- Jun 28, 2012
- 1,634
How to upgrade to EXT/SS Brake Upgrade
INTRO
With the new heavier and larger tires, my stopping distance increased. Or, more to the point. When some A*hole pulled right out in front of me, I'd have a HEART ATTACK.
So I decided to do the EXT/SS brake upgrade. You have two options for upgrading your brakes. You can opt to purchase the SSBC Brake upgrade kit. This kit includes 14" rotors and 4 piston brakes, for some seriously hard core breaking. Some might argue that's overkill for an offroad vehicle. I don't think you can ever over do braking personally. The down side is that those 14inch rotors and calipers may not fit in anything smaller than an 18" rim or with a ton of back spacing. Currently only the SS guys seem to be running these, and no one has posted measurements that I can find or tried running it with 17inch rims and backspacing.
Oh yeah, they're expensive. The price tag on the SSBC kit is pretty big, at close to 2 grand, you've got to be committed.
The second option is the SS/EXT Rotor Swap. Both the EXT and SS have a larger 13 inch front rotor compared to the stock rotors on non v8 SWB Trailblazer/Envoy at 12.4 inches. Basically with this mod two things are changing, the size of the rotor and the size of the pads, which equals increased contact area for your pads. Funny enough, the larger pads fit the the original caliper, so you won't need to replace it. We are after all only increasing the contact area by .60 inches.
It should be noted the only difference between the SS & EXT rotor is a few MM in thickness and the SS featured Iron calipers. (Handles heat better)
The cost of this swap is relatively cheap, under $200.00. Just depends on if you get blank OE style rotors, junk yard rotors or decide to bling it out with Cross-drilled and slotted zinc plated rotors from Brakemotive.
WHAT YOU WILL NEED
You will be able to reuse your stock calipers. They're the same size.
You can get these from Rock Auto, or any parts dealer.
Caliper mounting brackets: Cardone A-1: Part# 14-1143 Front Right/Left (order 2)
Caliper Guide Pin Kit brackets CARLSON Part # H5093 (order 2)
Caliper Guide Pin boot: CARLSON Part # 16143 (order 2)
Set of front EXT/SS Rotors and a set of brake pads.
It's up to you what you get. I referenced a 2006 Chevy Trailblazer SS and bought a Brakemotive kit.
BE CAREFUL WITH EBAY. A few of the rotor/pad combos on ebay listed as being for the EXT/SS also label themselves as being for the SWB vehicle and in fact may be the wrong size rotor. So do diligence is important.
DOING THE SWAP
This guide makes two assumptions.
#1 You are mechanically inclined and can jack the vehicle on your own and remove the tires.
#2 You know how to change you brakes already and can remove the caliper and replace the pads. (How to Change your brake pads & rotors)
To get started pick a side and remove the wheel and the caliper along with the pads. You can set the caliper aside out of the way.
Then you'll have to remove the two 17mm bolts holding the bracket in place, as shown here:
After the bracket is off, the next step is to remove your rotor. If you end up like me, you'll have these annoying metal tabs which have to be removed first. Then the rotor will pull straight off.
After that, you can put your new rotor on, and then install the new bracket where you removed the old one using the new caliper guide pins and boot kit.
It really is that simple. Next up, replace your old pads, now is a good time if you want to paint your calipers. I decided why not.
Re-install your caliper using the new bolt kit. A little blue loc-tite might be a good idea.
And that's all. Incredibly simple, and an effective upgrade.
You might be thinking, is there really that much improvement in stopping? The answer to that question is a resounding YES. And I am not going to debate the merits of the cross-drilled/slotted rotors.
Good Luck
*If you are wondering about the rear calipers, well they're the same size on all GMT 360's. So just buy new pads.
INTRO
With the new heavier and larger tires, my stopping distance increased. Or, more to the point. When some A*hole pulled right out in front of me, I'd have a HEART ATTACK.
So I decided to do the EXT/SS brake upgrade. You have two options for upgrading your brakes. You can opt to purchase the SSBC Brake upgrade kit. This kit includes 14" rotors and 4 piston brakes, for some seriously hard core breaking. Some might argue that's overkill for an offroad vehicle. I don't think you can ever over do braking personally. The down side is that those 14inch rotors and calipers may not fit in anything smaller than an 18" rim or with a ton of back spacing. Currently only the SS guys seem to be running these, and no one has posted measurements that I can find or tried running it with 17inch rims and backspacing.
Oh yeah, they're expensive. The price tag on the SSBC kit is pretty big, at close to 2 grand, you've got to be committed.
The second option is the SS/EXT Rotor Swap. Both the EXT and SS have a larger 13 inch front rotor compared to the stock rotors on non v8 SWB Trailblazer/Envoy at 12.4 inches. Basically with this mod two things are changing, the size of the rotor and the size of the pads, which equals increased contact area for your pads. Funny enough, the larger pads fit the the original caliper, so you won't need to replace it. We are after all only increasing the contact area by .60 inches.
It should be noted the only difference between the SS & EXT rotor is a few MM in thickness and the SS featured Iron calipers. (Handles heat better)
The cost of this swap is relatively cheap, under $200.00. Just depends on if you get blank OE style rotors, junk yard rotors or decide to bling it out with Cross-drilled and slotted zinc plated rotors from Brakemotive.
WHAT YOU WILL NEED
You will be able to reuse your stock calipers. They're the same size.
You can get these from Rock Auto, or any parts dealer.
Caliper mounting brackets: Cardone A-1: Part# 14-1143 Front Right/Left (order 2)
Caliper Guide Pin Kit brackets CARLSON Part # H5093 (order 2)
Caliper Guide Pin boot: CARLSON Part # 16143 (order 2)
Set of front EXT/SS Rotors and a set of brake pads.
It's up to you what you get. I referenced a 2006 Chevy Trailblazer SS and bought a Brakemotive kit.
BE CAREFUL WITH EBAY. A few of the rotor/pad combos on ebay listed as being for the EXT/SS also label themselves as being for the SWB vehicle and in fact may be the wrong size rotor. So do diligence is important.
DOING THE SWAP
This guide makes two assumptions.
#1 You are mechanically inclined and can jack the vehicle on your own and remove the tires.
#2 You know how to change you brakes already and can remove the caliper and replace the pads. (How to Change your brake pads & rotors)
To get started pick a side and remove the wheel and the caliper along with the pads. You can set the caliper aside out of the way.
Then you'll have to remove the two 17mm bolts holding the bracket in place, as shown here:
After the bracket is off, the next step is to remove your rotor. If you end up like me, you'll have these annoying metal tabs which have to be removed first. Then the rotor will pull straight off.
After that, you can put your new rotor on, and then install the new bracket where you removed the old one using the new caliper guide pins and boot kit.
It really is that simple. Next up, replace your old pads, now is a good time if you want to paint your calipers. I decided why not.
Re-install your caliper using the new bolt kit. A little blue loc-tite might be a good idea.
And that's all. Incredibly simple, and an effective upgrade.
You might be thinking, is there really that much improvement in stopping? The answer to that question is a resounding YES. And I am not going to debate the merits of the cross-drilled/slotted rotors.
Good Luck
*If you are wondering about the rear calipers, well they're the same size on all GMT 360's. So just buy new pads.