Upgraded brakes with heavy tires?

[MiddleAgeSubie]

Lured by the prospect of moving to BFG TA KO I have been thinking about the effect of tires that heavy on braking.

Stock tire: 24 lb
Regular AT: 31-32 lb, mine are 31 (Geolander ATS)
BFG TA KO: 39 lb (still early, one of few numbers listed, could change)

Three-ply sidewall!

Off-road suitable lightweight wheels cost a fortune. That leaves upgrading the brakes as a far cheaper option.

I have a source in the rally world per whom pads and fluid are the only things that actually need upgrading. His rally cars run on stock rotors.

This is not an urgent question for me, but I was looking at EBC red stuff pads and thought they would be an excellent upgrade.

Stock pads last a very long time and are excellent for normal use and 3 mph off-road descends, but they have a weird tendency to scream like the brakes of a steam train on high altitude mountain passes if the speed is not that low.

In addition, I think that upgraded brakes would not be a bad idea for a vehicle traveling on pavement at MGVW on heavy off-road tires.

As for the fluid, I am not so sure, but that is the easiest of upgrades (unless one is paying dealer labor costs).

Experiences? Thoughts?

 

[jf1sf5]

If you move to AT tires, they will be less efficient than road tires on tarmac, meaning they will need more distance for stopping, the ABS will kick in earlier, and you won't go as fast into corners. So I think it is not that important to have upgraded brakes, you will just adapt your driving style to your new tires…my 2cts.

 

[MiddleAgeSubie]

Well, I have been using AT tires for years...

Cornering is debatable :rotfl:

I will take mine over a generic FWD sedan any day

My point was about particularly heavy AT tires. The same would apply to MT tires I guess.

 

[jf1sf5]

Sorry, I didn't see you were already on Yoko AT's.

 

[Kevin]

I run DBA slotted rotors and Lucas pads. Tried Red and Green stuff but found that Lucas are just as good, if not better, at less cost. The Foz stops very quickly and thanks to the heat dissipation of the DBAs doesn't suffer from brake fade offroad.

 

[ateday]

Never experienced brake fade on my MY03 at all in 322000 kms.
Sometimes, particularly excursions like the Simpson and Cape York, with a fair bit of weight.
However I use my gears a lot for braking which I guess is why my original front pads were changed about 1000 kms ago.
Easy on a manual but not so easy for an automatic.

 

[MiddleAgeSubie]

It is actually very easy on an auto with paddle shifters ON road.

I am talking chiefly about descending longish off-road slopes with the foot ALWAYS on the brake pedal on a car with no low range. It is in 1st, obviously.

Btw, Subaru low range is not good enough for what I have in mind. I have a friend with imported DR from Australia and he cannot forgo the brakes on steep slopes either (Jeeps can).

As for on-road, my point is a general one, not necessarily related to hills: indeed, those are easy precisely because one can just descend in 4th, 3rd, or 2nd, as necessary.

 

[ateday]

With my 1.59 LR brakes are still, sometimes, needed but it is relatively easy to control descent speed using both without any need to brake heavily.
The 1.59 LR is useful.

 

[MiddleAgeSubie]

Oh, I will take 1.59 over nothing!

 

[idw]

Given my sf foz isn't as heavy, I put in 4wd bendix pads, i find they chew out the rotors quicker than standards. Might not be the same problem but when my brakes where making noise like you describes, i just re greased the slide pins on the calipers, cost almost nothing since i had caliper grease.

For upgrades I'm not sure what yours runs but the turbo liberty wagons and outbacks had bigger rotors and dual pot calipers front and back, but i think in aus atleast the 3.6engine had them as well. Could bet them from a wrecker easily enough.

 

[kiwifoz]

Also, the 15" forged lightweight Audi alloys are surprisingly cheap if you search around a bit, although I'm not sure if they'll fit over your brakes.