My X is running 35's and while the stock brakes work I feel they are a little underpowered. I was wondering if anyone has stepped up to aftermarket rotors and or pads and whether or not you felt it was worth it.

 

I upgraded my 05 v10 4x4 with new rotors and yellow ebc brake pads. I saw a increase in brake performance. Stock pads were fading in traffic driving. Love them but don't like the increased front brake dust on my rims. I am picking on keeping my truck clean, Check out the green pads, think they are reduced dust. But yellows work great, I travel a lot on highway loaded with family and our gear.

 

Thanks for the reply. Were the rotors EBC as well?

 

No. Napa easier to get locally. Got pads on line.

 

Cool, I just wondered if they were upgraded rotors or just factory replacements.

 

Sorry,should of told you, factory replacement , Old ones felt a little warped, shaked a little when hitting brakes hard.

 

SBCC makes some pretty sexy calipers

 

If you upgrade to EBC's you will be happy. I tried the Hawk/powerslot thing and didn't see much improvement. Next time I got cheapest rotors on the planet and Ebc pads made a big difference.

 

with factory rotors i was getting the warped feeling within 2-3k of replacing them with stock type rotors.

spent more and got Cryo treated Power slot rotors. after almost 15k no warping feeling, they stop much easier then stock rotors..ect well worth the money.

 

Interesting. My 2000 with stock brakes and 36" tires was dangerous, no stopping in a hurry. I put new brakes on (rotors and metallic pads) no improvement. Threw some Hawks on and made a HUGE difference. Now my 2000 with 38" tires stops much better than my low mileage 04 stock Excursion.

 

I just upgraded to brake motive slotted and drilled rotors, and ceramic pads about 2 weeks ago. The difference is huge. I picked the kit up on ebay for $250

 

Aren't there oversize rotor kits available too? Running larger wheels I have room now.

 

Went from stock pads and rotors on our '05 4x2 to stock rotors and Hawk LTS pads. SIGNIFICANT difference! I was amazed at how hard this behemoth stops with these pads. A good old sports car type bed in made a HUGE difference as well.

My understanding of the "warped" rotor issue is that this is actually pad transfer from the pad onto the rotor, and rather than this happening in a traditional sheering action it happens in deposits. The pulse that you feel is not the rotor being out of round, but rather chunks of brake material that have melted off the pad and bonded to the rotor. The way it's been explained to me by some national level road racing engineers is that you should run a "harder" or more metallic pad compound that will chew on the rotor before the rotor chews on the pad so to speak. I've got about 20k miles on this setup and have NO issues with pedal pulse or braking surge.

The ceramic options and so forth are no where near as aggressive as the LTS pads. They produce less dust and are quieter, but IMO don't provide the type of braking needed in one of these rigs, let alone with big meat. That being said I have no personal experience with ceramics on this truck.

Outside of pad and rotor configuration, you might also try flushing your brake fluid and upgrading it to something like ATE Super Blue, or Motul RBF 600. I was surprised at how much of a difference in feel and initial bite I got after this type of fluid flush.

Sorry for the novel, but that's my $.02.

 

That's exactly what I was told also, about the deposits and pulsing.

 

I just replaced the brakes on mine. I went with the Hawk LTS pads front and rear again but changed the front rotors to the Raybestos R300 and just regular Carquest rear rotors. So far the initial 'bite' of the pads are much better with the upgraded rotors than with the previous standard rotor from Carquest. I haven't towed with them yet - but solo performance is better than I thought it would be.

Here's a pic of the R300 rotors: