Brake Service and Upgrade to '09 Challenger R/T

[ramairthree]

I know it's not like working on vintage,
but

After 5 years and 60 thousand miles,
I started getting some of those pulsations/vibrations when braking.



I should have put in new fluid and serviced them sooner, but I have other projects and it just fell through the cracks.

The local dealership wanted 200$ per axle to service the brakes, and was iffy on the phone about whether or not that including new rotors, turning the rotors, or just new brake pads.  My impression with was to put on new brake pads and then tell me it needed new rotors and add another couple hundred bucks on.

So I began to look into the options to service and upgrade my brakes.
The R/T gets no love about its braking.

I grew up with drum brakes and lots of engine.
Enjoyed some old school muscle with front discs,
and have to say for a 4000 plus pound car with 400 ft# of torque at the crank, the 4 wheel discs on it are decent.  They are not awesome.

There are big buck aftermarket options, and the SRT parts option. 
I also looked at the serious metal adapter to use SRT discs.

My R/T is my daily driver and some fun on the weekends car.  I have other hobbies.  I recently spent about 500$ to convert a vintage car from front drums to front discs.  My wife was only buying into whatever I did as being less than the 400$ at the dealership.  This left me with the option to just get new pads and discs.  I shopped around and decided to get some upgraded pads and rotors.  Theoretically, better pads would increase stopping power, and slotted/drilled discs would improve cooling thus increasing stopping power and improving cooing to avoid warped rotors.

I ended up getting the Powerstop rotors and Z16 pads.  If you shop around, you can get the set for under 360$ delivered.  Spend another 20 bucks on brake cleaner, caliper lube, etc. and I was still under a dealership service price.  For about another 100$ I could have gotten the set with the Z26 pads.  I have a vintage car I put extra high performance pads on, which squeal like crazy most of the time, and I never get hot enough to benefit from the improved performance, so I figured the Z16, which are touted as a notch above OEM, would be good to go vs. going an extra notch beyond that.

Here is the factory original front.  (except I painted the calipers years ago)



I did not measure pad grooves, straight edge or mic the rotor, etc., but I figure 60K is a fair amount of use from them.



The new rotor and pads.  (I also threw a coat of gloss black on the caliper brackets while I was at it)



Wheel back on.



The original rears



New  Rear





I would like, but do not have a nice reverse bleeder.  The past week or so I have taken out 6 oz at a time of brake fluid from the MC resevoir, and put in new DOT 3 4 times.

After compressing the pistons, I also did 3 ounces each time.  The fluid still has the brown/orange tint even though most of it must be new clear fluid by now.  I would like to get it vacuum bled and put in some high performance brake fluid fully.  (add another 20 bucks of brake fluid to the total and I still came in under the dealership service.)

I bedded them tonight, and of course the vibrations are gone.  But I did not get that hot brakes smell when bedding like I have with some other cars. 

Anyways, I will follow up in a month or so and let you know if it is good to go or was a waste of money.
I figure I am not the only modern Mopar owning guy here.

[myk]

I say good move.  Even if the results aren't what you expected, at least you serviced your brake fluid; most hi-po car types will address every nut and bolt on their machine in a quest for power but completely ignore the brake fluid-that stuff goes bad too!