This is probably just normal for a 7500# truck, but I just want to make sure. I was on a long straight road in the middle of nowhere so I was curious about the brake performance from...high speeds. So I was going about 90 and slammed on the brakes. All I can say is...wow...glad noone was in front of me. I had the pedal on the FLOOR and didnt even come close to the ABS threshold. Just huge amounts of fade and so-so stopping power. I cant for the life of me make the truck go into full ABS at anything above 55-60 MPH.:mad: Is this typical for these trucks? I have about 8000 miles on her...

---Ben

Just goes to show you, you cant trust abs brakes, ABS has failed me and a good friend twice each time causing rear enders, and each time we bother saw the traffic stoped in front of us, the ABS pulsed but didnt stop us, sooo now you know.

good luck

The brakes just werent even powerful enough to clamp hard enough on the rotors to make the EBCM (abs system) think that one or more of the wheels was about to lock up. So therefore, even if the truck didnt have ABS, it is like anything above 55-60 MPH, the brakes arent even powerful enough to make the wheels lock up. I would think that the brakes should be strong enough to make the wheels lock up at any speed, or at least the rear wheels which have NO weight on them.

---Ben

Roll your windows down and try it again, you will hear your tires sceaming for mercy:eek: The ABS is working to provide you longer stopping distances and you may not feel it through the pedal. At 8000 miles your tread still has alot of squirm in them. As your tires wear down, you will notice better braking performance. I have 64K on the original pads and recently changed the fluid @ 50K. It brought back some good pedal feel while braking. The brakes could be better, like a Dodge, but we have to work with the hand we are dealt.

disable the abs and go do it again. This way you know for sure.

Just pull the ABS fuse?

---Ben

I will wait for someone with more knowledge but on the older trucks yes, pull the fuse

Yes, just pull the fuse, its the big red one. I tried this awhile back and was shocked at how fast the rear wanted to lockup and come around in braking corners.
Your also right about high speed stops, the ABS does NOT kick in. What happens is the brakes glaze up just like a big truck and it can't dissapate the heat fast enough to slow you down and they don't bite enough to kick the ABS in. If your crusin at 50mph the ABS will kick in and you'll stop fine. But those highway speeds of 80-90mph to zero will make you realize real fast that there's alot of weight to slow down and not enough brake power.

All I can say is typical general motors brakes. I was stuck with a lumina that couldn't stop if your life depended on it and a couple of 2500 full service work vans that you couldn't keep a set of front pads on because the backs didn't do thier job. They make a great powertrain but the brake systems suck!!

I actually do like my 2500 brakes so far (i absolutely dispise 1500 series light duty brakes...)...I think asking any brake system to stop an 8000 pound vehicle from 75 mph is kinda much...

did you try the same test with the fuse out yet? Maybe just do it at 50mph with and without to see what works better

I actually do like my 2500 brakes so far (i absolutely dispise 1500 series light duty brakes...)...I think asking any brake system to stop an 8000 pound vehicle from 75 mph is kinda much...

The 05 1500 brakes are much better (completely new system), now that they went back to drums in the rear, LOL.

DuratotheMax-Off topic, but did you find a donar vehicle to do all of that interior work? Luck out at the junkyard? I bet it looks good.

hahaha I love it...they go back to drums and the brakes are now better...

I bought most of the parts on ebay although I had to make my own complete custom wiring harness for the center console/amplifier/sub/CD changer/12 volt outlets.
I have some pictures if anyone is curious how it came out...

--Ben

Yeah, I'd like to see them.

Ill take some better ones tomorrow and post them...or I can email them to you if you want higher res pics...

--Ben

Yeah, email them if you don't mind. Thanks.

ABS brakes do not give you great stopping power. What ABS brakes were designed to do is to keep you in control of your vehicle during emergency braking. In fact on dry pavement they increase your stopping distance because they eliminate the hard friction between the tires and the road. ABS gives you the upper hand in wet conditions or when pulling a trailer. If you skid while pulling a trailer or driving in wet conditions your vehicle can easily get out of control. So dont think ABS gives you better stopping power, they dont. The give you better control of your vehicle during emergency stops.

ABS brakes do not give you great stopping power. What ABS brakes were designed to do is to keep you in control of your vehicle during emergency braking. In fact on dry pavement they increase your stopping distance because they eliminate the hard friction between the tires and the road. ABS gives you the upper hand in wet conditions or when pulling a trailer. If you skid while pulling a trailer or driving in wet conditions your vehicle can easily get out of control. So dont think ABS gives you better stopping power, they dont. The give you better control of your vehicle during emergency stops.

Yup.

ABS = Ability to Brake while Steering. Go to an empty lot, get going 50mph, slam the brakes then steer the truck. You will notice it is much harder to spin or plow than a conventional brake system.

I think some slotted rotors up front and aftermarket pads will really help braking. At high speeds, the brake gasses just build up and the calipers are trying to compress the gas rather than the rotor. I wont go with cross-drilled rotors tho because IMO it weakens the rotor and introduces unknowns when the structure is compromised by cross-drilling them...

---Ben

http://www.stainlesssteelbrakes.com/products/search/ When I need my brakes/rotors replaced I am going to get the tri-powers up front. If you need more then that, get a jacobs brake and downshift (what I use in my 60,000LB HEMTT Wrecker)

Ahhh yess....I have been eyeing those beauties ever since they popped up on Tbyrne's website. When I need to replace my brakes, ill probably do the same and replace with those. Ill need to recover from the tranny purchase first tho!!

---ben

hey duratothemax
i installed a set of drilled and sloted rotors on a customers truck at his request well in 3 weeks he came back and said there's something wrong with his truck it is hard to stop i told him well he lost surface area and didn't beleive me but he was concerned with his stopping so he said lets put the stock ones back on. i told him to drive it for a day and then come back and let me know if anything changed well he didn't come back for 2 days. later the next afternoon he showed up all pissed off my emplyee came in the office and said i need to come in the shop the customer said in a pissy mood i want my drill and sloted rotors back so i said ok to him well i was thinking well i guess they must work better then what i thought so after my emplyee gave them to him he walked out the door and me and the emplyee looked at each other like he's pissed well next we heard this big bang then another so first thing through my mind was he just hit someones car well as we hurried to the door he came back in and said thank you i was ok he said those fing rotors were the bigest waste of money and he had wished he had listen to what i told him so the sound we heard was him throwing them in the dumpster lol. moral of the story they didn't work it was harder to stop. i could explain in detail but it would take to long to type.
save your money duratothemax

hmmmm Ill take that into consideration, thanks CHP. Although since the SSB kit includes new calipers and the whole deal, I would think it would improve on braking at least a LITTLE, no??

--ben

well last week i installed a set of bear 16 brakes front and rear he just wanted the look but to me it didn't seem to improve the braking i can post pics i took after we installed them. i won't get any feed back from him he is on his way to irac right now

i wish i lived closer to you i would pay you to do the nav install i never have time during the day lol

All I can say is typical general motors brakes. I was stuck with a lumina that couldn't stop if your life depended on it and a couple of 2500 full service work vans that you couldn't keep a set of front pads on because the backs didn't do thier job. They make a great powertrain but the brake systems suck!!

So I wasn't the only one with a Lumina that didn't seem to have any brakes! More than once, especially in cold ,wet weather those brakes on my LTZ where worthless for about a ten count, scared the poop out of me.

Wow are the Baer 16 brakes that ~4000 dollar COMPLETE set that Baer makes for the H2's and other 8-lug GM SUV's/Trucks??? EVEN THOSE didnt help stopping power!?! Yup, too bad we are far apart...Id be happy to install that nav for you!

---Ben

i don't know if they helped yet i have had a chance to hear his input but when i do i will post what he says about them

The brakes just werent even powerful enough to clamp hard enough on the rotors to make the EBCM (abs system) think that one or more of the wheels was about to lock up.
---Ben

Ben,
I'm driving around in an exteneded cab truck and the brakes bite hard. I've gotten abs to touch off more then once accidentally. Guess that speaks for my driving. At least a couple times a week I chirped the rears coming to a stop...that was with 245 Revos.

Since you are from CT, you are probably familiar with the Marrit Parkway. During rush hour, traffic will get up to about 60mph and with in about 100yds suddenly go to 10mph between exits 35 and 36 north bound. I am yet to pile drive the 5 cars in front of me.

I agree...the brakes IMO, are very very good up until about ~65 mph. Anything under that I can easilly make the ABS kick in and the truck stops very nicely. But over that, gases just build up on the roters and the calipers are just trying to clamp compressed air. I have only been on the Merrit Parkway twice (I live up by the CT River) and hated both times!!

---Ben

another easy way to check the abs is to hook up to a little 5x10 and pull it around town. with that extra #1000, you can make the abs kick in by mashing your brakes and stopping a little shorter than you normally would.

Deosnt ABS in some situations INCREASE your stopping distance? The point of ABS is to be able to control the vehicle and steer while braking hard, not decrease stopping distance. A really good driver in a non-ABS equipped car could probably stop quicker than that same driver in an ABS-equipped car. I wish my truck had brakes like my moms car (LS-430)...man when you step on the brakes in that car, you really get slammed into the seatbelt. Of course it weighs half of what my truck weighs though...

---ben

hahaha I love it...they go back to drums and the brakes are now better...




Hey guess what? The '07 GMT-900 are gonna be discs again on the 1500s... :eek:

nahh if the new Stabilitrak system, roll-over protection, front/rear seatbelt pretensioners, and 8 airbags are what the GMT-900's have on their safety features list so far, im really confident they will get the brakes RIGHT this time around...

---Ben

the principle behind ABS is that it keeps the tire teetering on the edge of lockup so that the driver is able to steer the entire time. The benefit of this is that the tire never actually begins to slip on the road and therefore takes advantage of the static frictional coefficient which is higher than the kinetic frictional coefficient. In theory this should allow for shorter stopping distances no matter what the surface.

nahh if the new Stabilitrak system, roll-over protection, front/rear seatbelt pretensioners, and 8 airbags are what the GMT-900's have on their safety features list so far, im really confident they will get the brakes RIGHT this time around...

---Ben
Ok Mr. Know-it-all...:rolleyes:

Larger, four-wheel disc brakes and an all-new ABS system from Bosch ensure GM’s new full-size SUVs will deliver braking performance at the top of the segment. Larger vented front and rear brake rotors, 50-percent stiffer dual-piston calipers, longer-life brake pads and a new apply system design result in enhanced pedal feel, reduced brake noise, predictable, linear brake response and shorter braking distances. A new, Bosch 8.0 next-generation four-channel ABS system also is standard. The ABS system works with the standard StabiliTrak electronic stability control system. In the new SUVs, StabiliTrak incorporates the first-time GM application of roll-over mitigation, software algorithm technology that uses sensors to proactively predict vehicle “tip-up” and applies appropriate brake forces to prevent such events.

http://gm-trucks.com/home/content/view/235/1/1/3/

ahh yeah I saw that the -900's were getting 4 wheel discs again...I was referring to the 2005 and 2006 1500 trucks that got rear drums...Sorry I wasnt very clear when I said that...I said that because the 4 wheel disc system on the 1500 GMT-800 trucks and SUV's, frankly, sucks. My dads '03 Tahoe cant stop for beans. And the ABS is just plain aweful. It actually made me skid off the road and into a ditch in slushy slippery road conditions, because the EBCM went into full ABS mode way earlier than it should and it just made me completely lose control. I dont mind the 2500/3500 Hydro-boost brakes though...I like them a lot better than the light duty 4 wheel disc system. I have not driven a GMT-800 disc/drum setup though so i cant compare it to the 2000-2004 disc/disc setup.

---Ben

I have not driven a GMT-800 disc/drum setup though so i cant compare it to the 2000-2004 disc/disc setup.

---Ben

My dad has an 05 1500 crewcab, and the drums work well, but they're a lot "grabbier" than the brakes on my truck. I'm not a big fan of them (on the 1500).

:rippedhan drums or disc mine on the 04 I own SUCK , I am arguing with GM and the STEALER on totol roter and pad replacement to try and remedy it

I think some slotted rotors up front and aftermarket pads will really help braking. At high speeds, the brake gasses just build up and the calipers are trying to compress the gas rather than the rotor. I wont go with cross-drilled rotors tho because IMO it weakens the rotor and introduces unknowns when the structure is compromised by cross-drilling them...

---Benget the better rotors but stay away from aftmkt pads. oems relly do work the best.