Repair-It

It sounded real squeally all of a sudden. Turns out its just the wear indicators. So I bent them back and kept driving. Need to buy brakes, though.

Two years ago, I bought these:
https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.ph ... 81&jsn=445
They stopped really well compared to the Delco OEM pads I had on it before. The rotors are slotted (and cross drilled), so they make a funny slotted-rotor stopping noise when stopping. Its fine, but it detracts from the otherwise quiet everything.

The worst thing about these brakes is the lifespan. Two years isn't great, but during that time I only drove 25k. Not exactly great.

So, time for replacement pads. I've had three other sets of pads on this car: the ones it came with, Duralast Gold, and the AC Delco pads. The originals and the Delcos provided terrible performance and not much lifespan. The Duralast Gold pads were pretty good and lasted a while. The PowerStops performed great, but didn't last very long.

So, what to get now? The PowerStop pads are ~$50 by themselves. More Duralast Gold pads are ~$43. I could also step up to something like Hawk HPS. My only reservation with those is the type of driving you do with the Fleetwood isn't completely compatible with the HPS pads so I wouldn't necessarily get the full benefit from them.

Thoughts? Opinions?

That link won't load for some reason...

Everything you're saying, though, suggests that those PowerStop pads were organic compound. Last time I had a set of pads that did what yours do were EBC Greenstuff and everything matched your experience. I did not buy them again.

I agree you aren't solidly in the zone where Hawk HPS would be an ideal fit but it may still provide the stopping and pad life that you want, even if you don't really get them hot. I say give it a shot.

EDIT: It loaded. Says ceramic with carbon fiber (?). I may have recently read some disparaging remarks about PowerStop on the STS forum, incidentally.

kevm14 wrote:I may have recently read some disparaging remarks about PowerStop on the STS forum, incidentally.

Yeah, after some generic internet searching it seems many people that buy PowerStop pads experience similar issues. It's great that they make "Perfomance" brake kits for everything, but they leave something to be desired in terms of actual performance.

I'm going to try the HPS pads. They seem to be ~$60 for a set from Amazon, which isn't too much more than the other options.

This is what I ordered last time for the Caprice:
https://m.summitracing.com/parts/HWK-HB131F-595

These might be the ones with more pad contact area. They aren't all the same. It is a brake pad spec thing, not an HPS thing specifically.

kevm14 wrote:This is what I ordered last time for the Caprice:
https://m.summitracing.com/parts/HWK-HB131F-595

These might be the ones with more pad contact area. They aren't all the same. It is a brake pad spec thing, not an HPS thing specifically.

They are. I ordered the ones for D52 pads.
http://www.hawkperformance.com/performa ... 3f590-3679

Yeah I see that. Here is the D153 pad:
http://www.hawkperformance.com/performa ... /hb131f595

Long application list, but not as long, and applications tend to heavy duty usage (like 9C1). There is no caliper difference there. There was an extra wide caliper thing in the 90s but I really forget all the ins and outs of that, other than it provided extra thickness on the inner pad for HD usage. I think that is different than the D153 spec.

Brakes installed and broken in. No opinion yet. Or pictures.

The rotors hadn't faired well. The cross drilled holes were mostly clogged with brake dust. The slots were mostly filled with rust, which I fixed with a drill. There was a bit of surface rust on the rotors that I ground off to reuse them.

In hindsight, this type of rotor is probably only good for an occasionally driven car if it is parked inside as it looks like moisture gets in the holes and slots and wreaks havok. Oh well. I guess I guess I have to drive my car.

Once those pads mate with the rotors they will feel pretty good. And they'll bite really well when sufficiently warmed up.

Spent some time driving around yesterday. They do feel solid so far, but they only have maybe 100 miles on them.