Brakes - replacement advice

[JeepSteeler]

Need to replace all rotors and pads - front and back on 95 ZJ. Primarily a tow rig right now, looking for some heavy duty stopping power - can anyone give some advice on brands/styles that they like?

[gonecheenin]

Need to replace all rotors and pads - front and back on 95 ZJ. Primarily a tow rig right now, looking for some heavy duty stopping power - can anyone give some advice on brands/styles that they like?

I installed the good line NAPA UP rotors & the NAPA AE brake pads on my girls ZJ with excellant results, stops fantastic!

as for HD stopping power, cross drilled rotors work nicely to disapate heat without wearing the pads (like slotted do) but they are stupid pricey and you still have just a stock breaking system

I'd say if what your towing is overwhelming your Grands brakes then you need to add brakes to the trailer/load

[Muzikman]

Cross drilled helps with heat and prevents brake fade.

Slotted causes more friction and helps you stop faster. That is why slotted wear the pads out faster. It's also why people run ceramic pads with slotted rotors.

Each does a different thing to help you stop.

[gearhead313]

Stay away from cross drilled. All the heat that you will be generating will help crack those very quickly. They crack constantly on cars in the racing world and now are not even recommended to be run on a track.

I would stick with a slotted rotor and go cryogenic if possible. I would also stay away from organic pads. Ceramics are fine.

[gonecheenin]

I have heard about the cross drilled rotors cracking, yet the ones I put on my girls 78' F-150 (6" lift on 33's) have held up great while towing (7000lb without trailer brakes for a while too ) & made a big difference in brake fade

maybe they just can't stand the severe heat from racing?




The reason slotted rotors work so well while wearing the pads quickly is actually because they are designed to "shave" the glaze off the pads during every braking event leaving a fresh highly frictional surface for the next brake application, while that would work great for overall braking wearing the pads out in 3000 miles (made up number) isn't exactly what you'd want on a street vehicle

[Cebby]

I have slotted rotors on my 4Runner - they certainly helped with stopping distance. The pads still last a good while on the street - at least for me they did.

On my WJ, I have Stillen crossdrilled rotors at all 4 corners. Stops like a sports car. (with the C/D rotor upgrade, I also upgraded my calipers to Akebono (stockers are Teves and are weak - later model WJ's came with Akebonos) BTW, I just had to replace my fronts from wear (no cracks) after just under 40k miles. WJ's are notorious for warped front rotors - these also solved that problem for me. I know you have a ZJ, but maybe there are options available aside from rotors/pads only also.

[gonecheenin]

BTW, I just had to replace my fronts from wear (no cracks) after just under 40k miles. WJ's are notorious for warped front rotors - these also solved that problem for me.

I had a customer with the same problem on his one ton, dual wheel, crew cab chevy

the cross drilled rotors stopped the warping on it as well

[gearhead313]

They make cross drilled rotors for 1 ton duallys? holy moly


I've also seen people "drill their own holes".. i mean hey, whatever works

[2002wranglerX]

They make cross drilled rotors for 1 ton duallys? holy moly


I've also seen people "drill their own holes".. i mean hey, whatever works

hahahaha ya who did that? i can't remember. was that flynner?

[gonecheenin]

They make cross drilled rotors for 1 ton duallys? holy moly

Yep, got em' for him through the NAPA UP line

expensive as hell (about 140 a pc) but he didn't have to replace the rotors anymore after that (last I checked anyway, I quit the begining of this year)

[JeepSteeler]

Wow, thanks for the feedback! The ZJ's braking system can handle the load - only towing a med sized quad and some crap usually, but I'm running hills a lot, so I wanted just to beef up the rotors and pads. I noticed a pretty decent bit of brake fade tooling around Ohiopyle last weekend. I have Akebono's on my Jaguar, and love em'.....but the ceramic material is kinda noisy. I guess that's a trade off. I have had not so great experiences with x-drilled (old Saab)- ate pads and tons of dust...thinking of slotted or just regular vented, but if slotted are worse with pad dust and use...might just go vented...

I am going to use stainless lines to the caliper and run Super Blue ATE fluid, that should cut down on some fade....might check out that NAPA schwag...

[Muzikman]

I honestly didn't know you could still but un vented rotors. I can't remeber the last time I changed brakes on a vehicles that wasn't vented.

[gonecheenin]

If your not warping rotors or anything just install the good metallic pads to help prevent fade, break them in properly for max breaking, and make sure you release & reapply the brakes every 10-15 seconds during hard breaking to help cool them off (extended breaking is HELL on braking systems heat wise)

I honestly didn't know you could still but un vented rotors. I can't remeber the last time I changed brakes on a vehicles that wasn't vented.

The ZJ has solid rotors in the rear, fronts will be vented

[Muzikman]

The ZJ has solid rotors in the rear, fronts will be vented

Do they use a disc/drum in the rear for the parking brake? If so, that's probably why they are not vented.

[gonecheenin]

Do they use a disc/drum in the rear for the parking brake? If so, that's probably why they are not vented.

Yep they have that tiny 6" ish drum brake for the parking brake, they like to seize up too, had to rip mine clean apart & rebuild the whole thing on y 96' before it would work right

[JeepSteeler]

Yep they have that tiny 6" ish drum brake for the parking brake, they like to seize up too, had to rip mine clean apart & rebuild the whole thing on y 96' before it would work right

Are you frickin' serious? Dang, I just skimmed the manual the other day and totally didn't pick up on that. Man those are a pain in the arse.

I think I've settled on regular vented in the front after doing some shoppin'....I'm not getting any warping now at all so moving up to slotted/dimpled/drilled/flamed/carbon composite super uranium dipped is probably not necessary.

Probably gonna go with EBC Yellow Stuff pads...have had good results with other EBC colors in the past - and that brake in stuff they use actually works. Either that or those NAPA jobbies, as suggested.

[JeepSteeler]

Ended up going with EBC slotted rotors ($127 a pr) - they have small slots, not like powerslot types, and Performance Friction Ceramic pads ($60).....for the front...still looking at rear setup, I pulled the wheels yesterday and the rears are in good shape, might skip em'.....

Noticed while I was under there I need some friggin swaybar bushings!!