Brakes ? - Do you know much about them?

DR1

Joined
Aug 17, 2014
Messages
749
Location
Florida
Vehicle - 2008 Nissan Titan Crew Cab 2wd with 149k miles on it.

My driving habits are very little compared to most people that go to work day in and day out. My driving is in the 90% range of in town driving to the grocery store, doc appts., and rarely drive over to visit family maybe 6 times per year about 1hr 30 minutes away from my location. 40 minutes is all highway driving 70mph+ and the remaining of that time reaches average speeds of approx. 40mph-55mph in "mmmmm" somewhat stop and go in the Tampa Bay area where family lives.

Ok....with all that being said I don't tow a trailer at all anymore. Are slotted/drilled brake rotors better for my driving style or just the regular non slotted? I of course know that ceramic pads are the way to go regarding noisy brakes when brakes are applied. I live in Central Florida where it doesn't snow and rarely reaches 32 degrees freezing. Most of the time it's fairly warm with extremely high humidity. Never goes over 95 degrees, but our humidity makes the feel like temps 100+ degrees in the summer months for sure.

I don't know anything about brake calipers. I just know that when I have seen my tires being rotated or just removed in general there is noticeable surface rust, but beyond surface I am not sure if the rust on the calipers are more severe. I purchased my truck about 4 years ago when it had 110k miles on it then , and I have never had any issues with my brakes performing like they should. I want to buy what is the best for my truck and esp. for my safety and the publics safety while I'm on the road.

So slotted rotors or not? pads? calipers? and beyond? I would be very grateful for your wisdom regarding this. Thank you all in advance!
 
No need in slotted rotors...

Regular vented rotors with good anti rust protection if you live near salt water in Florida. . Or travel routinely to the coastline areas.

Duralast Gold rotors would be a good choice or Napa Ultra Premium rotors too.

Pads.... Again you live in a state that flat as a pancake...

Any Gold level pads from AAP, AZ and or Napa and or O Reilly's will perform very well. These are all typically FF rated pads. Which is good performance. You could get Wagner OEX pads that are likely GG rated from O Reilly's... Or EHT pads from Raybestes which are GG rated and several members on here have really liked them quite a lot. Another possibility is Akebono Street Performance brake pads which are likely GG rated and I found them to be quiet and very good on my former 08 Nissan Altima VQ.

If you want to go with super duper brake pads.... Hawk, and or EBC could be a option. These will cost you though... Likely guaranteed $120+ a set. AutoZone could get them for you if you want to order them.
 
Your driving style does not warrant drilled/slotted rotors however a coated rotor is a good idea to prevent rust in your high humidity/salt in the air environment. My personal recommendation based on probably 70+ sets installed is the Raybestos EHT coated rotors and EHT pad kit sold on Rockauto. The last set I installed on a '15 Escalade was just around 140 total with shipping for 2 coated rotors and the pads. Great deal on a great ceramic pad and coated rotors.
 
Your driving style does not warrant drilled/slotted rotors however a coated rotor is a good idea to prevent rust in your high humidity/salt in the air environment. My personal recommendation based on probably 70+ sets installed is the Raybestos EHT coated rotors and EHT pad kit sold on Rockauto. The last set I installed on a '15 Escalade was just around 140 total with shipping for 2 coated rotors and the pads. Great deal on a great ceramic pad and coated rotors.
what type of coated ?
 
No need in slotted rotors...

Regular vented rotors with good anti rust protection if you live near salt water in Florida. . Or travel routinely to the coastline areas.

Duralast Gold rotors would be a good choice or Napa Ultra Premium rotors too.

Pads.... Again you live in a state that flat as a pancake...

Any Gold level pads from AAP, AZ and or Napa and or O Reilly's will perform very well. These are all typically FF rated pads. Which is good performance. You could get Wagner OEX pads that are likely GG rated from O Reilly's... Or EHT pads from Raybestes which are GG rated and several members on here have really liked them quite a lot. Another possibility is Akebono Street Performance brake pads which are likely GG rated and I found them to be quiet and very good on my former 08 Nissan Altima VQ.

If you want to go with super duper brake pads.... Hawk, and or EBC could be a option. These will cost you though... Likely guaranteed $120+ a set. AutoZone could get them for you if you want to order them.
Thank you my friend.
 
If you're happy with the OE set up then stick with it. Coated rotors however are a good idea.

Slotted or drilled rotors won't really provide any benefit and can introduce noise.
 
Vehicle - 2008 Nissan Titan Crew Cab 2wd with 149k miles on it.

My driving habits are very little compared to most people that go to work day in and day out. My driving is in the 90% range of in town driving to the grocery store, doc appts., and rarely drive over to visit family maybe 6 times per year about 1hr 30 minutes away from my location. 40 minutes is all highway driving 70mph+ and the remaining of that time reaches average speeds of approx. 40mph-55mph in "mmmmm" somewhat stop and go in the Tampa Bay area where family lives.

Ok....with all that being said I don't tow a trailer at all anymore. Are slotted/drilled brake rotors better for my driving style or just the regular non slotted?

So slotted rotors or not? pads? calipers? and beyond?

You're the ideal candidate for stock brakes. Why even consider something else?
Nothing beyond proper maintenance as long as everything is in proper condition.
New (stock) calipers only if your old ones are seized. You may consider Geomet
or similar coated rotors though. I prefer Brembo rotors for OE applications. Your
situation appears quite similar to Shel's, so same the advice seems appropriate:



Slotted discs mean less stock and more likely to warp.

Slotted rotors will mainly yield noise (humming). Warping is highly unlikely though.
.
 
You're the ideal candidate for stock brakes. Why even consider something else?
Nothing beyond proper maintenance as long as everything is in proper condition.
New (stock) calipers only if your old ones are seized. You may consider Geomet
or similar coated rotors though. I prefer Brembo rotors for OE applications. Your
situation appears quite similar to Shel's, so same the advice seems appropriate:





Slotted rotors will mainly yield noise (humming). Warping is highly unlikely though.
.
I don't live anywhere close to the saltwater. I live between tampa and orlando. are geomet coated really needed?
 
I don't live anywhere close to the saltwater. I live between tampa and orlando. are geomet coated really needed?

On rockauto, the prices for the fully coated Raybestos EHT3 rotors front and back for your truck ends up being cheaper than the majority of the non/partially coated rotors. I'd totally do it without a second thought. To me it's a nice peace of mind as I've had wheels rust to the rotor hat and the rotor rusting to the wheel hub.
 
I don't live anywhere close to the saltwater. I live between tampa and orlando. are geomet coated really needed?

I don't think so, not if you don't suffer from excessive rust so far. You just seemed
being interested, I didn't bringt this up. Coated rotors surely won't harm though,
which is a big difference to slotted rotors and many other so-called 'performance
options'.
.
 
I'd definitely go coated rotors. You could go cryo treatment but for how little you drive you might not see a benefit
 
Careful with ceramic pads, not all have sufficient friction. Many have EE ratings (hot cold friction) and tend to do quite poorly when heavily loaded, such as towing.

I always try to find brake pads with a GG rating.
 
Ceramic pads? The front pads on my 2004 Focus, with 185,000 miles, are original Ford as are the rotors. Having done so well and will be replaced next month just for the sake of it I am using original Ford rotors and Ford pads, in Ford boxes, which I got very cheaply from my favorite supplier on eBay. Can't beat a NOS OEM A/C Denso compressor for $69 or NOS OEM Mazda distributor for $49. I took a look and saw he has OEM Nissan pads.

 
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