I had a brake line fail on me a few weeks ago, and since I can never just repair stuff I had to upgrade. I went a little crazy, but I'm VERY please with the resluts!

1st step was a 5 piece braided stainless steel line kit from Earl's. I got them on and drove it around with the stock pads and rotors, and noticed a decent difference with them.

IMPORTANT!!!4/6 drop people...go check your rear main rubber brake line!!!!! Mine was rubbed through b/c of the way that the truck was lowered...the line was in a bind and that caused it to rub on the parking brake cable! Check it now! It's the line coming off of the distribution block that's attached to the top of the driver's side axle tube!

I decided to get some GM touch up paint so I could color-match the calipers to the body color. Shot some high temp engine primer, shot the pigment, then hit them with some high-temp engine clear. They turned out AWESOME!

Since the stock brakes had ~82k on them, I figured it was time for new pads. I just couldn't see leaving the rotors stock so I decided to get the Baer cross drilled and slotted DecelaRotors for stock wheels, since I run the 16's at the track. I also ordered some Hawk pads to round out the package.

Big thanks to TByrne for the great deal!

The front rotors went on without a hitch--kinda. You have to have a massive Torx bit to get the calipers off, so make sure you have that before getting started. I think it's a T55 or something, I'll check again when I have time, or if someone knows the size post it up! After a quick trip to Sears, I had the correct tools and got everything swapped out. While the wheels were off, I polished them up front and back. That was a back breaker, but the results were well worth it!!!!

The rear rotors were another story...TByrne didn't stock the DecelaRotors, so they called Baer and got what they thought was the correct part number and had them drop-shipped for me. Well, I opened the package and they were 2500HD 8-lug pieces. Gotta call them in the morning and get the correct rotors on their way.

I'm VERY impressed with the improved braking that this package has given me. The pedal feel is fantastic, and the truck stops with authority now! I'm extremely pleased with everything, and I'm sure that once I get the rear rotors everything will be even better!

Hope this is coherent...I've been working on the truck for about 12 hours and just got a shower and something to eat. On to the pics!


Painted rear caliper:


Rear Complete:


Front Before:


Front After:

 

i heard there is a specific way to break-in the hawks pads, would you happen to know how? another question, you didn't have to take the calipers off to paint them? if not, then i might try and do that myself too. what type of paint would i need? hi-temp?

 

I didn't take the calipers off, but I did mask everything else really well. I used lots of masking tape and news paper! I wasn't too worried about the surface of the rotors since I had some more on the way, but you can use a small piece of cardboard to block off the parts of the rotor that you don't want painted.

I used GM touch-up sray paint. The 5oz can was just enough to get the job done! I used Duplicolor high-temp gray primer and high-temp clear (meant for engine blocks). I'm pretty confident that it'll hold up. Duplicolor makes a brake caliper painting kit that you might want to look in to. I wanted them to be Indigo Blue, so I went this route. If you want them red, I would highly recommend getting that kit. It would be cheaper in the long run.

My process was:

*spray everything with brake cleaner
*scuff caliper wit 600-grit wet-or-dry sandpaper (or a scotch-brite pad)
*cleaned calipers with Simple Green
*dried with compressed air
*use newspaper and masking tape to mask everything off
*2-3 coats of primer
*2-3 coats of color
*3-4 coats of clear

 

thanks. i do want them red so i might so go that route.

 

Thats awesome and sounds like a good improvement. I have wanted my calipers indigo blue for a long time now. You think the paint will hold up well since you used the high temp primer? Can you see the blue calipers well?

on using the duplicolor caliper painting kit for red, black, silver. We did my moms mustang with it and they turned out great, actually seems to repell the brake dust too!

 

I'm hoping that it will! I don't see why not. We'll find out whenever I autocross the truck and get them nice and hot!

You can see them pretty good, but they don't stand out as much as I'd like. They'll probably look better in direct sunlight...my driveway is shaded by large pine trees, and my dad's car was on the other side blocking out some light. I'll see if I can't get some better pics at the car show I'm going to this weekend!

 

Since you swapped out lines, did you bleed the breaks?? I havent done anything like this before so Im not sure how that whole thing works. Do you have to open the bleeders or does it start leaking fluid as soon as you disconnect the calipers??

 

Sounds like I need to check my brake lines!

 

Yes! You'll need to bleed the brakes after doing the hard lines. It's hard to say how much fluid will come out since mine was almost bone dry from the busted brake line, but they were by far the easiest brakes to bleed ever!

 

Just saw this...

Hawk recommends 6-10 stops from 30-35 with moderate pressure, then 2-3 hard stops from 40-45. DO NOT DRAG THE BRAKES! Just hold the pressure until you've come to a complete stop.