aftermarket Brakes, are they worth it ?

007husky · **Posted:** Tue Oct 13, 2009 12:40 pm

Is the difference between the stock brakes and aftermarket ones ... so great ? I hve never felt the stock brakes were going to not stop as requested...
in other words, is it worth the trouble to research for new brakes?

if you changed your brakes for aftermarket ones...
comparing the stock and aftermarkets, if you had to rate them from 1 to 10, where 10 is 10 X the break power of the stock brakes... how would you rate them. and what aftermarket brakes are you using ?

Thanks !

Squeeto · **Posted:** Tue Oct 13, 2009 3:10 pm

I installed Napa ceramic pads front and back.
They were $156 Can. before tax.

I believe that I got 60,000 Km on the original pads; there is no brake job recorded on the service history.
The Napa pads stop about the same as oem but they are far dustier.

There are cheaper after-market pads.

flman · **Posted:** Tue Oct 13, 2009 9:58 pm

I always stick with the OEM pads, they last longer, are quieter, and don't chew up your rotors.

CATCRD · **Posted:** Tue Oct 13, 2009 10:24 pm

If you try to upgrade your brakes, with an SUV you reach the point where your braking power exceeds the available grip of your tires. After that, stronger brakes are of no use. Once you're in full ABS lockup it's your tires that are the limiting factor. If you tow a lot in the mountains and you're looking for fade resistance then I bet there are some pads out there that would help.

jinstall · **Posted:** Tue Oct 13, 2009 10:42 pm

I am running DBA rotors and EBC Yellow pads and they are night and day different than the OEM set up.

litton · **Posted:** Tue Oct 13, 2009 11:30 pm

My stock brakes will lock the wheels (ABS version anyway) so changing to aftermarket will not buy me anything. I'm quite content with OEM.

kdlewis1975 · **Posted:** Tue Oct 13, 2009 11:35 pm

I have EBC rotors (slotted and dimpled) and EBC green stuff pads, all items front and rear. It does stop better and the braking is more sure. I can't give quantitative information over stock, but qualitatively, the Jeep does stop noticeably better. The brake seems to be minimal once things got broken in. The price of the total package will set ya back a bit, but I'd do it again.

RJM · **Posted:** Wed Oct 14, 2009 7:38 am

My rear rotors didn't last 20000miles, they rusted and scored up bad. front as well aged prematurely. I replaced with stock pads and ni-cad plated rotors. Seem to be holding up much better.

NJCRD · **Posted:** Thu Oct 15, 2009 9:58 am

As I have previously posted if you're in the market for brakes and are thinking of buying or upgrading take a look at this site:
http://www.frozenrotors.com/
See why race teams have used this process since the 60's and why your stock rotors will last 3x as long without ever warping.
They take the factory rotors and deep freeze them and zinc plate them after. Rust free, warp free performance.
I will use the factory Mopar pads as I don't race the Jeep on road courses and I don't like cleaning brake dust every day. Any after market pad that is aggressive will give you way more brake dust. Also take into account the compound structure of the pad and its intended heat cycle for the best stopping. Yes, they will stop your vehicle in a shorter distance but only after you’ve brought them up to the proper temperature.
I got them for a good price at moparpartsamerica.com
Waiting on delivery of the rotors and will install with pics soon.
I drive hard and deal with a lot of stop and go driving and I'm averaging about 30,000 miles out of my brakes. I don't know how that compares to everyone else.

johnb911 · **Joined:** Fri Mar 13, 2009 10:41 pm **Posts:** 4

I installed Baer DecelaRotors front and rear with Hawk SUV compound pads on front and ATE's on rear. Also replaced stock lines with SS GoodRidge lines. Bled lines including the ABS system (see note below). Did the correct "Rotor Seasoning" and "Pad Bedding" processes. Brakes like a beast now with no fade or pulling what so-ever. This is my wife's daily driver and she always complained about the brakes, mostly fade and I had to agree that the stock brakes are not that good and after we installed the SunCoast TC and Tuned ECU the brakes needed an upgrade. When I took the front brake lines loose at the caliper I notied some small fragments of metal down in the caliper. I found that the the zinc coating on the banjo bolts were breaking down so I replaced with SS bolts and flushed the system and found more metal in the calipers, I suspect that the metal fragements were not helping the braking!!! Would be interested in hearing if anyone else has the same thing? Be careful though, you might need to bleed the ABS which could require the dealer tool to pulse the ABS while you bleed the system. I had to do this as I got air in the ABS from breaking the lines open and when I installed the new SS lines. I have Motive pressure bleeder and it did not help with getting the air out of the ABS, had to have shop do it.

jinstall · **Posted:** Sat Oct 17, 2009 6:54 am

I would like to add also that the best thing I did for braking was to install the Koni 5 way adjustable shocks, this by far helped with the rear unloading during hard braking. The way I drive the KJ sometimes is above 60mph on 2 wheels, so getting it all dialed in is VERY important. Complete packages always make the best results. BTW always mark your tires after a fresh install to see just how much they move on the rims during hard braking. Nothing worse than fresh tires spining on the rim when you needs to brake hard. I normally get about 2" of movement before they settle.

SLS · **Posted:** Tue Aug 16, 2011 11:21 pm

I have been using Wearever Gold Brake Pads & Wearever Brake Rotors from Advance Auto. I think this has been pretty cost effective for average driving, occasional hauling a utility trailer, & winter road salt.

warp2diesel · **Posted:** Wed Aug 17, 2011 9:07 pm

After having my stock rotors trash out from bad corrosion due to porous metal. I first replaced my front rotors using new ceramic pads and a few months later I replaced the rear rotors using new ceramic pads.
Perhaps if I lived in the perfect desert with no alkali dust or salt, i might try to have the rotors remachined, but with the crap rotors I had, I did not want to insult the brake lathe.
as far as Aftermarket Brakes being too aggressive, only if you still have the crap stock Goodyears that came from the Factory.

CRD Joe · **Posted:** Sat Aug 20, 2011 1:05 am

With respect to this thread and brakes Id like to mention this; most of the time people brake to early. Simply letting off the accelerator early and anticipating the stop will extend your brakes many thousands of miles.

DOC4444 · **Posted:** Sun Aug 21, 2011 8:10 pm

I have had pad imprinting problems with NAPA semi-metallic front pads within 5000 miles, causing severe shudder with actually non-warped rotors.

I am currently using ART cryogenic front rotors with Porterfield R4S pads. Pads have been great as Porterfields usually are. No imprinting problems, warping or shudder in 15K miles. However, the rotors are not supposed to show visible wear in less than 100K miles and they already have close to an 1/8" ridge. Many people I know have run these on F250s/Excursions with no rotor wear for at least 100K miles. (I have them on my rarely used, 2001 4WD PSD Excursion. They show no signs of wear yet, but have less then 5K miles on them. The amazing thing is that when the truck sits a few weeks without use, they don't rust at all. Really great for a rarely used vehicle that sits outside in the NE.

ART sent me a new pair of rotors for the KJ at no charge when I informed them of the wear, so you can't complain about their customer service/product support. Have not installed them yet.

I bought "Frozen Rotors" for the rear, but have not installed them yet along with Porterfield R4S pads.

DOC.

aftermarket Brakes, are they worth it ?

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