New Brakes! (First on a Dodge)

[snowracer69]

So yesterday when I knew my new brakes would be coming I tore my old ones off... here's what I found of my passenger side:



#ad




I knew I had been in the rotors for a while, but jeezus, I didn't know it was that bad!! Anywho... .



Here's a pic of my fancy new ones from www.appliedrotortechnology.com or ART:



#ad




#ad




Shiny, slotted, zinc coated, and cryo-treated with a method that takes three days and goes through three cycles. Pad, one of the guys at ART told me I would be VERY pleased with how they looked, and I am! These things are unreal! I forget who he told me makes the rotors he uses, but they were a recognizable name. He then machines them, coats them, and cryo's them.



There were two explicit warnings he gave to me when I was installing them. First was teh direction of the slot (leading edge closest to the hub, so the inner part of the slot reaches the pad first), and to torque the lug-nuts correctly so as not to cause warping.



I was told to brake the Performance Friction carbon-metallic pads that came with the rotors in easily for say 200-400 miles, so they seat really well. He said once they warm up nice a few times and get good and solid, then get on it and you'll see what these brakes can really do! So far I've only got 100 miles on them, so I don't know just yet how great they are, but from the couple of times I've had to hit them a touch harder, they've stopped me WAY faster than any other set of brakes I've ever used!



With the slots and cryo, there is absolutely no brake mush. Put your foot in one place and leave it there, and you come to a stop... . they don't fall off, but actually seem to stop you in an exponential manner.



Price tag was more than others, at $162/rotor, plus $60 for the pads, so I think with my express shipping it came to $440 total... well worth it in my mind after seeing what they can do... these really are great rotors!



And yes, I have the first set he's ever made for a Dodge... he's big into the Ford HD applications, but can make anything that he can get a set of rotors for. I helped a friend put a set on his '01 F250 4x2 and they were awesome, so I just had to try a pair! 100k on my stockers and look what they had turned into! It was definitely time for new ones.



Shiny... .



Josh

 

[thejeepdude]

Nice looking rotors. BTW, you can get those performance friction pads for ~$45 from autozone, and they'll replace them for free for life as long as you dno't do what you did in the first pic.

 

[willyslover]

Josh . . suggest you put down one of those beers and look under there once in a while might just save your bacon [just kidding ya here]



the new stuff looks good ! , did you add SS lines while at it ??

 

[snowracer69]

LOL at the comments about the first pic. I've been waiting on these rotors for only about 2 weeks (fastest turn around I've ever heard of from ART... . usually there is a 4-6 week backorder wait time on them, but I needed them before I headed to school, and I knew Pad wanted to do a set for a Dodge, so I got them extra quick!), and about 2 days before I ordered them I got into my rotor on the pax side. I hadn't noticed the squealer going off, and after removing the pads I noticed why... the squealer was on the outside pad and hadn't touched yet! Sooooooooooooooooooo anyway... . lol... lesson learned. I won't be doing that with this set. Pad is checking to see if he can get me the lifetime pads for free, but if not, what's $45 for pads one time?



I like these new ones more and more each day... once the pads warm up in the morning, they stop me RIGHT NOW! No grabbing, no jerking, just steady stopping. I actually have to let up off the pedal sometimes to make it to the stop sign so I don't end up short!