The brakes on my truck don't have the power that I'd like them to have and I think it's time for a rotor/pad upgrade to get what I want for brake feel.I'm leaning towards ceramic pads with drilled rotors but don't know if they are the right type of pad for the kind of driving I do,everyday normal use not off road or racing anything like that.Hawk makes a HD pad that may be more what I'm looking for but I'd like to hear from someone who has experience with them.

The brakes on my truck don't have the power that I'd like them to have and I think it's time for a rotor/pad upgrade to get what I want for brake feel.I'm leaning towards ceramic pads with drilled rotors but don't know if they are the right type of pad for the kind of driving I do,everyday normal use not off road or racing anything like that.Hawk makes a HD pad that may be more what I'm looking for but I'd like to hear from someone who has experience with them.


this lack of brake effort is usually contaminated fluid in the brake calipers....to remove this bad fluid use C clamp and one at a time push the caliper piston fully back with the bleed screw open....this will dump out the bad fluid traped in the cal. piston....if this don't improve braking it may be poor quality non oem brake pads....

I had Brembo cross drilled rotors and ceramic pads front and back on my 2000 5.3 ext. cab and they worked OK but the right rear started grabbing. I called Brembo and told them of the problem and they said I shouldn't have had the cross drilled on there in the first place and they gave me a deal on slotted rotors. (Brembo told me when I bought the brakes in the first place to use drilled.) The shop I took it to thought is was the front and replaced (you can't resurface drilled rotors) the rotors and used Hawk Performance pads...not ceramic. The truck still had problems so the back were replaced like the front and the problem was fixed. I will never deal with Brembo or use ceramic pads again unless the truck came with factory ceramic pads.
Secondly, jcAT is giving you good advice...I used Super Blue Racing Fluid to replace the old stuff and so you could tell when the old fluid was flushed. Then, the next time the fluid was changed I went back to the original color. The brake fluid absorbs water and retains it so it's a good idea to change it out. Once a year is what I did.

Ceramic pads are very noisey,eat up rotors and take a very long time to break in

Ceramic pads are very noisey,eat up rotors and take a very long time to break in

ditto! very noisy, loud, rubbing noise right before you stop. and i had the best i could buy in local parts store. no lubricants or shims helped. so no, get g'ol semimetallics with lifetime warranty and staple receipt to your chest, to never worry about brake pads again.

as of rotors, idea is good. but.... DO NOT go for drilled or drilled/slotted. they crack on the edges, where holes are close to the edge!!

go for either slotted, or diamond slotted. make sure slots are NOT machined too close to the edge. be happy, you'll never regret them. best i ever had.

ditto! very noisy, loud, rubbing noise right before you stop. and i had the best i could buy in local parts store. no lubricants or shims helped. so no, get g'ol semimetallics with lifetime warranty and staple receipt to your chest, to never worry about brake pads again.

as of rotors, idea is good. but.... DO NOT go for drilled or drilled/slotted. they crack on the edges, where holes are close to the edge!!

go for either slotted, or diamond slotted. make sure slots are NOT machined too close to the edge. be happy, you'll never regret them. best i ever had.



this changing of the brake parts from oem type will change the brake rate and this will cause ABS to activate and then your gonna get into an accident....