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Brakes Insufficient?

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Spurshot Senior Enthusiast

Spurshot

Posted
Posted

I have 32.6" tires. The pedal force required went up a little with the tires. But it never was great.

 

I live in SoCal . It's freeways and urban sprawl for 50 miles in any direction except west. My truck is my commuter vehicle for a 25 mile drive to work. One day, the freeway traffic was slinky-ing and then came to a sudden stop. I stomped the pedal and the brakes faded . It was going to stop at about the front bumper of the car in front of me. I swerved onto the shoulder and missed him. The next week, I ordered 14.25" Wilwoods. One of the best mods I've done.

 

DSC_2704Medium_zpsd557e99d.jpg

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glcbn Enthusiast

glcbn

Posted
Posted

The ones on my '14 are great. I almost gave myself whiplash for the first week until I got used to them and now they've broken in and still work great. I came from a 98 Silverado with sh*tty brakes no matter what I did to them so the ones on my '14 are awesome compared to my old 98. In the 98 the pedal went too far and felt spongy. Not sure if the rear drums was the reason or if there was something else wrong. I love that the rears on my '14 are also disc so I trust myself on doing a brake job. I never trusted myself with even changing brake shoes on drums because of all of the springs and pieces.

 

I also came from a '98. Put 285,000 miles on it with those shi**y brakes. I don't know how many times I had them (dealer) check them while under warranty. They just never felt right. I tried just about every drum/shoe, rotor/pad combination possible in those 16 years. They were as crappy the day I left it at the dealer with all those miles on it, as the day I drove it off the same lot with only 6 miles on the odo. :)

 

As for the new one, the people that are complaining about the brakes need to have their trucks checked because these new ones are awesome! :thumbs:

WendysOrBust Enthusiast

WendysOrBust

Posted
Posted

I have 32.6" tires. The pedal force required went up a little with the tires. But it never was great.

 

I live in SoCal . It's freeways and urban sprawl for 50 miles in any direction except west. My truck is my commuter vehicle for a 25 mile drive to work. One day, the freeway traffic was slinky-ing and then came to a sudden stop. I stomped the pedal and the brakes faded . It was going to stop at about the front bumper of the car in front of me. I swerved onto the shoulder and missed him. The next week, I ordered 14.25" Wilwoods. One of the best mods I've done.

 

DSC_2704Medium_zpsd557e99d.jpg

How is the initial brake bite compared to the stock setup?

 

 

I also came from a '98. Put 285,000 miles on it with those shi**y brakes. I don't know how many times I had them (dealer) check them while under warranty. They just never felt right. I tried just about every drum/shoe, rotor/pad combination possible in those 16 years. They were as crappy the day I left it at the dealer with all those miles on it, as the day I drove it off the same lot with only 6 miles on the odo. :)

 

As for the new one, the people that are complaining about the brakes need to have their trucks checked because these new ones are awesome! :thumbs:

Well its all relative, like you said you came from a 98' truck so off course the brakes from a 2014 feel great in comparison. However for those of us that can compare them to other newer makes the brake pedal feel is soft.

SouthernSilveradoGuy85 Senior Enthusiast

SouthernSilveradoGuy85

Posted
Posted

 

I also came from a '98. Put 285,000 miles on it with those shi**y brakes. I don't know how many times I had them (dealer) check them while under warranty. They just never felt right. I tried just about every drum/shoe, rotor/pad combination possible in those 16 years. They were as crappy the day I left it at the dealer with all those miles on it, as the day I drove it off the same lot with only 6 miles on the odo. :)

 

As for the new one, the people that are complaining about the brakes need to have their trucks checked because these new ones are awesome! :thumbs:

 

Good to know that it must have just been the truck itself and not just mine. I don't remember my brakes being like that on the 86 Custom Deluxe I had which of course had drums on the rear. But, that was also 12 years ago. Normal driving I probably had to push them roughly 2/3 of the way, but if you pushed them hard while stopped or parked the pedal went all the way to the floor.

SouthernSilveradoGuy85 Senior Enthusiast

SouthernSilveradoGuy85

Posted
Posted

Well its all relative, like you said you came from a 98' truck so off course the brakes from a 2014 feel great in comparison. However for those of us that can compare them to other newer makes the brake pedal feel is soft.

 

Thing is that if I remember correctly the brakes on my old 86 Custom Deluxe was nowhere near as bad as the brakes that was on my 98.

calgator73 Senior Enthusiast

calgator73

Posted
Posted

My brakes seem very comparable to my '07 denali with 20s...strong. Now on my 07 when I upgraded to 22s...the brake feel got much more iffy. It felt harder to stop..can't explain why.

SouthernSilveradoGuy85 Senior Enthusiast

SouthernSilveradoGuy85

Posted
Posted

My brakes seem very comparable to my '07 denali with 20s...strong. Now on my 07 when I upgraded to 22s...the brake feel got much more iffy. It felt harder to stop..can't explain why.

 

Probably just the extra weight of the rims. Then once you start to lift a truck and putting big rims and tires on it then you'll need to think about the brakes. It's easier to get it going than to stop it when it comes to factory stuff.

Spurshot Senior Enthusiast

Spurshot

Posted
Posted

How is the initial brake bite compared to the stock setup?

 

I think most people would never know there are non-stock brakes on the truck, even a 2014 GM truck owner. The only time I notice any difference is when doing a high energy stop. Then I can feel the six pistons per caliper and extra 1 1/4" diameter of the drilled rotor. They bring the truck down from speed confidently.
CounterMeasure Enthusiast

CounterMeasure

Posted
Posted

I came from a '06 Tundra who's brake pedal was always disappointing in terms of firmness and travel. I could get it firm up if I gave just a couple of clicks of emergency brake. I'd manually adjust up the rears on them only to come out of adjustment quickly. The '96 Silverado before that wasn't much better. My '15 Denali with the 6.2 has a very short and very firm pedal. The travel is so short if I think about using brakes, they engage. As far as stopping performance, I am extremely happy with them. They'll definitely bring the truck to a stop much faster than I expected.

 

The vehicle I test drove before ordering the truck wasn't nearly as good. There's definitely differences between different trucks and I consider I've lucked out on my truck.

EaZ8 Enthusiast

EaZ8

Posted
Posted

i dont think the brakes are bad, but they arent great... i actually think it could be more of the brake hoses, if they are switched to a braided line i think there would be more pressure and more innitial bite.

i just feel that the brakes have very little power then all of a sudden when the hoses are flexed to their limit they will bite harder.

Spurshot Senior Enthusiast

Spurshot

Posted
Posted

i dont think the brakes are bad, but they arent great... i actually think it could be more of the brake hoses, if they are switched to a braided line i think there would be more pressure and more innitial bite.

i just feel that the brakes have very little power then all of a sudden when the hoses are flexed to their limit they will bite harder.

 

I won't tell you that the lines aren't causing what you stated. But lines aren't going to make it stop shorter on a high energy deceleration. Nevertheless, if better lines are what some want, Wilwood makes flexline kits for these trucks. About $75 for the front and similar for the back.

 

I wanted shorter high energy stopping. I put the 6 piston "Aero6" calipers and 14.25" rotors on my truck and there was a real difference. I've even given some thought to putting on the rear Wilwood kit.

 

Another option for the skilled guys out there is to retrofit a set of brakes off the 2500/3500. That would require new caliper brackets and machining the center hubs out of the rotors and making new centers. All perfectly plausible for the machinist types out there.

EaZ8 Enthusiast

EaZ8

Posted
Posted

 

I won't tell you that the lines aren't causing what you stated. But lines aren't going to make it stop shorter on a high energy deceleration. Nevertheless, if better lines are what some want, Wilwood makes flexline kits for these trucks. About $75 for the front and similar for the back.

 

I wanted shorter high energy stopping. I put the 6 piston "Aero6" calipers and 14.25" rotors on my truck and there was a real difference. I've even given some thought to putting on the rear Wilwood kit.

 

Another option for the skilled guys out there is to retrofit a set of brakes off the 2500/3500. That would require new caliper brackets and machining the center hubs out of the rotors and making new centers. All perfectly plausible for the machinist types out there.

yer right, it wont make you stop faster but i think it will make the brakes feel better.

on sport bikes one of the first mods most guys do is to swap the lines for braided so you get rid of the spongy freeing in the lever, i just think this could be the same thing on the truck, but i could also be very wrong.

 

i use to run drilled and slotted with Hawk pads on my last car and loved them, they would stop on a dime. but ive got lifetime warranty on my brakes (through the dealership) so im not going to be putting aftermarket pads or rotors on.

Spurshot Senior Enthusiast

Spurshot

Posted
Posted

yer right, it wont make you stop faster but i think it will make the brakes feel better.

on sport bikes one of the first mods most guys do is to swap the lines for braided so you get rid of the spongy freeing in the lever, i just think this could be the same thing on the truck, but i could also be very wrong.

 

i use to run drilled and slotted with Hawk pads on my last car and loved them, they would stop on a dime. but ive got lifetime warranty on my brakes (through the dealership) so im not going to be putting aftermarket pads or rotors on.

 

If you're happy with the brakes, that's all that matters. I'm kinda in favor of more braking is better.

EaZ8 Enthusiast

EaZ8

Posted
Posted

I completly agree, the brakes need some work. Heavy truck with just borderline requirement for braking power is not a good combo, especially when they get worn and even worse if towing.

I just didn't spend almost 50k to fix/mod everyrhing on a bran new truck especially when the parts are covered. Its a daily driver for me, minimal hauling, 95% pavement.

Spurshot Senior Enthusiast

Spurshot

Posted
Posted

I completly agree, the brakes need some work. Heavy truck with just borderline requirement for braking power is not a good combo, especially when they get worn and even worse if towing.

I just didn't spend almost 50k to fix/mod everyrhing on a bran new truck especially when the parts are covered. Its a daily driver for me, minimal hauling, 95% pavement.

 

 

I hear ya. It's just that I had a close call that focused me on the brakes. I figured I couldn't spend any more on other stuff until I did something about the brakes.

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