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It's been a week since I made the post about my new brake upgrades.
So it's time for a review!
First to summarize why I bought these parts...
Steel Braided Brake Lines:
Make the peddle feel less smushy & assist with a stronger initial bite.
Brake Rotors:
I wanted new rotors mostly for cosmetic reasons... but I chose these Slotted & Dimpled instead of Slotted and Drilled because Dimpled are supposed to be stronger than drilled, and should perform better for an SUV type application (I will definitely load +800 pounds in the winter).
EBC Yellow Stuff:
The OEM Brakes aren't bad for a +4000 LBs vehicle when you drive around town yourself, but when you drive fully loaded, the OEM brakes definitely did not give me the stopping power I expected. Thus I wanted something with a lot of consistent stopping power with varying conditions, and particularly initial bite.
The Review:
Overall:
Overall, I'm pleased with the brakes, with the exception of the brakes squealing in the back... This may be because both Brakes and Rotors are new, as this problem is slowly disappearing. Still, I'm going to have it checked out in the next few weeks if it persists.
The general differences between the OEM and this setup are:
OEM has a smoother but softer initial brake peddle feel
Upgrades has almost no bite when lightly resting on the peddle, but bites immediately when pressure is increased.
OEM has more peddle travel before giving you increased stopping power
Upgrades will immediately give you stopping power once pressure is given (you can easily give too much stopping power if you're not used to it)
OEM can gently and smoothly stop at a red light
Upgrades can gently approach a red light, however the last rebound (backwards) is felt much more than the OEM regardless of how gently you approach.
Endurance of steel braided lines vs. rubber aside, I think this is probably the better of the 3 upgrades.
I attribute the peddle feel to this upgrade rather than the rotors or pads, and based on the way I drive, I like that I can get a lot more brake response / stopping power earlier.
Brake Rotors:
Again, I got these mostly for looks, and the fact that Brake Performance will do both Front and Rear rotors to OEM spec. rather than just a Front set a found on CarID.
I did the hard braking cycle on these, and haven't found any problems yet.
EBC Yellow Stuff:
Where as I recommend the Brake Line upgrade to just about everyone, this choice is definitely not for everyone.
As you'll read online, these pads are designed for Street/Track (and from what I've read Towing) applications, and are not meant for the casual day to day driver.
The trade off for the added stopping power is that they are definitely not as smooth as OEM brakes, and there is (as you'll read elsewhere) a TON of brake dust... 1 Week of hard braking will coat your wheels with a clearly visible film of dust.
I won't know if I'd purchase these again in the future until I fully load my CT for a mountain trip, but for the day to day uses of the CT, I don't think it is necessary.
Additional Notes:
As mentioned in another thread, after the upgrade, I had an incredible amount of squealing in the rear rotors / brakes while driving... particularly in after work slow traffic, where you're going 10-20 mph.
There is a squeal every turn of the wheel, and it exists mostly when you're NOT pressing the brakes... and it goes away if you accelerate faster... but comes back when you go slower.
This problem has gotten better in the last few days, but I don't think it is completely gone.
In terms of stopping power, I feel that... Light Braking: Upgrades > OEM, Medium Braking: OEM > Upgrades, Emergency Braking: Upgrades > OEM...
I think there is this switch during medium pressure because the upgrades (I believe the pads are the ones to blame) are harder to control at medium pressure, and so you don't want to press too hard during a smooth and easy deceleration... resulting in less than OEM braking power... but if you press harder, you'll definitely slow down (and probably too quickly)... so this is something I think I'll need to take a while to get used to.
Finally, I'll try to report back here after some more time with these upgrades...
01.08.2017
