crawlinss Posted August 26, 2007 Report Share Posted August 26, 2007 whats up guys... its really late on a saturday night, im slightly buzzed and feeling guilty that i dont contribute as much as i did on the r/t forums. so i want to start a discussion regarding brakes. last weekend i changed all rotors/pads. i was disgusted to find out that my left rear backing plate was almost entirely rusted out, i ended up trimming the rusted section away as it wasnt doing much anyway. that disgusts me that after 4 years of high maintenance and every-week washes, i'd have pieces rusting away on this truck. that notwithstanding, i got the brake job done, and they feel great. the question i have is this... for your average street-high-performance truck, why do we all spend huge money on big-brake systems except for looks?? the stock brake system is more than enough to lock up the ABS system, and with the huge contact patch our tires put to the ground, you can STILL get them to lock up if you wanted to. even though our brakes are smallish when you take into account how heavy the ss is (has anyone weighed an awd ss btw??) but i got 67k of hard use out of my brakes, the rears were totally neglected by the previous owner, and they still worked ok right until i removed them. for road-race apps i can see using baers or wilwoods, but whats the point for a daily driver? post up your opinions, im very curious what everyone has to say! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
misterp Posted August 26, 2007 Report Share Posted August 26, 2007 The larger rotors allow the pads to exert a lot more leverage on the wheels, as well as remove the kinetic energy at a much faster rate and have a lot more thermal reserve. The Baer's and Wilwood packages are far superior, my Baers can drop my SSS on it's nose where the factory rotors/pads would just coast the truck into an accident. Also, tires are a HUGE part of the equation - the factory Goodyears are CRAP, horrible traction; I've switched to Pirelli's and they easily out-powered the factory brakes, the stock rotors/pads could not make them lock-up and I've got to get deeeeep into the Baers to get the Pirelli's to slide. Mr. P. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
misterp Posted August 26, 2007 Report Share Posted August 26, 2007 This is so important I'm going to say it again - On these trucks, if you are going to drive them any harder than say a Geo Metro then you've GOT to get rid of the Goodyears for a better set of tires and you've GOT to get at least a set of Baer Alumasport front brakes. I cannot stress this enough from personal experience, this is the FIRST mod I would encourage everyone to do. These factory brakes/tires will get you in trouble eventually, I am sure that more than a few others will agree with me on this from their experiences too. Mr. P. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erwin8r Posted August 27, 2007 Report Share Posted August 27, 2007 This is so important I'm going to say it again - On these trucks, if you are going to drive them any harder than say a Geo Metro then you've GOT to get rid of the Goodyears for a better set of tires and you've GOT to get at least a set of Baer Alumasport front brakes. I cannot stress this enough from personal experience, this is the FIRST mod I would encourage everyone to do. These factory brakes/tires will get you in trouble eventually, I am sure that more than a few others will agree with me on this from their experiences too. Mr. P. Yup. I posted about this in another section. Not only do my brakes look obviously too small for the application, but they also offer piss-poor performance when I need them most. I almost ass-ended an SUV who decided to jump in my lane and make an illegal left... I jumped on the brakes, then smashed as hard as I could. BARELY made it... I didn't get the nose dive, or confidence, I was looking for. Hence my quest for brakes. I was thinking about the powerslot big-brake kit, but I don't know if that would be sufficient. Why don't those that have "gone there" post with their experiences? TIA!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tulanejp Posted August 28, 2007 Report Share Posted August 28, 2007 This is so important I'm going to say it again - On these trucks, if you are going to drive them any harder than say a Geo Metro then you've GOT to get rid of the Goodyears for a better set of tires and you've GOT to get at least a set of Baer Alumasport front brakes. I cannot stress this enough from personal experience, this is the FIRST mod I would encourage everyone to do. These factory brakes/tires will get you in trouble eventually, I am sure that more than a few others will agree with me on this from their experiences too. Mr. P. I agree, Mr. P. I'm at 47k miles and over the last 20k, the brakes have begun to basically fade, and I drive this thing pretty easy. Seemed like the stock rotors looked small behind those giant rims, but me thinks there's more to it. I really wish GM had used higher quality parts and better workmanship in what I thought was their flagship truck. By the way, I switched the stock tires for some General UHPs around 30k ago to fix poor handling in the rain, and that did the trick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redss.com Posted August 28, 2007 Report Share Posted August 28, 2007 I've got over 60k on the SS now and am finally getting around to upgrading the brake package. The brakes haven't been that great from the day I bought the truck. With the added miles they have goon to piss poor. I have the Baer AlumaSport, Hawk Pads, and Stainless brake lines going in on Thursday. Between that and the BFG g-Force T/A tires I should be actually stop this truck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
misterp Posted August 28, 2007 Report Share Posted August 28, 2007 I've got over 60k on the SS now and am finally getting around to upgrading the brake package. The brakes haven't been that great from the day I bought the truck. With the added miles they have goon to piss poor. I have the Baer AlumaSport, Hawk Pads, and Stainless brake lines going in on Thursday. Between that and the BFG g-Force T/A tires I should be actually stop this truck. Oh yeah - it'll be night and day. Make sure you bed the brakes/rotors in properly. Mr. P. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erwin8r Posted August 29, 2007 Report Share Posted August 29, 2007 This is so important I'm going to say it again - On these trucks, if you are going to drive them any harder than say a Geo Metro then you've GOT to get rid of the Goodyears for a better set of tires and you've GOT to get at least a set of Baer Alumasport front brakes. I cannot stress this enough from personal experience, this is the FIRST mod I would encourage everyone to do. These factory brakes/tires will get you in trouble eventually, I am sure that more than a few others will agree with me on this from their experiences too. Mr. P. Mr. P. with respect to the Alumasports, do you mean the calipers also? Or do you think that the 2-piece Eradispeed rotors (14") up front would be sufficient? Also, I have an '04 AWD SS--are the '06 calipers better? Do they bolt right up? Can I buy the Erdaispeed rotors, then source some calipers used (much cheaper) and go with stainless lines? Anyone have a similar "retrofit" idea? Thanks!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crawlinss Posted September 1, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 1, 2007 this is the best braking truck ive ever had....out of 2 jeep xj's (no surprise there), a durango (junk) and a dakota r/t (which i would think would stop faster) the ss is the best braking ive ever had....if i think the ss is sufficient, i'd love to go for a ride in mr p's truck!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bismarck20 Posted September 1, 2007 Report Share Posted September 1, 2007 Does anyone have an opinon on Brembo vs Wilwood? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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