the elite ceramic pads last me generally about a year and half, they would last a normal person many years, I'm a race car driver apparently.....
What did you do to your NNBS GMT900 Tahoe/Yukon Today?
- Thread starter phattyford
- Start date
Disclaimer: Links on this page pointing to Amazon, eBay and other sites may include affiliate code. If you click them and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission.
George B
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Reminds me of a Primus song… “Jerry was a Race Car Driver”
George B
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
So what your saying is it’s the rotors more than the pads.
iamdub
Full Access Member
What is "it" that you're referring to?
George B
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
By “it” I mean to say that the majority of brake fade is due to heat buildup and that the drled and slotted rotors are the area of most improvement. That as opposed to going to higher performance pads on solid rotors.
iamdub
Full Access Member
I gotcha.
Really, it's both. Fade is caused by the pad glazing over from heat. The slotted and drilled rotors help to evacuate the heat and there are special pad compounds designed to withstand the higher temps without glazing. Also, the slotted and drilled rotors shave the pads, keeping the surface clean and fresh. Obviously, this is at the expense of pad life and increased dusting. Ceramic pads are great for "non-smooth" rotors since their dust tends to be less visible, extending the amount of time before you really see a buildup on the wheels.
Best brakes I ever had were when cryo-tempered rotors were first introduced. A company called "Frozen Rotors" partnered up with Power Slot and tempered their rotors. I was a guinea pig for their S-series fitment on my '02 Xtreme. That truck had hydraboost, rear disc conversion, larger master cylinder and I tweaked the proportioning valve accordingly. I ran those rotors for almost 90K miles and just replaced the pads (Hawk HPS) every 20K-30K miles. I could stand on the pedal from triple digit speed and the seatbelt digging into my chest would HURT. Driving after such a stop, I could feel no loss of braking and those rotors seemed like they were immune to warping. When I sold the truck at around 112K miles, there was barely a ridge around the outer edge of the braking surfaces, indicating very little wear.
Fast forward to 2016, right before a trip to Florida, I ordered cryo-tempered PowerStop (NOT the same as Power Slot!) slotted rotors for the Tahoe, thinking I was getting the same thing. Hawk HPS pads aren't available for these behemoths, they have the LTS. Initial bedding-in and testing seemed to be "fine". We drove to Tampa and, the next day while navigating city traffic, I began slowing for a red light and felt the pedal pulsating. Pissed me off. They lasted less than 1,000 miles with 800 of those cruising on the highway. With normal driving, I got 50K out of the setup but I had to deal with lots of brake dust and the warped (or imprinted?) rotors. I could do really hard braking from high speed to burn and scrape them straight, but this didn't last as they'd warp again after a few days of normal driving.
I'm glad I kept my stock rotors! I had them turned, slapped on some AC Delco ceramic pads and have been happy ever since. The PowerStop rotors had wear ridges about the thickness of a dime. Botched cryo-tempering job? Rotors made of inferior metal? I'll never know.
RooTBeeRthe1st
Full Access Member
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2018
- Posts
- 1,097
- Reaction score
- 2,496
I engine brake a lot...my pads still have a lot of life left.
In regards to heat yes in a sense, they both get hot but whatever can be done for heat dissipation with the rotors certainly helps
engine brake? like you down shift the shifter? I already break transmissions I don't need to be putting more stress on that.
Maybe he’s got a Jake Brake installed!
