E350 Brake Upgrade Needed !

[Jimo]

I recently installed the powerstop z36 truck and tow rotors, calipers and pad. Front only. Made a huge difference in my braking power. Amazon for just under 400.00. I’ve had good luck with powerstop on other cars and the price was right.
2006 E350 quigley, front axle converted to 8x170.

 

[Roger-SMB]

^^^ ujoint sells the ssbc brake setups, but couldn’t find specific info on their site. Pic of the setup here. It’s not a cheap setup, but honestly I don’t think there’s a cheap option for reliable brakes.

I bought the hawk pads others have mentioned. They help but I’m still not as confident in my brakes as I’d like to be.

I cannot get that link to load.
I'd sure like to upgrade to the best brakes I can have on my E-350 but I'm only 2wd.
I suspect these SSBC calipers do not work for my application.

 

[arctictraveller]

I recently installed the powerstop z36 truck and tow rotors, calipers and pad. .

I currently have Powerstop rotors installed and they work well, but the prior set were Powerstop slotted and drilled rotors that rusted badly within a couple months. Badly enough that the rust filled all the holes and slots. I called customer service and they said they also had non drilled and slotted rotors that were "coated", and made in Germany, so they sent me a set. I've had them on for over a year and so far there is no rust and they are performing and wearing well.

 

[REF]

Those SSBC kits look legit.
I went with a front end upgrade years ago with a set of slotted from Frozen Rotors, had to then get them drilled to 8X6.5 to fit but they are a big improvement.
Think I’m running the Napa premium pads on there right now but I’ve used Hawk LTS pads in the past and feel like they had a bit more bite to them than the Napa, might try the Hawk SD version next time.

 

[vandiesel]

I have the Hawk LTS and they are good but it might be hydro making it seem good. The new rears are good and they are Napa premium. Big brakes kick butt.

 

[JoeH-SMB]

I have the Hawk LTS and they are good but it might be hydro making it seem good. The new rears are good and they are Napa premium. Big brakes kick butt.

Amen to that!

 

[kikisadventures]

I recently installed the powerstop z36 truck and tow rotors, calipers and pad. Front only. Made a huge difference in my braking power. Amazon for just under 400.00. I’ve had good luck with powerstop on other cars and the price was right.
2006 E350 quigley, front axle converted to 8x170.

Is there a difference in their calipers or is it just the stock ones painted?

This is what you're referring too? https://www.powerstop.com/product/power-stop-z36-brake-kit-calipers/

 

[boywonder]

I have basically the same van and did a brake swap this year. The difference has been amazing. My van is a 2002 Quigley E350 V10 RB with the GM based Dana 60 front axle. I swapped to 2010+ Dodge Ram 14" rotors and calipers. Everything else is the stock Ford brake system. I didn't know the van had functional ABS until this swap. I was nervous doing a panic stop test above 60mph. I wasn't sure what else would break with that size vehicle...

Brackets: https://torqmotorsports.com/product/gm-dana-60-kingpin-big-brake-brackets/

No affiliation. Customer service was lacking. Delivery was slow. Fit was eh. I had to do a little grinder modification to fit.

Everything else I got from Rockauto or the local suppliers. I want to say all in, the cost was something like $650 plus new wheels and tires.

Wow....if only I knew about these folks a few years ago..I spent 5 zillion hours fabricating caliper brackets for the stock 2008+ calipers and F450 14" rotors. My setup works great but I would go this way with Dodge parts if doing it again.

 

[Kibo]

I currently have Powerstop rotors installed and they work well, but the prior set were Powerstop slotted and drilled rotors that rusted badly within a couple months. Badly enough that the rust filled all the holes and slots. I called customer service and they said they also had non drilled and slotted rotors that were "coated", and made in Germany, so they sent me a set. I've had them on for over a year and so far there is no rust and they are performing and wearing well.

I haven't had to replace the rotors on our van yet, but I've had excellent luck with Centric Premium brake rotors on multiple other vehicles. The rotors are black e-coated (not painted) and do a great job of staying "pretty" instead of rusting on the edges like uncoated rotors. They also run straight and true, overall high quality. I personally would avoid any slotted or drilled rotors--as cool as they look, I've had numerous bad experiences with different brands over the years, and in my opinion the result is sub-par braking performance.

 

[owlicks]

Thought I'd chime in on this:

I recently had the Dynatrac front big brake upgrade installed on my 2006 SMB. The kit includes everything from the knuckles out, including bigger rotors and calipers. It's expensive (~$3,000).

Results: I'm glad I got it, but the results aren't going to blow your mind. Pedal feel is still pretty soft. Stopping power is significantly improved, but feels more like the van probably should have felt in the first place. Don't get me wrong, it is much more fun to drive now. But I think to make a truly mindblowing impact, it needs the better pedal feel that you can only get out of a hydroboost conversion, so that is next on my list of planned upgrades.

 

[doublevan2]

cowlicks -- where/who did the Dynatrac brake upgrade for you - how recently ?

Thanks for your post --

 

[owlicks]

cowlicks -- where/who did the Dynatrac brake upgrade for you - how recently ?

Thanks for your post --

I worked with Dynatrac directly (Steve Marrone) to put together the kit then have them send it to my local shop. If you're local to western WA, I went to Auburn Car Repair and Offroad. They do great work. Work was completed this week.

 

[JoeH-SMB]

Thought I'd chime in on this:

I recently had the Dynatrac front big brake upgrade installed on my 2006 SMB. The kit includes everything from the knuckles out, including bigger rotors and calipers. It's expensive (~$3,000).

Results: I'm glad I got it, but the results aren't going to blow your mind. Pedal feel is still pretty soft. Stopping power is significantly improved, but feels more like the van probably should have felt in the first place. Don't get me wrong, it is much more fun to drive now. But I think to make a truly mindblowing impact, it needs the better pedal feel that you can only get out of a hydroboost conversion, so that is next on my list of planned upgrades.

I felt the same until I got the Hawk pads to bed in. But it's not mind-blowing until you really need it like dropping down a long off-road ledgy descent. Stainless brake lines might help. Good idea to replace the brake lines anyway on an aging E350.


If you don't mind my asking I'm curious how much the shop that did the install charged for labor?

 

[owlicks]

I felt the same until I got the Hawk pads to bed in. But it's not mind-blowing until you really need it like dropping down a long off-road ledgy descent. Stainless brake lines might help. Good idea to replace the brake lines anyway on an aging E350.


If you don't mind my asking I'm curious how much the shop that did the install charged for labor?

Yep! Ended up replacing the brake lines on mine too. Looks like it was $1,160 on the install labor for the Dynatrac kit which included new steering knuckles, spindles, pads, rotors, calipers, replaced wheel bearings, inner grease seals, replaced brake lines.

 

[JoeH-SMB]

Yep! Ended up replacing the brake lines on mine too. Looks like it was $1,160 on the install labor for the Dynatrac kit which included new steering knuckles, spindles, pads, rotors, calipers, replaced wheel bearings, inner grease seals, replaced brake lines.

That seems like a pretty good deal. Bleeding and replacing pads and an alignment will run $500 much less rebuilding the entire front end.