Poppy's Vette

I've been safely towing with the original OEM pads but am ready to do a brake job on my 2004 Silverado 1500. The OEM pads have performed flawlessly but I wonder if you guys upgrade pads on your tow vehicle and what brand / compound you use?

Thanks

CHJ In Virginia

I have the same vehicle as a tow and have stayed with stock GM pads. Got over 60K miles on first set of pads. Replacements ordered through forum vendor - If it ain't broke don't fix it.

magnetic1

Hawk LTS pads are great, but are dusty and noisy.

Carbotech Bobcats also work very well.

Another alternative and fairly cheap is PBR SuperDuty pads.

GettReal

I have got 50k+ out of my OEM rotors and pads so I just ordered another full set this week for my Yukon. I've towed a ton with them and theyve always been great, just worn down now. And the prices arent that bad either.

gkmccready

I'm about 120Kmi on the rotors on my '01 Tahoe and I put on Hawk pads about 65Kmi even though the stock ones probably had 50+% of their life left... no huge improvement with the Hawks versus the stock pads, IMO.

Poppy's Vette

Thanks for the input. I'm thinking I may just go back to the OEMs. I'm almost embarassed to say this but my truck, which I bought new, has just over 100,000 miles and is still on the original pads and rotors! And they're not worn out! I can't honestly believe it myself. I keep checking them and it just seems impossible but true. It is my DD and gets 64 miles a day almost 100% freeway driving but many of those are in stop and go traffic in addition to towing 5 to 6k lbs a half dozen times a year since new. It's amazing. Even if I change the pads for the heck of it, I doubt I will need to change or even have the rotors turned but I will probably put the micrometer on them just to check their thickness.

I guess Gene Culley for the parts?

the blur

1500 Chevy SUV, the only pads that last 65000 miles are the OEM pads.

Bendix lasted 10,230 miles, and bendix tech support blamed the hydrolic system.

Went back to OEM pads, no more problems.

This time, GM got it right.

AU N EGL

120K on my OEM 1500HD

PFC truck pads now

68sixspeed

Wow, I must be hard on brakes, my 07 tahoe got 19k out of the first set of fronts... Hawk HPS on it now but they keep squeeking! I've run the PFC's on other trucks over the years and they were a good quiet pad, I might have to go back to them...

c4cruiser

I don't know what GM did with their OEM light truck pads, but they did it right. When I traded my '99 Silverado with 77K on it, the pads still had 40% left. The pads never gave out any appreciable amount of dust. My '08 Silverado is the same way with brakes; great performance, no dust, and after 15K miles no sign of wear. Even the rotors look good. I tow my '87 on a steel trailer with a total towed weight of about 5600 lbs.

As long as the brakes on your trailer are adjusted properly and the brake controller is set for the correct amount of gain for the weight being towed, replacement GM pads will work just fine.

Gene would be a great guy to order pads from; great prices and quick delivery. And he's a Forum Supporting Vendor too.

vettehardt

I just replaced the brakes on my 01 silverado Z71 last fall with about 101k on it. I believe them to be OEM, but can't say for sure since I bought the truck with 96k on the odo. The pads were shot and the rotors had too deep of grooves in them to reuse. I also had to replace the right rear caliper because the seal failed sometime and the piston rusted inside the bore. I had a heck of a time getting the rear rotors off. they were rusted so much the parking brake wouldn't come out from inside the rotor. My dad and I had to beat and bang on the old rotors for about 4 hours to get them off.

I just went to napa and got their premium rotors and pads. It stoped so much better after replacing the brakes. We will see how long they last.

John Shiels

Tough to beat OEM pads. I did 7 brake jobs on my Dodge 01 dooley. I put in PFC pads with a lifetime warranty I got about 5-6 sets for free before they ask for the registration. They would have seen it was commercial I guess I told me suck wind. OEM pads lasted the longest.

Remember OEM is not always OEM Chrysler has Value Line, Ford has Motorcraft, and GM has Delco I think and they are NOT what comes on your vehicle new. You need to make sure you are getting the Ford, Chrysler or GM pads it came with, They do it to compete with a cheaper lline.

John Shiels

Tough to beat OEM pads. I did 7 brake jobs on my Dodge 01 dooley. I put in PFC pads with a lifetime warranty I got about 5-6 sets for free before they ask for the registration. They would have seen it was commercial I guess I told me suck wind. OEM pads lasted the longest.

Remember OEM is not always OEM Chrysler has Value Line, Ford has Motorcraft, and GM has Delco I think and they are NOT what comes on your vehicle new. You need to make sure you are getting the Ford, Chrysler or GM pads it came with, They do it to compete with a cheaper lline.

I got 100,000 on the rotors with the PFC pads. I rebuilt the caliper once in 140,000 miles. I now went to Wagner Severe Duty which is made in USA not sure if their other heavy duty one is.

Armycop

EBC Green Stuff for trucks on my Yukon. Great grip right outta the box.

Bill Dearborn

I replaced the pads and rotors on my 03 Tahoe around 40K miles. The thing never stopped well and although the pads had lots of life in them the rotors were delaminating on the inside so the pads were just scraping across rust. Went with Autozone Duralast rotors and PF life time pads. Truck still didn't stop well. It actually stops better when I have the loaded car trailer attached to it. The trailer brakes stop the whole rig better than the truck's brakes stop just the truck. A month ago I replaced another rotor that had started delaminating and took the front pads out and filed the ends down so they didn't fit so tight in the caliper. What a difference filing those ends made. The thing actually stops now. If I had realized that was all it took I wouldn't have replaced the original pads.

Bill

Bill