Brake Upgrade Suggestions.....

[Nitrousbird]

I need to upgrade the front brakes on my Avalanche. Stock, they suck, especially when towing. I warped the originals at 80k-ish miles (didn't have trailer brakes hooked up at the time + heavy load). Swapped with Auto-Zone specials, 30k later they are badly warped again.

 

I will be flushing the brake fluid and replacing it with something else. I don't know what fluid I will go with, probably just standard Auto-Parts store stuff. But I really need to do something more about these brakes.

 

Stock, it has 12" rotors in the front, 13" in the rear. They have two pistion calipers in all corners...you'd "think" they would be decent. I don't quite grasp why the fronts are smaller than the rear.

 

I need the brakes to perform BETTER than stock.

 

- Pad suggestions? Everyone seems to like Hawk pads, and they have a line of truck pads, so I was figuring on going with those. That said, they have 4 different pads for the Avalanche: HPS Performance Street, Performance Ceramic, LTS, and Superduty. I'm not fully sure which one I should choose.

 

Now I am at the should I just upgrade the rotors with the good pads, try to go with an over-size rotor conversion kit, or spend a bunch of money on an aftermarket front brake kit. I really don't want to dump a lot of money into this, but don't want to flush money down the drain with something that has no improvement.

 

Staying with stock-size rotors (cheapest route), brakeperformance.com has rotors for my truck for $130/pair...slotted, cross drilled, you name it. But I am not familiar with them. A lot of the Avalanche people on the Av forum (though I don't really fully trust their opinions), run the Durastop rotors, or the Raybestos (they are the same rotor).

 

Brembo also sells an Avalanche front rotor (a cross drilled and a slotted one) for $231/pair, which didn't seem too bad for a Brembo rotor.

 

Then there are the number of aftermarket brake kits, though some require going with a larger wheel (I have 17" stock rims), and I don't want to do that.

 

Any suggestions are appreciated.

[STEVE-O]

i say go with the brembo if you dont want to upgrade to bigger brakes and wheels etc... then go with the super duty pads as it seems you tow etc they will hep you the best...

 

or see if there is anyone who has done a cheap upgrade to bigger brakes like changing yours with another cars...

[BIGGU]

joe, do the brembo rotors as they will hold up the best and keep "cool" and do the HAWK super duty pads. On our truck we just put the super duty pads on it and they seem pretty good, alot of bite to them.

 

you could always talk with the guys at Pickups Plus cars and see what they can do for you they seem to know what they are talking about when it comes to trucks.

[Nitrousbird]

I sent a PM to Brady.

 

I am also trying to find info on converting to 07+ front brakes. They get 13" rotors instead of 12".

 

Baer sells a +1 kit, but it is basically 13" rotors and two brackets that allow you to run your stock calipers, at over $500 is a bit hefty of a fee for what you get.

[BradyPPC]

Sorry been swamped today. Pm sent back.

[stolen 5.0]

if your just worried about when you pull a trailer, get a trailer with electric brakes, and install an electronic brake controller in your truck.

[Scotty2Hotty]

I sent a PM to Brady.

 

I am also trying to find info on converting to 07+ front brakes. They get 13" rotors instead of 12".

 

Baer sells a +1 kit, but it is basically 13" rotors and two brackets that allow you to run your stock calipers, at over $500 is a bit hefty of a fee for what you get.

 

I'll shoot you a PM Joe.