Chevy & GMC Vans

1994 astro. I'm doing new Rotors and pads and also the rear. My Van was Re-drilled ,so i'll be going back to 5x5.
Who do you think makes a good rotor?
And pads?

I put "power slot" rotors on the front of my van and am very happy with them. They are grooved and have bigger cooling fins in the middle. I got sick of warping the stock rotors everytime you hit a long down hill or tow the travel trailer. I have had them on for 8-9 months and just did a big trip 3500km with the trailer and they show no signs of warping.

The down side is they are more than twice the price of stock. I could have got stock rotors for $75 each but the slotted ones were just over $150 a peice and that was with my company discount on the parts.

I beleive I just used AC delco pads but I can't remember off the top of my head.

I got all my parts at Lordco. Hope this helps.

Brembo Rotors, high quality parts that I fit to BMW`s and Mercedes everyday at my work, never had a problem.

If you choose cheaper brands, you will have problems.... Don`t cheap out on brakes, because they are important.

What do you mean redrilled?

I'll be putting on Raybestos Pro Grade rotors on Grumpy Thursday.

ihatemybike, I just finished visiting the raybestos site. They have a pretty good line of products. Have you decided what type of pads yet? Thanks, Jim

I second Socalli's suggestion. I have Brembo rotors on my astro - If memory serves, I got them from tirerack.com. I may be mis-remembering though, that was at least 50K miles ago.

ihatemybike wrote:What do you mean redrilled?

I'll be putting on Raybestos Pro Grade rotors on Grumpy Thursday.

When i bought the van. the other owner had the Wheels redrilled for 5x114.3 lug pattern to fit a Front Wheel drive Wheel on the VAN KMC UNITS they where.. Now since i'm redoing the Susp. on the van. It's time for new stuff!

astroturf wrote:Have you decided what type of pads yet? Thanks, Jim

Raybestos Pro Grade.

Already have them on the van, put them on last winter. One of the current rotors somehow developed a pitted section that I could feel while braking. Looked into having them turned, but for $20 turned vs $26 new I went the new route. Inspecting the pads I don't see any damage due to the pitted section. I'll inspect them again before I put the new rotors on, if anything doesn't look right I'll replace them too.

kings-x59 wrote:I have Brembo rotors on my astro - If memory serves, I got them from tirerack.com.

You are correct. I bought a set from them for my 98 AWD. Very high quality and went 40k+ and were still perfectly smooth. Only reason I removed them was to do the SAS.

ihatemybike, How did your brake job go? Details, details, juicy details, please. Thanks, Jim

Replacing rotors on an AWD van is really very easy. Not really deserving of a write up, but here goes.

Remove wheels
Use C-clamp to compress caliper
Remove caliper mounting bolts and caliper - I hang them with wire from upper control arm as to not let it hang by brake line.
Remove rotor - Usually just slides off, but if they haven't been off in forever they might need rubber mallet persuasion from the back side.
If the hub surface is obviously rusty, I use a wire wheel mounted in a drill to clean it up some.
Use brake cleaner to clean the backside of the rotor to be installed
Install rotor
Brake cleaner on the front side
Inspect/replace brake pads (Grumpy's looked fine)
Install caliper and mounting bolts
Install wheels
Start engine and pump brakes till pedal feels solid again
I'll then go for a short drive around the block to see how it feels, returning home if something isn't right.
If everything seems good, I head out to a road with little traffic and perform the brake bed in procedure.

Stopping with Grumpy is so smoooooth now and Grumpy appears to be getting slightly better gas mileage due to the brakes not catching on the funkiness of the old rotors.

ihatemybike, Good to here. Thanks, Jim

wheres a good place to go to get my hubs on my brake pads shaved down alittle.?
mach. shop?

jbird wrote:wheres a good place to go to get my hubs on my brake pads shaved down alittle.?
mach. shop?

Try this: http://www.procutinternational.com/zipfind.aspx Jim