Brake pad/rotor questions

[Stresst]

Can anyone recommend a good pad/rotor set up for a 2017 Escalade? I have a heavy (real heavy) foot and occasionally tow in Upstate NY so I need something good! I bought my truck as a demo with 7k miles and a few months later I upgraded to EBC premium smooth rotors & yellow and green stuff pads. If I recall I paid something like $1000 for parts and now at 29,*** miles they are at 20%. IMO they should have lasted longer then that!

Any suggestions? Has anyone had any actual success (long life, no vibration) with slotted/drilled? I tried them twice including AC Delco HD Slotted rotors and the vibrated the entire vehicle when they got hot. And not the vibration from warped rotors that you feel in the wheel so I am hesitant to buy slotted again.

Any suggestions?

 

[ReaperHWK]

I have been using the PowerStop tow/haul kit(cross drilled/slotted rotors with ceramic pads) on my F150. My truck is leveled with 34" heavy LT tires and it stops it well. They have almost no dust(ceramic pads) and have worked well for the 5 years they been on there! I'd recommend Powerstop. When my Tahoe brakes go I will use one of their kits as well as a performance kit for my GTO.

This is the kit I am using:
https://www.powerstop.com/product/power-stop-z36-brake-kit/

The only thing I'd really like to mention is you NEED to do the break in procedure they require. I did it exactly and I never have had warping or any vibes. I've read that some people had issues if they didn't do it correctly. It involves hard braking as soon as you get the kit installed. Some 30-0 full hard stops, something like that.

 

[Jason in DLH]

I second the Powerstop rotors and pads. Don’t have them on my Yukon, but installed the drilled and slotted on my Camry and worked out really well. Pads on drilled and slotted will always wear more quickly than flat rotors. Be sure to test for rotor runoff after installing the new rotors. I got a good dial indicator that has a strong magnet from amazon to check for runoff..

 

[Jason in DLH]

As Reaper said you definitely need to break them in according to the instructions.

 

[hcvone]

You probably don't want to hear this but if you want to stop, and keep stopping in the hills and mountains of upstate NY, I have a home in The Town of Webb, get the big GM Performance front brakes, I had 6 Suburban's and 12 Escalade's, I tried every combo of aftermarket brake pads and rotors thru the years, my problems stopped when I started adding big brake kits to my GM trucks, but you're talking 8-10k, you can find the big GM fronts for around 2k, and they work, for the price it's a lot of stopping power, stops my trucks.

 

[sealandsky]

I purchased my 2019 Yukon Denali with the GM/Brembo front brakes and standard rears. Now at 18K miles I just had 4 warped rotors turned and was told that my pads are all just about worn out. I'm researching options for upgrading the entire package and looking at Willwood, Callaway or Baer.

 

[RST Dana]

I purchased my 2019 Yukon Denali with the GM/Brembo front brakes and standard rears. Now at 18K miles I just had 4 warped rotors turned and was told that my pads are all just about worn out. I'm researching options for upgrading the entire package and looking at Willwood, Callaway or Baer.

You can buy a lot of others toys with the savings you will have if you used Powerstop. I'm on my third vehicle I have installed drilled/slotted with ceramic pads without any complaints. I know they may not be as cool as having the branded caliper visible for folks too see, but I went with powder coated dusk covers. The red pops out, the stuck stops, and I have extra coins for other stuff.

 

[hcvone]

My neighbor owns many companies and one is PowerStop, in fact he got me my rear red calipers from PowerStop for my Callaway Tahoe, and several on my Escalade's had PowerStop everything, better than stock, but if you need to stop you need big brakes, much like my Callaway brother Rich we are both sorry for not getting Callaways big brake kit

 

[Fifty]

At the end of the day if you drive fast and brake late and hard, your pads are not going to last 20,000+ miles.

if you want your pads to last 35,000-50,000 miles then you will need to mellow out your driving.

the only way to get long lasting pads and still hammer the go pedal and the anchor pedal is to go with a caliper change that uses a thicker pad.

most aftermarket brake kits use a 17mm pad, but you can find calipers that are sized for endurance racing that use a 22-25mm pad. But mind you, most kits will have the radial caliper mounts set up for the skinny frame calipers.

slotted vs drilled, I always run slotted. If I was rich and could afford to replace rotors often I would consider cross drilled. But I’m not, so I’ll take the slightly heavier disc and take my gas releasing with slots.

my suggestion to anyone going to a big brake kit. Get the oem kit with a good pad. Hawk, pagid, carbotech etc.

Or if you want to go big baller and have a s/c, make sure your big brake kit uses a stiff caliper. Getting on the binders slowing these huge vehicles will flex a caliper like no other. What’s the point of a Gucci gear brake kit if your bottom two level brembo brake kit or bottom two level wilwood brake kit has a caliper that is spreading the caliper body as much as it’s pressing the pads into the rotor.

there is a great video stoptech did showing their trophy caliper vs the Brembo caliper bmw puts on their M cars.

when I was designing the brake system for my land speed car, this caliper flex was extremely important because I had 1/2 mile from the end of the “go fast” part of the course to the end of the track.
At 200+ mph that is not very much space... 2 chutes and 20 pistons at 4 corners... eating a set of rotors every other stop.

if you aren’t going to use a quality caliper, don’t bother. Stick with the oem bbk, it’s just a crappy caliper too but it’s cheap and parts are easily available

 

[CMoore711]

FWIW: On my '15 Yukon XL Denali I have the Wilwood TX6R 6-Piston 16" Rotor BBK kit on the front and the Wilwood AERO4 4-Piston 14"BBK on the rear. I'm not supercharged or even tuned. My vehicle has an intake and exhaust. I wouldn't say I drive my vehicle too hard, and I wouldn't say I drive it too easy. That being said I have about 47K miles on my Wilwood brake set up and still going strong, they have surprised me with how well they stop my XL Denali.

 

[Danny3737]

That’s a lot of Suburbans and Escalades! Do you trade them after each oil change

You probably don't want to hear this but if you want to stop, and keep stopping in the hills and mountains of upstate NY, I have a home in The Town of Webb, get the big GM Performance front brakes, I had 6 Suburban's and 12 Escalade's, I tried every combo of aftermarket brake pads and rotors thru the years, my problems stopped when I started adding big brake kits to my GM trucks, but you're talking 8-10k, you can find the big GM fronts for around 2k, and they work, for the price it's a lot of stopping power, stops my trucks.

 

[sealandsky]

FWIW: On my '15 Yukon XL Denali I have the Wilwood TX6R 6-Piston 16" Rotor BBK kit on the front and the Wilwood AERO4 4-Piston 14"BBK on the rear. I'm not supercharged or even tuned. My vehicle has an intake and exhaust. I wouldn't say I drive my vehicle too hard, and I wouldn't say I drive it too easy. That being said I have about 47K miles on my Wilwood brake set up and still going strong, they have surprised me with how well they stop my XL Denali.

Does your Willwood kit include provisions for the rear wheel parking brakes?

 

[CMoore711]

Does your Willwood kit include provisions for the rear wheel parking brakes?

Yes. My factory rear parking brake still works and functions as it should like stock. The only thing we had to do was adjust the rear parking brake shoes outward so that they would work with the new rear Wilwood rotor hat/drum.

I purchased my kit from the guys at accesspeed; https://www.accesspeed.com/11650/3/...tted-lines-fluid-2007-2018-gm-1500-truck.html

Very helpful and nice group of guys, always responsive on emails and questions. One of the owners at the time had a '17 Yukon XL with this brake kit installed and did a lot of towing with his boat/toys and was able to provide a lot of first hand experience on the brake set up before I purchased.

Front & Rear kit, with Wilwood SS brake lines, and Wilwood brake fluid all in shipped for <$4K.

 

[sealandsky]

Yes. My factory rear parking brake still works and functions as it should like stock. The only thing we had to do was adjust the rear parking brake shoes outward so that they would work with the new rear Wilwood rotor hat/drum.

I purchased my kit from the guys at accesspeed; https://www.accesspeed.com/11650/3/...tted-lines-fluid-2007-2018-gm-1500-truck.html

Very helpful and nice group of guys, always responsive on emails and questions. One of the owners at the time had a '17 Yukon XL with this brake kit installed and did a lot of towing with his boat/toys and was able to provide a lot of first hand experience on the brake set up before I purchased.

Front & Rear kit, with Wilwood SS brake lines, and Wilwood brake fluid all in shipped for <$4K.

Wow - That's a bargain! I may be leaning towards the Wilwood solution! Thank you.

 

[Fifty]

Loving the hawk LTS pads btw. Have them in for a few days now.
They are like stock with a hair more cold
Bite and the pedal firms up when they get warm (pad expansion) and the grip does not fade like the oem pad.

would Definitly do these again.

 

[Jason in DLH]

Good to know you like the Hawk pads. I’ve got a set ready for my next change on my 07.