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Brake reccomendations for 2013

selbyj

Full Member
Joined
Oct 21, 2011
Messages
52
AM starting to look into brake pad and rotor replacements for my 2013 Avalanche.  Am starting to periodically get indications the it is getting time for the front.  Plus never have been a great fan of the typical GM truck brake fade from the OEM setup.  Have been reviewing the posts on the forum and see many brands mentioned, but it seems that for everyone that has had success and are happy, there are just as many that have had problems with that same brand.  Also seems that the majority of the posts are for the older models and doing a GMT800 to GMT900 upgrade.  Brands under consideration are EBC, Brakemotive, Ppower Stop, Hawker Performance. Seems a lot of the replacements (to include all of the brands mentioned) are only getting 16,000 to 20,000 miles before having to replace again, which seems very bad considering that the OEM brakes last so much longer, which make me think about sticking with OEM pads and just upgrading to slotted rotors since we all know the OEM rotors are garbage.
 
I did EBC slotted and dimpled rotors along with Yellowstuff pads.  This is a very aggressive combination and the the results are excellent.  Stopping power is probably 20 to 30% better than stock.  However the pads wear fast and dust a lot.  In fact, it's not really dust.... it's more like a caked cruddy mess.  However with that being said, my truck is not for show and I am happy with the extra mess.

EBC did great by me as they replaced the rotors and pads for free when my shop screwed up with a rotor skimming exercise (which I would not recommend).
 
Put winter tires on yesterday and did brake inspection.  The pads still look good (y), ~half the pad worn after ~57,000 miles.  The calipers do not appears to be frozen or anything.  Am guessing the stock rotors are warping as they heat up because it is only after driving a while that get a slight vibration in steering wheel during braking.  Maybe next spring when summer tires go back on may look at replacing at least the front rotors to see if that goes away.  The way the stock pads are wearing thing would be just as well off to stick with the stock pads for replacements.
 
I also have a 2013 and am doing a full brake job soon.  Im going as far as the calipers too.  I haven't done a ton of research yet but I like what I read when looking at Power Stop's "Z36 Truck and Tow Performance Brake Kit w/ Caliper's".  Wilwood also seems to be a reputable manufacturer but is more than double the price.  $715 but if I'm reading it correctly it looks like there's a $140 core charge that gets refunded bringing the total to $575 with free shipping.  Seems too cheap...

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/pwr-kc2070-36/kitcombocontents/year/2013/make/chevrolet/model/avalanche/submodel/black-diamond-ltz?prefilter=1

Can you replace the caliper/rotor/pad per wheel one at a time?  Like doing one wheel per day for 4 days?
 
I don't think I would do one wheel at a time.  I would do front one day and rear another but wouldn't do just one wheel.  One thing to keep in mind, if you are replacing calipers, you will have to bleed the system.  This would be an argument to do all four at once to ensure old brake fluid doesn't mix with new.  You could always bleed the whole system first to ensure you only get new fluid in the new calipers.  Obviously you will go through more brake fluid with this approach.
 
I agree that doing one wheel at a time will not be good.  I recently did a full 4 wheel brake pad/Rotor replacement which did not take too much time.  I even painted my calipers and did a full fluid flush in the process and still managed to complete the job in about 5 hours. Frito is correct that since you are changing calipers then you will need to bleed the system, which is not one of the most fun tasks to do. 

I ended up going with EBC Premium regular rotors and Power Stop Z36 pads.  Did not replace the calipers as the stock calipers were not having any issues.  The change in brake system response was amazing.  It has now been about 3 months since the change and the brakes are still 100% better than stock.  The OEM pads on the rear were just about down to the wear indicators, the front pads still had about 20% left which I found odd since every other vehicle I have had always had the front pads wear more than the rear.  Think maybe the weight distribution of the Avalanche may have something to do with it. 
 
The OEM pads on the rear were just about down to the wear indicators, the front pads still had about 20% left which I found odd since every other vehicle I have had always had the front pads wear more than the rear.
How many miles on the OEM pads?
 
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