pbmazda32 wrote:
If the heat in your brake components doesn't magically dissipate into thin air, how do your brakes ever cool down? All the vehicles I've ever owned have used air to cool the brakes. Some vehicles have veined rotors to help the air cool them more efficiently. Solid rotors are cheaper to machine and cheaper to purchase, but I've never heard anyone try and make an argument that they perform better. Heavy duty vehicles use solid rotors for durability and lower cost of maintenance. They have more mass and are less prone to warping.
Comparing carbon brakes from F1 cars to the the brakes on our massed produced trucks is comparing apples to oranges. I do agree the tires on your vehicle are important for braking performance. Tires are where the traction is and that's what is really stopping you.
I'd say there's hundreds of thousands if not millions of people out there that will tell you there's much to gain from aftermarket brake components. OEM is not the best in all cases. Take my Supercrew as an example. I have no idea if the truck stops in any shorter distance than it used too. Never measured it, never will and don't care. What i gained from the new brakes was a lot more resistance to brake fade. The OEM's were terrible for fading and the front rotors were always warping. Only vehicle I've ever owned that had brake "issues" and once the solid rotors were pulled off and replaced with brake components that more efficiently dissipated heat, I had no more issues.
Turtles and peeps and proximi2020, I am not trying to argue with you, everyones entitled to there opinion. I'm just giving the OP real world experience from someone who uses the brakes he's looking at buying, which is what he asked for.
It's not opinion, it's science. I was replying to the comment "rotors don't have to absorb heat." That's not true. The heat generated is transferred into the components that's doing the braking. The rotor, functioning as a heatsink, accepts the bulk of the heat. It then dissipates that heat through convection. The rotors cannot dissipate heat if they cannot accept it.
Maybe the word "solid" probably wasn't the best choice of words. When I said solid I'm talking about a blank rotor, a rotor that has not been drilled or have grooves cut into it. But on that note, a solid rotor can perform just as well as a vented rotor. It's all about heat capacity. Once a rotor has reached its heat capacity, it's no longer functioning as an acceptable heatsink and excess heat doesn't freely enter the rotor. When this happens, the pads and the fluid begin to suffer the consequences.
The voids in a vented rotor causes it to have less mass, so it will reach its heat capacity quicker than a solid rotor. However, the venting in the rotor creates much more surface area for convection to take place. A solid rotor has a much slower rate of convection due to its lower surface area, but the trade off is that the additional mass allows it to have a higher heat capacity. So while it does release the heat more slowly, it takes longer before it gets overwhelmed.
The point of comment about the brakes on an F1 car was to show that it is not necessary to cut slots or drill holes into a rotor in order for it to perform well even under extreme conditions. The only difference between for F1 brakes and what's on your truck is the material that's used. Just like your truck there's a disc rotor, pads, and calipers. The rotors have no grooves or holes drilled into it. The rotors themselves are solid. Well there's a few teeny tiny little vents that run through them. They cool down primarily via brake ducts pointed at the rotors. But if you're looking for a real life example, have a look at what the F550 comes equipped with. What's on the truck is capable of stopping 19,500 lbs.
If your OEM brakes are prone to warping, then you have some serious braking problems or need to adjust your driving. You need some pretty extreme conditions to get a brake rotor to warp. You need to exceed the heat capacity of the rotor to the point that the metal begins to change shape. The more you do it the worse it gets. That's not something that's typically experienced under normal driving and towing conditions. You can easily adjust your driving habits and trailer brakes to prevent the issue.
Not directed at you, but I find it funny when people replace their old warn out parts with something new then exclaim how the new parts are better than OEM. How many people are swapping new OEM pads and rotors for aftermarket? Not many. It's an unfair comparison. Most are swapping them out once they reached the end of life or have developed a problem. Of course you're going to feel a difference when you're changing out old and wore out for new. My last set of OEM rotors and pads lasted well over 120,000 miles. There was still some life left in them, but I was getting a heavier trailer and thought it would be a good time to change them out. I changed them out for blank rotors and semi-metallic pads, nothing fancy at all. Boy was there a complete night and day difference in stopping power the next day.
I'm not saying the OEM is the end all be all because there's lots of products out there that actually do improve on OEM. I swapped out practically brand new OEM shocks for Bilsteins and there was a true difference. But just because an aftermarket product exists, it doesn't necessarily mean it will give measurable improvements over OEM either. The Barnum Effect is strong in the aftermarket industry.
