YABPT: pads/rotors for my truck.

[herm0016]

brake pads/rotors for my 09 Seirra 1/2 ton truck.
we take the truck into the mountains about every other weekend, use a slide in camper that weighs about 750 lbs a several times each summer, we travel off highway and some 4x4 only roads, cross creeks etc. and tow every once in a while.

I want to go up a heat range from stock as i do heat them up and experience fade/glazing sometimes in the mountains, even with downshifting and not riding them. The stock pads lasted about 76k. They are about $104 per side. rotors are $83 from gmpartsoutlet. i'm sure they worked better when new.

any suggestions?
too many choices out there when you just want good stuff and are not worried about how much it will cost. I will install myself. hopefully i can get the rear drums off to check them. Ugh.

 

[Greenman]

Just went through this with my truck. I had a rotor warp at 30k miles. Did a lot of reading, asked a lot of questions, ended up using powerstop heavy duty rotors and pads based on what a bunch of fellows at the F150 forums had to say. I won't know if they're any good for a couple years, but right now they work well. About $250 for rotors and pads.
With that said, pretty much anything that says Brembo on it will be pretty good.

 

[xaeniac]

should you change or turn rotors when doing brake pads? or only do that if they are causing issues?

 

[leper84]

should you change or turn rotors when doing brake pads? or only do that if they are causing issues?

Depends on a few things.

There is a minimum thickness specific to each rotor, if the rotor is too thin, you can't machine it. At the same time, if its near the limit and is warped or shows signs you would need to remove more metal than usual you replace them too.

If you have severe warping, steering wheel shaking like crazy or brake pedal pulsating, replace the rotor.

If there are deep grooves in the rotor, or a large lip on the outer edge, replace the rotor.

Huge amounts of rust in the vanes, replace.

More often than not with European cars the rotors can't be machined and should be replaced every time.

If the pads went metal on metal and cut into the rotor, replace.

Heat cracks or large heat spots, replace.

In all other cases, you need to machine the rotor when changing the pads.

It sounds like a whole bunch of scenarios where you would replace the rotor. I'd say from experience most brake jobs you end up machining the rotor. Most of the above exceptions cover people who beat the crap out of their car or the ones who cheap out on a previous brake job. Cheap, crappy pads, changing pads without machining or replacing rotors.