Getting the Tahoe ready for a road trip. The brakes buck and pulsate and I get vibes at 65MPH that get exponentially worse with speed. Vibes aggravate me and I don't want the girls to get car sick from 10+ hours of jittering. I could have just had the rotors turned but I have that "may as well" mentality. I had cryogenically-tempered Power Slots and Hawk pads on my S10 since 2004 and never once had brake fade or shaking no matter how hard I was on them. (Yes, I'm avoiding using the term "warped rotors" because it's incorrect). So, the Tahoe got the same treatment with Stop Tech slotted cryo rotors and Hawk LTS pads. I had the wheels/tires rebalanced at Sam's club for $3.88 each
. It was 500 miles from being due for an oil change and rotation, so that was done as well. I went with the longer Wix filter and Pennzoil Platinum this time. It actually seems to idle more smoothly now.
I bled out all the old brake fluid instead of just a basic bleeding. I even cycled the key multiple times while pumping to activate the ABS solenoids. I got to the last corner (front left) and the pedal suddenly started feeling differently. It wouldn't firm up and the air bubbles never subsided. After fighting with it and researching similar issues for about 2 hours (to no avail), I hauled ass to O'Reily to get a new master cylinder. I suspected this was the culprit because the back seemed to bleed just fine but the front wouldn't. That got everything acting right again. I torqued on the wheels (80 then 140ft-lbs) and went for a test drive/brake bedding. I'd say the vibes are at least 90% gone (hard to tell on our dipped and wavy roads). They're now much less at 80MPH than they originally were at 65MPH, so I'm very satisfied. The brakes have notably more bite but the pedal travel feels about the same as before. My next phase of brake upgrades will be the same parts for the rear, stainless braided hoses all around and I'll have a dealership bleed them with their TechII to ensure the ABS/traction control modules are clear of air.
