Let us know how the ceramic pads are.

 

My brother swears by the Ceramics for the rear of his D1. Says they're the only pads that don't squeak/squeal. After putting on new rear rotors and pads last week and having them chirp already I'm thinking he may be right.

 

Brakes is brakes Danny, of course these stop better than my old brakes because I only had two working brakes before my overhaul.

On my work van's we have tried every combination you can think of to increase brake life and increase stopping power. (I go though a average of 3 sets of pads a year on my work van)
You wanna know what works best? OEM pads and rotors, turns out the car manufactures actually know what they are doing when they design a car.
We actually buy our brakes from NAPA but they are OEM equivalent.
We do not turn rotors either, pad slap and go. If you turn the rotors you can only turn them once and now you just increased the over cost of keeping that tool on the road, if the van is not moving it is not making you money, the van is to me like a hammer is to a carpenter.
We run them until the are either so warped you cant hang onto the steering wheel when stopping or until they get stress cracks.
Rotors last about a year on my van.
Keep in mind I drive over 50k a year and it is all stop and go driving.

As for brake squeal, once you know what causes it you will know that the type of friction material makes no difference.
Brake squeal is caused by the brake pads vibrating very very fast inside their holder inside the caliper.
Properly shimmed brake pads will not squeal.
If you have brake squeal remove the pads and then put them back, that usually takes care of the squeal.
If you use that sound deadening brake squeal spray stuff that acts like a shim.
Whenever you put brakes pads in make sure that are seated all the way to the caliper so they cannot move and make sure the brake hardware is new.

So far these do not squeal and they came with new hardware as did the calipers, so I have plenty of brake hardware on hand.

 

I used the ProComp sets from RN for 100 bucks an axle for new rotors and pads. They have worked fine and never squell.
From what I read, the ceramic is quite different, but I have never tried them or know much about them.
I did see one recent show where they were upgrading a Porsche 944 Turbo for track use but since they were also going to be doing street driving they stayed away from a "racing" brake because it needed to heat up to work properly.

I do know that the slotted and cross-drilled are supposed to dissipate heat quicker than the plain smooth rotors but they say those are not as good off-road because of mud and such lodging in the grooves and holes.

Of course, if you change the pads early enough, you can avoid ruining the rotors from driving on rivets instead of pads.

In General Brakes IS Brakes, but each different material type is going to have different wear characteristics.

There is a world of various brakes out there, and a lot of the high dollar ones are so high, I will probably never know if they really ar that good.

 

Yes from what I have heard the drilled rotors do get full of mud, but I do not know to what degree you have to be buried in mud.

Race car I agree that brakes make a world of difference.

Average person driving the average car like a average person, makes no matter at all what brakes you use.
Super cheap ones will create tons of dust, over priced ones will just make your wallet lighter.

A person can buy whatever they want, its their money.
I just dont like it when people (not saying you Danny, just saying) say you must spend the mortgage payment on a brake job when all you do is cruise the highway to the beach once a week.
Neumburg Ring and Wal-Mart require different types of brakes.

 

Advance Auto will price match RockAuto and you'll get free shipping.
The paper gaskets with Hylomar work well. I tried other stuff but went back to that.
If you do much wading to speak of I wouldn't ignore the hub bearings, when you drain the diff any water in them won't drain out as it will be pooled in the bottom of the hub.
If you pull the front inner axle seal and stub axle seal you can run gear oil in the front also, though that would have been more work since you have to pull the front half-shaft to get to the inner seal.
I know they aren't as cool, but personally I'd place a safety item, brake hoses, ahead of a snorkel, given the frequency of use of them vs a snorkel.
If you have more than one car you maintain a Motive Bleeder is a good investment. You'd have been back home a lot sooner. .

 

I agree that spending a fortune on the coolest high dollar brakes is not in my future. As long as they can stop you.

Interesting to hear all about the tricks with the lubrication system.

Of course if you build it really heavy you may want the defender brakes on it or so I have heard.

 

Doesn't have to be real heavy. They help it stop better regardless.

 

Good to know, thank you Tom. I did not realize you could remove the inner oil seal on the fronts too.
I always change my gear oil after I wade to make sure there is no water in it.
I have re-bled my brakes after driving for a few days and brake feel is now fine once again, or as fine as it can be for a 15yr old over weight brick.

I will look into this Motive Bleeder you speak of, you dont have a link to it do you?
I will do a Google search but if you know of a better place...

 

I bought my Motive Bleeder from someone on Dweb years ago. Google will be your friend.