bigdaddy51200

I have a 2004.5 Dodge 3500 DRW and I am looking to replace the brakes/rotors . Need the best for towing 10,000 pounds plus .

Bigdaddy51200

budsowner

Your best bet is going to get factory ones i have tried several different types only to go back to the factory ones.

C Schomer

I have also read that the holey and slotted rotors don't do any better. Someone recently posted that Auto Zone has really good working pads. Craig

mrclean

I'm using Brembo rotors and Hawk pads........holding up well so far. But I don't regularly tow really heavy (@7000#) and I do have an exhaust brake.....

Rednax

MOPAR "Premium" appears to be consensus (not "Value Line") over all others. I got 120k out of my first set.

10k is the point where the Bodybuilders guide recommends an exhaust brake.

And towing shouldn't matter much. It's the truck bed payload that should concern you. The trailer has it's own brakes, so do that work. Trailer drum brakes are barely acceptable. A 10K trailer with drums is a joke . . get some discs on there. CARLISLE Actuators are lately recommended highest.

And a MAXBRAKE controller.

.

Scotty

Interesting on the comment about the premium line as I had the opposite experience. I have had great luck with the value line and stock rotors. Closing in on 150K miles on the stockers and lots left. On my 04 I went about 90K miles and then went to the Premiums. Lasted about 55K miles and the rotors needed replacing too.
Brakesmart.

firemanram

brakeperformance.com
I have been running their slotted/dimpled rotors & premium pads front and back for 2 yrs now. I needed good braking for towing my 12k 5th wheel with 19.5 wheels & tires ( which were 70lbs heavier a tire/wheel ). I Would buy the same again!

IDhorsehauler

I haul horse/hay/equipment and I live in north central Idaho so the terrain is relatively severe. I get my pads at NAPA. Since owning my truck I've put over 100k on the odometer and I've only replaced them once. I'm still using the original rotors at 140K. The truck has had an exhaust brake since day one and I'm quite sure that's the reason I'm getting long life on brake parts.

.boB

In the olden days, when a brake pad got hot, it would outgass. The gas formed a layer between the pad and rotor, and lifted th pad away from the rotor surface. So, they drilled holes in the rotor surface for the gas to escape through.

The down side of that is the removal of material to drill a hole reduced the surface area of the rotor, and that decreased brake effectivness when the pads were cool enough not to outgass. Life's full of trade offs.

Today, brake pads don't outgass. Drilled rotors are strictly for bling. So, a lot of people went for the bling, and bought the drilled rotors. But, the holes created stress risers, and caused the rotors to crack, and significantly shortened the life of the rotor. Then manufacturers went to a dimple rotor. You get the bling, but not the stress cracks. But, you also get the decreased surface area, which tends to decrease brake effectivness. Dimpled rotors are also slightly noisier. Few race cars use a dimpled or drilled rotor - I don't use them on my race car.

Slotted rotors are a little like a cheese slicer. When you're really hammering the brakes, lap after lap, they get pretty hot. That can cause even a good pad to glaze. The slots move over the pads and slice off just a little bit of pad material, and goves you a new surface. That works really welll on the track. On the street, all it does is create more dust, more noise, and reduce pad life.

For a street driven vehicle, there's nothing better than a solid surface rotor. Pick one that's a good quality, and don't waste money on bling or gimmicks.

For pads, there's dizzying array. There are a lot of ceramic pads available. The only advantage to a ceramic material is that when they squeal, it's at a very frequency, and most people can't hear it. That keeps people from bringing it back to the shop for warrenty work. Some ceramic pads specifially say in the warrenty they are not recommended for towing. Ceramic can be a better performing material than other types, but isn't always. So you have to be carefull when buying them.

The stock brakes are actually pretty good. Not great, but pretty good. I have tried EBC truck pads, and I'm not impressed. Hawk makes a good brake pad that I'v used on cars, but never on a truck. I like Performance Friction carbon metallic pads; availabel at Autozone. I had them on a previous Dodge truck, and they were a significant improvement over stock.

Scotty

.boB how was/is the longevity of the pads you prefer?

I should add that I have a truck equipped with a factory exhaust brake which also extends the service life of the truck brakes.

My next camper will get a disk upgrade all around. I will be researching that in the near future.

firemanram

Bling, you can't see my rotors! The slotted rotors reduce the heat quicker & you say that pads no longer offgass?? The ceramic pads aren't recommended because of the heat, which causes brake fade! Hence slotted rotors! Heat kills a lot of stuff

Danderson

Slotted and drilled rotors results in 9% less surface area. I had them along with Hawk pads on my '98.5. The truck had worse brakes than the factory ones(which indeed suck). I returned to NAPA premium rotors and Mopar pads. An eb was finally the answer. My '07's brakes are like new@ 33K hauling the camper all the time. Gotta love the manual trannies. I'll get Mopar premium pads if these ever wear out. My friend with an '05 replaced his pads w/EBC greenies and can't tell the difference and they squeak.

iforge03

i used slotted and cross drilled rotors from summit and ebc green stuff brake pads. best upgrade i ever made

.boB

They had about 40K miles on them when I sold the truck. Still had plenty of pad left. Could have easily gone another 40K.

If you can't see your fancy rotors, you wasted your money.

Slots in the rotors have no effect on heat. If you're overheating your brakes on the street, you need to do something to cool them down. Slots, dimples, and holes in the rotors will not help you. You need cooling ducts.

If you're going to make changes from stock, you gotta do your homework first.

"So in the final analysis, drilling and slotting rotors has become popular in street applications for their pure aesthetic value. "

http://www.wilwood.com/TechTip/TechFaqs.aspx#RT

pdogg

Back to the original question, you're towing 10k plus...

your truck brakes are designed to stop your truck, not your load... your trailer should have sufficient brakes to stop the trailer..

simple huh?