Bye-bye Gov-Lock, Hello Tru Trac, plus gear swap and brakes

[Will L.]

So, Hawk pads have a huge following in hummers. Touted as sliced breads latest and greatest, I tried them. I can’t say “Meh” so I will give them “Meh +2”.

They were a little better than AC Delco & Reybestos, but barely. If I hadn’t been super vigilant in testing for comparison I would say they were exactly the same. This is in performance of stopping cold, hot, dry and wet. As for lifespan, 75% which is expected. Performance = shorter lifespan in almost everything.

But each vehicle is different, Hummers of different years had brake parts differences so maybe other parts made bigger differences or climate variations.

I was hoping to hear from you they were the go to answer and maybe I just missed the boat on that one application.

Burnishing pads and rotors btw is controlled stopping and cooling cycles when first installed to heat cure the pads and surface of rotor. I can post AM General’s burnishing instructions if you want. I don’t have GM’s anymore, but it was close to AM General’s. Iirc it was smae but one more cycle at higher speed.

Hit the pads with the rol loc and run again to see if the seat better since braking power is restored imo.

Also dry pins causing drag may have effected more than you’d expect too.

 

[79jasper]

This is from Wagner.
"An effective burnish cycle to seat the friction materials into the opposing rotor and drum surfaces requires approximately 200 stops. The 200 stops are consistent with the burnish procedure outlined in the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards FMVSS 105 and FMVSS 135. 200 stops may not be practical for many repair shops. Therefore, we recommend the following burnish procedure:

Make approximately 20 “Complete Stops” from 30-mph

- OR –

20 “Slow-Downs” from 50-mph to 20-mph with light to moderate pedal pressure

NO PANIC STOPS

Allow at least 30 seconds between brake applications for the brake pads or shoes to cool down

It is critical to follow cool down procedures to avoid damaging NAO, Ceramic and Semi-Met friction material as well as the rotor/drum

No high speed stops and/or braking under heavy loads that could result in glazed or otherwise damaged linings"


Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk

 

[n8in8or]

This is why I love posting here. Sometimes you make mistakes and it sucks having people see them, but it is good to have errors caught when they are made.

Somewhere in the past I read a brake pad bedding procedure that said you are supposed to make hard stops from a high speed with time to cool in between. I’m not sure where that came from - probably some internet “expert”. I went to Hawk’s website and found their procedure, which is pretty similar to what you guys are describing.



As far as dealing with my current brakes, I’m hesitant to take them apart and start over. I’m happy with how they’re performing currently and would hate to ruin something by trying to re-do the bedding procedure. If they’re working well now, should I still try taking them apart, deglaze the rotors amd rebed the pads?

Also, I misspoke when I said burnishing the rotors - what I meant was that I was abrading the rotors to deglaze them so the new pads could bed in.

 

[Will L.]

Heck no! Rule #1: if it is working don’t mess with it! If it’s good now, you’re fine.

I have a friend that is an amazing welder- lives in the Bay area of California. He will never admit error, regardless of what or why. I said “what are you Jesus or something, think you are perfect?” He says “No, I just never admit it.” Kinda silly to me. We all goof up. I just do it more often than others, so that is one more thing I am good at- messing up!

 

[Jaryd]

Several hard stops with enough time to cool in between is how I’ve always been told to do it to. Guess I’ve been doing it wrong to, but it does seem to work good when done that way.