I'd be concerned about the fitment with OEM wheels. From my past information some kits like this required the use of 18" wheels or biggger due to the size of the aftermarket calipers.

The fancy discs aren't a huge benefit. I do think the caliper design with multiple pistons is an upgrade. With all that there's TONS of trucks running stock brakes with no issues.

 

I’m running 20” wheels so fitment is no issue. I’m currently running stock calipers and Ford’s Heavy Duty brake pads but I still get some fade if I need to stop in a hurry when towing my 5er. I have to keep the gain up to almost max which I don’t like because it wears out my trailer brakes that much faster. New rotors and pads are going to run me about $1500. May as well upgrade while I’m at it.

 

Why are rotors and pads costing $1500?

What year truck?

Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk

 

It’s a 2011 F350. One rotor is $200+ tax. The heavy duty brake pads were almost $400+ tax. I changed out the fluid which wasn’t cheap either. So that’s why I’m considering an upgrade.

 

if you have deep pockets then I'd say go for it.
If you cannot afford it then changing your driving habits are free.

 

Most of the work NHTSA did years ago showed trailer brakes that did their share for the weight over them was a safer situation. Stopping majorly with the towing vehicle gets the trailer wanting to accelerate, relatively speaking, passing the truck and, therefore, more prone to jackknife.

If you are fading Superduty brakes, the trailer is not doing its fair share. If those trailer brakes are drums, which any brake engineer would tell you is a poor combination with a disc brake, and why the vehicle industry adopted disc/disc one they got over the upcharge, upgrading the trailer to disc brakes would be better.

The "I don't want to wear out my trailer brakes" is a comment all too well heard, and honestly, stinkin thinkin.

Multiple piston calipers tend to elongate the pad's frictional surface, more surface area, which reduces the loading per square inch on the frictional material, lowering the pressure at the rubbing surface. To compensate, you either up the hydraulic pressure or the friction coefficient of the material. You can up the friction coefficient at hot temps of the stock system by going to a high metallic compound like Hawk "SuperDuty" friction line. Unfortunately, cold friction tends to be lacking. Or spend the big bucks. Either way, the trailer still wants to stay in a higher state of motion.

Think about the trailer situation of sway downhill. The well-known correction at the moment is to apply trailer brakes to keep the trailer from trying to accelerate.

The unfortunate thing is most of NHTSA's trailer brake testing is concentrated at the Class 8 level, in which my old company was highly involved. The recreational side of trailers is sorely missed.

Better controlled with a 5th wheel, but a demonstration nevertheless about trailer acceleration. 5th wheel class 8 have had trailer acceleration in accidents.

 

Fluid change was expensive ? it should not have been a cost worth mentioning IMO
I have not priced rotors lately but maybe you need to shop around

anytime you step into aftermarket you risk reliability and on the road repairability

and can those fancy willwood rotors be turned when it is time for service or are they once and done ?

 

I paid about $70 for two gallon jugs and flushed the system well. May have been overkill but I’m an A&P licensed mechanic that’s been in the aircraft industry for 25 years. Overkill is normal for us. 😂🤣😂

As for the rotors, I’m not sure if they can be turned or not. I don’t suspect I’ll ever be in a situation where I’ll be needing spare parts in an emergency.

 

I think you are looking at the wrong half of your towing combination. If you are getting fade on your truck, I would put money on your trailer brakes not working correctly. Fix that situation and your fade problem should go away.

 

The brakes on the 5er are nearly brand new. I just feel like this truck requires a lot of trailer brakes to stop safely and it shouldn’t necessarily be that way. I’m running my gain on 9 and I still feel like I need a heavy foot on the brakes to stop the rig. Maybe steel brake lines will compliment the stock brakes?

 

I would stick with OEM personally... I could only imagine if something went wrong and you had to wait for parts in the mail vs limping home with cheap napa parts to at least get you back on the road. I don't like cheap parts but with oem set up you can at least find replacement parts. Willwood requires you to wait for the mail if anything happened.

 

This is the reason I want to go the Wilwood route. They are a well known manufacturer with a lot of background. I’m not trying to go cheap what do ever. But this truck obviously needs more braking as the 2014 trucks were upgraded to better brakes.

 

Or undersized trailer brakes.

 

i would rather find an OEM upgrade than a well known aftermarket
i would also be testing the manual activation with no truck assist and see what's going on back there braking capability wise

 

And so far, mostly a total disregard that the trailer brakes may be inadequate.

 

New trailer brakes doesn't mean much. Big question are they adjusted correctly. Given the size of your 5er you should have at a minimum of 12 in drums. Can you skid your trailer with just the brake controller.

What you're describing is the trailer is not braking near enough.

 

You can get rotors and pads from Power Stop through Rockauto for $301 for a kit for the front or $680 for a kit that includes coated rotors and ceramic pads all the way around. I just ordered the kit for the front as my fronts are warped and its time to do the hubs and front axle u joints anyways. I'd lean more into adjusting your trailer brakes to carry more of the load. My 5th wheel is around 13K loaded and when I manually engage the brake fully at lower speeds it will lock up both axles. Between tow haul mode engine braking, my tune adding in a little exhaust brake action, and the way I have the trailer brakes adjusted I've always felt it stopped pretty adequate and actually quite a bit better than the 2001 F250 I had previously and towed it with. I tow it about 20 times a year and put around 4-5K miles on it and I've had this particular 5th wheel for about 5 years now and I've yet to need to service or replace the brakes. I think I have tandem Dexter 7K axles and actually was going to tear into them here in next week or two after I rebuild the front end of the truck just to see how the shoes and bearings are looking.

 

to endorse Woody's suggestion
not a huge fan of non OEM but I could not find OEM for my 03 Tahoe and just did all 4 rotors and pads on the hoe
using powerstop from Autozone online 304.00 for all 4 corners to my door and I just finished them yesterday ,, I was actually impressed with them and their fitment

 

What was the installed runout?

 

we warped the rotors 12 years or more ago when we towed our 26 foot boat


the run out of the new rotor is far less than the old OEM if I use my Nikecrometer to verify

 

I haul a 42 ft 14500 lb 5er

Towing that with a SRW truck....brakes are likely going to have issues. Even more issues likely if the trailer brakes aren't helping.