Can We talk Brakes for a minute?
 

I did a pad slap with some O'Riley pads about 20k miles ago and its time for another set of brakes. Im considering some slotted and cross drilled rotors and some Kevlar Ceramic type pads. The truck has 20" x 10" wheels with 305x55x20 Nitto Terra Grapplers on it. I pull a 31' TT that weighs 10,800# as loaded quite often. I don't have a problem with stopping as is now, but am looking for a better lasting setup, and I absolutly hate brake dust. I plan on doing the brakes myself, I consider myself fairly well off in the mechanical department, had to work on my vehicles all my years of growing up when I was a wee lad and couldn't afford a shop, so I see no reason to go to one now.

Has anyone done this to their 3rd gen and have any expierence with a setup like this. Is there anyway to get the rear calipers to bite a bit harder to take some strain off of the front brakes, similar to the older trucks that use Chevy wheel cylinders.

Thanks in advance.

BTW these are the parts im looking into:
Rotors....

http://www.brakeworld.com/catalog.as...oc=front&desc=

Pads...
http://www.brakeworld.com/catalog.as...oc=front&desc=

put an exhaust brake on it the brakes will last longer went 53k on a stock set and i tow twice what you do and put about 5k per month on the truck

I agree, get an exhaust brake.

Chunk those O'Reilly pads and go back to factory pads also, they will last longer. 20k on pads is extremely low pad life for our trucks. I have 50K on mine and they are not quite to 1/2 pad on the fronts. You have an 06', exhaust brake should of been on the top of the list pulling heavy.

Check your driving style, or better yet let your wife check your driving style.

[coffee] lol thats funny

Drilled rotors are for bling only. They will not increase braking performance one little bit. Drilling the holes decreases the rotor surface area, so you'll probably lose a little bit of performance. The holes in the surface create a stress riser, and cause cracks to propagate. You'll be replacing them pretty often.

Slots are there to scrape any glazing off the pads. Shaves them kind of like a cheese cutter. That creates a lot of brake dust, and wears out the pads pretty fast. Glazing is caused by excessive heat. If that's the problem, you're better off with cooling ducts.

As far as rotors go, there's nothing better than a stock replacement solid surface rotor.

For pads, you have a few good choices. I used a set of Hawk SUV pads, and I was not impressed. I don't think it was a worthwhile addition. I've heard good things about EBC pads; but never used them.

My favorite street pad is Performance Friction carbon fiber pads. That's a worthwhile upgrade. Good braking, no dust, very quiet, easy to get (Autozone), and inexpensive.

When you replace the pads with something of a differant material, you MUST resurface the rotors. That's very important. I use a 120grit sanding disc in a drill motor.

Also, it's very important to use the bedding procedure as described in the instructions. You'll lose 20-30% of your braking performance by not bedding them in properly.

I have been happiest with stock replacements on trucks. I also dislike drilled, but prefer slotted on my sports cars. If you drive your truck like a sportscar, then slotted is the way to go - just expect to go through pads like crazy. I concur wiht the pad info above as well. I use a scotch brite on a die grinder on my rotors though. Either way is fine. Definitely heat cycle (seat) the pads correctly too. I like to heat / cool them about 10 times without stopping to seat them.

For what it's worth, I've got 97,000 miles on my factory pads and rotors. I'll slap factory pads on the front at 100K and go another 100K.

Id agree with the above. Go with stock replacements. I am impressed at how long my stock brakes have gone. 75,000 miles and I have at least 25,000 left and have no pulse or vibe at all. Cant be more pleasantly surprised.

I only got 77,000 km/46,200 mi. on my first set of front pads.Boy I thought that was good,but maybe not.Lots of highway clicks on them and still had 10% left.The dealer told me they have OEM pads and also a cheaper version,which they usually try to sell you,saying that they will be adequate for most applications.They want you back for another set sooner than later obviously.

Get the OEM pads, not the cheaper set cause they are CHEAP and won't do near as good of a job.

In years back I sold many sets of Mopar Value Line pads with about the same results as the more costly just off the parts book pads.I have used them on other vehicles myself and actually got more miles out of them then the originals.They are designed as a stock replacement but at a better price.Installed them with a rotor turn at about 40k on my 1500.Have 96k on it now with not quite 1/2 pad left.Rotors look good,minimum brake dust and never a squeak or grind.Not bad for 56k on them.Not apples to apples comparison I know.