How are your aftermarket brakes holding up?

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vt_hokie2008

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I'm in the market for some new front brake, my front rotors are warped of course. I know which pads I want to run (Hawk HPS), but I'm not sure on the rotors. I've read about some people having short pad life with powerslot rotors, but I'm not sure if that's true. Slotted vs blank doesn't matter to me, just want something that isn't going to warp, will last, and won't eat away at my pads. Suggestions?
 

Freedom Motorsports

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Slotted, drilled and slotted, etc will last longer without warping than the regular casts. The thing to keep in mind is this, most people do not properly maintain the other parts of their braking system by changing brake fluid regularly, flushing powersteering fluid on vehicles equipped with hydroboost systems, etc. Lack of proper cleaning and maintenance to calipers during installation, lack of replacing the little metal clips around the pads. All these things factor into how well the brakes function and last. I have heard all kinds of horror stories, but in the end, once you get to the source ((The person with the actual problems)) you mroe often than not find that they had no idea about the other maintenance items to keep up with, they just thought rotors and pads was it.

That being said, I have run the R1Concepts Eline series rotors, Posi Quiet ceramic pads on my wife's Denali for a year this November on the front and Feb will be a year for the back. They perform GREAT, have not rusted, warped, cracked, faded or eaten the pads up.

I also have the R1Concepts Premium rotors and Posi Quiet Ceramic pads on my 03 Dmax and have the same to say about them. They have been on the truck for almost four years now and I have used that truck to haul loads most people would never put behind their 3/4 ton trucks.

PLUS, right now, I am offering an EXCLUSIVE 15% off on all R1Concepts brake parts with free shipping on all orders over $99.

There are several members here running the R1Concepts brakes, if you go through the older brake threads you will find that you RARELY hear bad things and when you do they are usually second hand...

Click the link in my signature to check their catalog.
 

mentalattica

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I've been using Wearever Gold ceramic pads on front and rear. I put em on about 1.5 years ago and have a good 70-80% left.
 

Zed 71

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I have EBC slotted rotors and EBC Greenstuff pads for about 50k (4 years) with some winter weather. No problems, but I am not sure how much pad is left. Looks like a lot still just looking at them with the wheel on. BTW we camp a lot with a full load and travel up/down steep grades.

I would definitely buy them again for the Tahoe and my other vehicles.
 

doubletapdrew

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I went with EBC sport (slotted) with Hawk pads on my 07 when the factory pot-metal ones warped. They worked great, no complaints.
 
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vt_hokie2008

vt_hokie2008

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Thanks for all the responses, I'm thinking R1 with hawks
 

TowGMC

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I'm in the market for some new front brake, my front rotors are warped of course. I know which pads I want to run (Hawk HPS), but I'm not sure on the rotors. I've read about some people having short pad life with powerslot rotors, but I'm not sure if that's true. Slotted vs blank doesn't matter to me, just want something that isn't going to warp, will last, and won't eat away at my pads. Suggestions?

I have about 8,000 miles on my PowerSlot cryo rotors with Hawk LTS pads and they're barely worn, I'm guessing 30,000-35,000 before I have to replace. And that's towing a 6500 lb race trailer quite a bit.

Couple of thoughts though-
Don't get the HPS pads, that's really not a truck pad. I run those in my BMW 528 daily driver. I'd tried those in my old BMW X5 and after towing my trailer a few times they started to howl all the time. The Hawk LTS is their pad for heavy SUV's like my Denali or a Tahoe. After I put the LTS pads in my Denali, several friend put them in their Tahoes and Suburban tow vehicles and are impressed with the improved braking.

With a slotted rotor, they will act like a cheese grater and wear a pad more quickly. Just common sense. One thing I've always done to improve performance of slotted rotors though is to clean out the slots every time the tires are rotated. It's amaxzing how much pad material gets trapped in there after 5000 miles.
 

Zed 71

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I have about 8,000 miles on my PowerSlot cryo rotors with Hawk LTS pads and they're barely worn, I'm guessing 30,000-35,000 before I have to replace. And that's towing a 6500 lb race trailer quite a bit.

With a slotted rotor, they will act like a cheese grater and wear a pad more quickly. Just common sense. One thing I've always done to improve performance of slotted rotors though is to clean out the slots every time the tires are rotated. It's amaxzing how much pad material gets trapped in there after 5000 miles.


I have never had to clean out the slots on my rotors for the Tahoe or G35 coupe. The pad material should not accumulate/clump like that. On the Tahoe, my setup has been on for 50k (4 years) and I have *** no accumulation. On the G35, which I drove hard, that setup was on for 7 years and 3 sets of pads with no accumulation.
 

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