scroller95969 wrote:
I had a severe shimy in my 3500 while towing a 3000 lb. trailer downhill and braking on sharp turns. It was so bad that I almost couldn't control it after braking 2-3 times in those conditions. Replaced with regular pads and installed slotted dimpled rotors (I think they were EBC) and it almost totally fixed the problem. Now I only get a slight shimy when going down steep twisting roads with many sharp turns where I have to apply the brakes in sucessions of 10-12 times in a short distance without a cool down period (like coming down hwy 36 from Chester to Red Bluff). And yes I do shift down to second and sometimes first gear but sometimes the road is just too steep and twisting to hold without braking a lot. I normally push the brakes fairly hard long enough to slow down way beyond the gear I am using and then let them cool while the engine speeds up to about 3000 rpm and then brake again. My engine can hold a 5% grade in third gear without braking. Anything more than a 7% grade I use 2nd gear and anything more than a 9-10% grade I use 1st gear. I also have brakes on my trailer.
The slotted and dimpled rotors is what I thought too would help. Then use ceramic pads. I have a jeep Grand Cherokee '93 and that first year they did not use disc brakes on the back so all of the heavy braking was on the fronts and as such they would warp. Replaced with slotted and drilled and ceramic pads. The result was no more warping and it stops great but they have to warm up a bit first. I did some asking around about slotted and drilled and everyone said drilled is dangerous since they can crack with such a big rig....but dimpled will help in letting the hot gasses escape when they get hot. Can you post the brand of rotors? I was going to do it myself but think I will have a shop do the work since this rig has hubs that require taking off after the wheels are removed. Bit more than I am comfortable with doing. Front brakes $400...seems fair price for CA.
