Hilux Brakes

[9W6VX]

You dirty bugger.......

Have a good day Max and be a good boy..............

[Alby]

I upgraded my brakes to slotted rottors and bendix pads and their is definately an improvement, would highly recommend this $500 odd upgrade.
From what I have been told the rears only account for about 30% of your braking.

[Squid_87]

How do the slotted rotors go off road Alby? Wouldnt they fill up with dirt and grit and gouge the rotor away?

[Dluxv6]

Squid
i have slotted and cross drilled rotors , have not had a issue at all
and the brakes are still as awesome as the day they went on

Cheers Drew

[Squid_87]

What pads and rotors are you runnings Drew? How much did they cost you?

[Alby]

How do the slotted rotors go off road Alby? Wouldnt they fill up with dirt and grit and gouge the rotor away?

No problem, the shape of the grooves are designed to let the crap fall out as it dries (self cleaning). I was advised by DBA and 4wd mechanic not to get cross drilled rotors because they do block up and with the heat the mud sets like cement. He has replaced a number of sets because the labour content in trying to clean them out is more than the replacement cost.

[Squid_87]

How do the slotted rotors go off road Alby? Wouldnt they fill up with dirt and grit and gouge the rotor away?

No problem, the shape of the grooves are designed to let the crap fall out as it dries (self cleaning). I was advised by DBA and 4wd mechanic not to get cross drilled rotors because they do block up and with the heat the mud sets like cement. He has replaced a number of sets because the labour content in trying to clean them out is more than the replacement cost.

Yeh thats what I thought would happen with the cross drilled rotors. As you apply the brakes its pushing the mud deeper into the rotor and could crack it. Ive got a mate who races comp 4x4's and was thinking of going away from the solid ventilated rotors also, trying to disperse heat. Would the slotted suit him?

Alby, what brand of rotors and pads are you running? By changing the pads and rotors, has that shortened the brake pedal down travel distance, ie brakes engage sooner? To shorten the handbrake travel, is that done by adjusting the rear drums through the adjusting hole on the diff side of the brake drum?

Thanks for your help guys,
Luke

[Skog07]

Had new shoes fitted all round today. Drums and discs machined...
She stops alot better now thats for sure.... Need to get the windex out and clean the face print off the windscreen...
ARB advised me to get under there when I get up to Cairns and adjust the rear shoes after they have bedded in...
Click them out till some slight resistance is felt. Then take it for a drive to allow the shoes to recentre then adjust it again to get optimum results...It renowned that the self adjusters are pretty average to say the least.
Got 68000 out of the rears the fronts still had a bit of life left but were replaced anyway...
Cheers
Skog

[Squid_87]

Well thats reassurance for standard shoes and rotors. My rig is just about to click over 44000k. I guess I need to get under it more often and click out the self adjusters. Handbrake is ordinary its at full travel to hold the rig in place on my driveway which is on an incline

[Batman]

Guys,

I must be lucky my rear adjusters seem to work just fine, I have done 36K and not had to worry about the rear brakes. The handbrake only comes up 3 - 4 clicks and brakes work fine. I have never really understood why blokes thought the brakes on the Hilux were bad. Maybe I don't drive as hard now as when I was younger?

Alby, you said "From what I have been told the rears only account for about 30% of your braking" which I believe is correct, but imagine if you were continually running with poorly adjusted rear brakes you would lose a fair chunk of that 30% and the brakes would seem pretty poor. You then spend heaps on new rotors and pads and at the same time get the rears adjusted - hey presto you now notice the brakes are great, but how much is due to the rotors and pads?
I have no doubt that the slotted rotors and different compound pads will improve braking but it must come at a cost - either reduced pad life. reduced rotor life, harder pedal or lose of "feel". If you can live with that then you have better brakes. Thankfully I don't tow heavy trailers/caravans all the time so I am satisfied with the brakes as they are.

It took me three different sets of pads on my XR8 before I was happy, the originals were causing rotor warping, the first set wouldn't stop it, second set pedal was hard as hell and wouldn't stop when cold, last set a compromise between the two but now the front wheels are forever covered in black crap.

Would be nice to have four wheel disc brakes on the Hilux, but then the hand brake would be compromised (the handbrake on the XR8 is forever needing adjustment), it's never a perfect situation. The Patrol I had had four wheel disc and tailshaft/transmission handbrake which I reckon is a close to ideal as there could be.

Just my thoughts. Good luck with your braking...

Steve.

[Alby]

How do the slotted rotors go off road Alby? Wouldnt they fill up with dirt and grit and gouge the rotor away?

No problem, the shape of the grooves are designed to let the crap fall out as it dries (self cleaning). I was advised by DBA and 4wd mechanic not to get cross drilled rotors because they do block up and with the heat the mud sets like cement. He has replaced a number of sets because the labour content in trying to clean them out is more than the replacement cost.

Yeh thats what I thought would happen with the cross drilled rotors. As you apply the brakes its pushing the mud deeper into the rotor and could crack it. Ive got a mate who races comp 4x4's and was thinking of going away from the solid ventilated rotors also, trying to disperse heat. Would the slotted suit him?

Alby, what brand of rotors and pads are you running? By changing the pads and rotors, has that shortened the brake pedal down travel distance, ie brakes engage sooner? To shorten the handbrake travel, is that done by adjusting the rear drums through the adjusting hole on the diff side of the brake drum?

Thanks for your help guys,
Luke

Luke, the part numbers for the brake upgrade.
Rotors are DBA2714SL and DBA2714SR (left and right)
Pads are Bendix DB 1739HD

I had them fitted by a mechanic so cannot help you with the technical side of the installation, but I can tell you that it did not effect my pedal height but the brakes definately feel better. I do notice that they work better when they have abit of heat in them (first off on a cold morning they don't respond as well)

Batman , i don't disagree with what you are saying, the point I was making was that spending big $ trying to upgrade the rear brakes is only going to give you little return for your spend given it only accounts for 30% of your braking (not to mention you would need to have the mod certified), this was the advice that I recieved from the DBA technical rep. his advice was to upgrade the front only.
The parts at retail level only total about $500 so I think it is a good value for money mod.

[crosssport]

Alby,
the reason your brakes dont respond so well when cold is because they are a HD(heavy duty) pad, thus meaning harder compound.
This gives longer like and better braking once heated up and less chance of brake fade.
A slightly softer pad will pull up better cold but will wear quicker and fade easier.
Only real down side to the harder pads is they are more aggressive towards rotor wear.

Cheers
Shane

[Alby]

Alby,
the reason your brakes dont respond so well when cold is because they are a HD(heavy duty) pad, thus meaning harder compound.
This gives longer like and better braking once heated up and less chance of brake fade.
A slightly softer pad will pull up better cold but will wear quicker and fade easier.
Only real down side to the harder pads is they are more aggressive towards rotor wear.

Cheers
Shane

Thanks Shane..........that makes sense.

[Squid_87]

So ideally what should shoes, pads, rotors and drums should we be running Shane? I want responsive braking on and off road, as well as a lot better handbrake. At the moment its attrocious. Thanks

[9W6VX]

Alby,

Bendix disc brake pads comes in 2 flavours, the 4WD and the Heavy Duty.

Are you running the Heavy Duty version?

I am running the 4WD version.

[9W6VX]

Bendix 4WD flavour





Bendix Heavy Duty flavour

[Alby]

Alby,

Bendix disc brake pads comes in 2 flavours, the 4WD and the Heavy Duty.

Are you running the Heavy Duty version?

I am running the 4WD version.

Brendon, model number Bendix DB 1739HD. (HD I expect is Heavy Duty ) Smart arn't I

[9W6VX]

Alby,



I must be getting old......... missed the HD part.

[matty87]

why so worried about handbrake? all the autos have a park position that locks the whole job up and manual's have either 1st or reverse for parking on slopes provided ya remember to turn the car off. Correct me if im wrong but in all the experience iv had the tail end on my lux locks up long befor the front wheels do so improving the rear brakes is just going to mean that this happens quicker yes? i do agree with improving the fronts tho.

[Squid_87]

Im worried about the handbrake for when I install a turbo timer. Cant go whacking it into first when I get out of the car lol