turned rotors. This permanently damaged the flexible lines and after some time prevented the calipers from fully releasing after the brakes were applied. I would strongly suggest you change the flexible lines in addition to the above suggestions and flush the brake fluid as well.

If you have a heat gun you can track your brake performance as well. The use of a heat gun helps identify brakes that are over/under worked.