Upgrade brake pads for towing duty?

[Bobkid]

Not real impressed with the initial bite of the OE pads on my Rebel when I’ve got the car hauler behind it, and wondered what people were using to improve the grab? Thanks

 

[Dragonmaster13]

Trailer brakes probably need to be dialed up a bit. I don’t have any difference in pedal feel or bite when towing my 7600lb trailer. Yes it takes longer to stop, but that is the nature of towing a trailer.

 

[Bobkid]

Trailer brakes are dialed up quite a bit, but I’m not very impressed with the truck’s brakes even without the trailer. Just not much bite to these pads.

 

[Dragonmaster13]

May have glazed the pads somehow. Worth checking. If that’s the case new pads and good to go.

 

[Bobkid]

Upgraded to R1 Concepts rotors and ceramic pads and much better initial bite. Friction is also nice and linear with harder pedal application versus the stock pads which wouldn't bite much harder no matter how much pedal pressure I gave them. OE pads wouldn't get into ABS on a panic stop, where the new pads have no problems locking things up.

 

[AV8OR]

Upgraded to R1 Concepts rotors and ceramic pads and much better initial bite. Friction is also nice and linear with harder pedal application versus the stock pads which wouldn't bite much harder no matter how much pedal pressure I gave them. OE pads wouldn't get into ABS on a panic stop, where the new pads have no problems locking things up.

Mind if I ask how much you paid?

I’m assuming you did all four corners?

I’m in the DFW area who did your work?

 

[Bobkid]

Just the fronts, and bought the pieces here - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09FNZ8VPY/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I do my own brake work and probably do 4-5 brake jobs a year between our track cars and daily drivers.

 

[Rlaf75]

Upgraded to R1 Concepts rotors and ceramic pads and much better initial bite. Friction is also nice and linear with harder pedal application versus the stock pads which wouldn't bite much harder no matter how much pedal pressure I gave them. OE pads wouldn't get into ABS on a panic stop, where the new pads have no problems locking things up.

Do yourself a favor and let the new pads seat in properly for a hundred miles or so before you start trying to lock the brakes up or you'll be in the exact same situation as you were when you first posted about the brakes. They will glaze over and you'll be back to square one. Nearly 30 years in the automotive world and I cant tell you how many times people complained about this because they overheated the brakes glazing them.

 

[Bobkid]

Do yourself a favor and let the new pads seat in properly for a hundred miles or so before you start trying to lock the brakes up or you'll be in the exact same situation as you were when you first posted about the brakes. They will glaze over and you'll be back to square one. Nearly 30 years in the automotive world and I cant tell you how many times people complained about this because they overheated the brakes glazing them.

I always bed new pads/rotors using a series of uses going something like this - https://www.powerstop.com/brake-pad-break-in-procedure/

I do a lot of brake work, especially on our track cars, and my old brakes were not glazed. OE just uses a pad compound with a poor coefficient of friction and low dust to prevent noises and messy wheels for most drivers. They’re not bad for a truck around town, but left a lot to be desired when you consider the size of the rotors/calipers/pads and how much stopping force they could provide. Heck, the new pads already had ~10% more contact area with the rotors just by not having that huge gap between the sections on each pad. Not sure what that wasted space was designed to provide, but it sure wasn’t stopping power.