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SRT Brakes and Rotors

64K views 127 replies 37 participants last post by  mjkalinak 
#1 ·
About to hit 20,000 miles on SRT and brakes are running low so likely going to replace pads/rotors in about a month. I drive aggressively so want max braking. The current dust level while high doesn't really bother me since I go to the car wash 1-2x/wk. Have any of you replaced your pads yet? and if so with what brand/type? How have you liked performance vs original pads?
Talked to dodge parts dept and cost of Front Pads $492, Rear $382, Rotors about $300/each. May get those OEM or, if performance is the same, another brand for less $.
 
#2 · (Edited)
If you want max braking performance, the OEM Brembo pads are hard to beat, especially since the dust doesn't bother you. Most of us from the Hellcat world can't stand the high dust the OEM pads produce related to keeping the wheels clean, and many of us have switched to PowerStop Z23 or Z26 carbon ceramic pads. These pads are nearly dustless, and still have good performance for all but serious road racing applications. The key with any pad of course, is to burnish them in properly. I have a set of Z26 pads on my workbench waiting for my Durango to arrive - that will be mod #1.

As far as rotors, can't offer much advice right now, since I'm a ways off from having to replace mine yet. I believe PowerStop also offers rotors, as well as Centric. My first choice would be OEM, but waiting for the price to come down more.
 
#120 ·
If you want max braking performance, the OEM Brembo pads are hard to beat, especially since the dust doesn't bother you. Most of us from the Hellcat world can't stand the high dust the OEM pads produce related to keeping the wheels clean, and many of us have switched to PowerStop Z23 or Z26 carbon ceramic pads. These pads are nearly dustless, and still have good performance for all but serious road racing applications. The key with any pad of course, is to burnish them in properly. I have a set of Z26 pads on my workbench waiting for my Durango to arrive - that will be mod #1.

As far as rotors, can't offer much advice right now, since I'm a ways off from having to replace mine yet. I believe PowerStop also offers rotors, as well as Centric. My first choice would be OEM, but waiting for the price to come down more.
Whats the link for brake pads ? Looking to replace my pads on my 2021 dodge durango srt
 
#4 ·
The 2-piece front rotors for Durango are basically the Hellcat design, but am told are slightly thicker. The Durango version of these is the optional $1200 front brake upgrade for MY2019, and very likely could be retrofitted to MY2018s, but I hope you are sitting down when you see how much Mopar wants for them - last time I checked the OEM Hellcat front rotor P/N, they were still over $600 each, and that was down from something like $800 each when I first bought my car :shock:
 
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#56 ·
The 2-piece front rotors for Durango are basically the Hellcat design, but am told are slightly thicker. The Durango version of these is the optional $1200 front brake upgrade for MY2019, and very likely could be retrofitted to MY2018s, but I hope you are sitting down when you see how much Mopar wants for them - last time I checked the OEM Hellcat front rotor P/N, they were still over $600 each, and that was down from something like $800 each when I first bought my car :shock:
When you said you hoped the OP would be sitting down, you weren't kidding. :) I bought my new Durango SRT in June of 2018. I promise you I do not drive the truck aggressively yet surprisingly had to have both front and rear pads and rotors replaced last September of 2019. I could hear the fronts squeaking. Took it to the dealership where I was shown how low the pads were. Those on the rear also looked like they weren't far behind. What also alarmed me was the service tech's perhaps unintentionally, off-handed response to my inquiry of why I'd need new pads and rotors so soon of "Yeah. With Brembos, you're lucky to get two years out of them." Three-thousand, eight-hundred fifty-one dollars and seventeen cents later...
 
#11 ·
#16 ·
on a street driven vehicle warped rotors are a sign of a problem of either pad drag and excessive uneven heating or a driver who uses the brakes too much or rests their foot on the peddle...often a pulsating peddle can be uneven pad deposits causing microscopic high spots..just try and rebed the pads
 
#19 ·
I am trying to figure out what, exactly, is the advantage to those expensive 2-piece rotors. It would seem to me that a 1-piece unit would transfer the heat to the wheel faster than having 2 pieces bolted together. And DANG, those 2-piece things are expensive and only available from Mopar or a few speciality places. The caliper in both cases is the same from what I see. This seems to be overkill.
And that center is aluminum which can't be as strong as all one piece steel. What am I missing here?
 
#128 ·
I am trying to figure out what, exactly, is the advantage to those expensive 2-piece rotors. It would seem to me that a 1-piece unit would transfer the heat to the wheel faster than having 2 pieces bolted together. And DANG, those 2-piece things are expensive and only available from Mopar or a few speciality places. The caliper in both cases is the same from what I see. This seems to be overkill. And that center is aluminum which can't be as strong as all one piece steel. What am I missing here?
What r the options?
 
#20 ·
the logic is to keep the wheel hub/bearing cooler....less stress on the bearings .. and the rotor with proper vanning or internal venting also sheds heat faster....think pinwheel.....the aluminum hub insulates the bearing and also reduces unsprung weight..which is nice...
 
#42 · (Edited)
Yes!, and in addition to the above, the best reason for two piece rotors is to prevent rotor distortion (cupping or bowing of the plate).
The stresses associated with a rotor’s friction area expanding from repeated localized rapid (or extreme) heat soaking fighting against the more dimensionally stable material in the more thermally isolated hat can (and does) cause one piece rotor material cracking ... which at speed results in sudden and violent unscheduled component disassembly events!

An interesting solution to this brake rotor stress warping phenomenon I first observed mounted on certain OEM BMW models (Z3M?) twenty years ago. They incorporate 8 or 10 ground steel dowel pins cast in a radial pattern between the separately cast friction plate and the hat, brilliant manufacturing idea, except that the whole assy must be replaced when the rotor is worn.
I’ve been using field serviceable, bolt-on, two piece rotors on my performance cars since the early 80s, converting up from the often whimpy OEM brakes to 12” Winston Cup series sourced parts for these heavy muscle cars.
As a machinist, I had to make my own caliper adaptor brackets, hats and spacers, hubs and modified spindles.
Today you can buy a bolt-on “Big-Brake Kit” for just about any car you might own!
The important bits, like the special 72 fin Martinsville rotor discs, 4X2” (or differential bore) AP, or JFZ monoblock calipers have always been readily available and reasonably affordable through racing parts supply houses.
On my 96 SS Impala I put (then current) Z06 fixed F-6 & R-4 pot mono block calipers with DBA Kangaroo Paw rotors @ all four corners, a huge improvement over the OEM 4-wheel disc junk, ~ (check out KORE3 brake kits!).

For my 2020 SRT DD, I bought Diversified Cryogenics’s Frozen Rotors, which are actually Akebono rotors cryo-soak treated for several days, they don’t look different after treatment but I can assure you these rotors are far more stable and resistant to wear, blotchy surface hardening (hot-spots) and plate warping. These cryo rotors perform better, and return a much extended lifespan compared to the same non-cryo-treated parts. I used to use EBC Yellow pads, but now I prefer Hawk HPS, or sd/hp+ pads for daily driving, great grip, low dust, easy on rotors.
The OEM Brembos, as you all know, make crazy dust and the rotor surface always looks dark, streaked, mottled and shredded, they don’t last very long under OEM Brembo pads.
 
#22 ·
Wait, aluminum transfers heat faster but where else can the heat go except into the hub/bearing assembly and the wheel. I have never seen a NON-vented rotor on the front of any vehicle so I would assume that both the 1-piece and the 2-piece units are vented very well. And who is worried about unsprung weight when Chrysler is installing heavy run flat tires. Now that is where a lot of weight could be saved and it is not like there is no room for a spare like in a Corvette or Challenger.
Also, no money will be saved on the 2-piece thing because they are way way expensive probably because of all the intricate machining and hole drilling.
I also wonder how easy it is to warp that aluminum center by overtightening the lugs with the impact wrenches that all the top notch mechanics and tire installers are always using. Sorry, I say no thanks.

Boy, am I cranky. Hah.

When I find a dealer who will deal, very soon I will be ordering with "just" the standard brakes.
 
#28 ·
I totally agree with everything said here. I changed my OEM pads out at 7k because I couldn’t stand the brake dust anymore. Kept the original rotors and slapped Power Stops at all four corners and that got the dust level to very tolerable. You do lose some of the bite the OEMs give and every now and then I do get a ‘morning squeal’ for about 50-100 ft.but then it goes away. I did keep the OEM pads on the storage shelf in case I have a planned track trip. The Power Stops are a very reasonable alternative to buying the OEM pads especially for the price. Summit Racing Equipment carries them too. I have a hint over 10k now and no issues nearing the end of a NE Ohio winter...

Off subject but if you haven’t yet, swap out your OEM springs for the MoPar 1 in. Lowering one’s...totally worth it. Body roll reduction and it doesn’t squat nearly as much during launch. Why didn’t FCA put those on during production?!?!
 
#34 ·
About to hit 20,000 miles on SRT and brakes are running low so likely going to replace pads/rotors in about a month. I drive aggressively so want max braking. The current dust level while high doesn't really bother me since I go to the car wash 1-2x/wk. Have any of you replaced your pads yet? and if so with what brand/type? How have you liked performance vs original pads?
Talked to dodge parts dept and cost of Front Pads $492, Rear $382, Rotors about $300/each. May get those OEM or, if performance is the same, another brand for less $.
Order parts online and save dollars to local dealer prices.
 
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