Increased tire size and poor braking

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ifsmithy

ifsmithy

10 Year
Joined
Sep 13, 2014
Threads
47
Messages
381
Location
Orange County, California
Hi All - done a few searches....but...here is my question.

Recently upgraded from approx 31inch tires to 35's and I have lost a ton of braking power. I expected some loss - simple physics right - but and this is hard to gauge but I reckon probs 30 % less braking power?

I've read in the past that people like to upgrade to 100 series brakes - is this one the reasons why - to run bigger tires and to get better 'feel' or 'bite' from the brakes?

Headed to Baja 4th July so any input appreciated.... Thanks again for continued help here!

ImageUploadedByIH8MUD Forum1435117143.497464.webp
 
I am not a fan of the 100 series pads, been there done that. They will not give you better braking, just last longer.

I switched to EBC greenstuff pads up front and noticed a big difference in bite and brake fade.

of course with the increase in tire size you really need to ensure your whole braking system is in very good shape. Is it?
 
whole braking system.....not so sure to be honest.....what would you recommend?

Pads are new - and before the 35's went on - braking felt pretty damned responsive.....
 
Ditto on the EBC green
 
ifsmithy said:
whole braking system.....not so sure to be honest.....what would you recommend?

Pads are new - and before the 35's went on - braking felt pretty damned responsive.....
Click to expand...

to some degree you are going to have to live with it, some people have had good luck with removing the ABS system but I don't really reccomend that, especially for a truck that my wife will drive, but people have gotten better brake responses by doing this. My abs system works fine now but I suppose if it were to fail I would delete it rather than spend the major coin in parts to have to fix it. Anyhow, just making sure your pads and rotors and calipers are in good shape is important. You might try the ebc green stuff pads, the response they give was well worth the upgrade in my opinion.

FWIW, my truck runs 285's and I have slotted rotors, ebc pads and the brake system is all rebuilt. IMO, the truck is a heavy pig with all the weight I have on it and it brakes about as good as it is going to. I just have to adjust my driving habits to compensate.
 
Did you drop the LSPV down after you installed the lift. If not you may be able to regain some braking power at the rear axle.
 
+1 for adjusting the LSPV, otherwise just get used to the new pedal feel. If everything is working the way it should, it will generate plenty of whoah....and just a little less go than it used to.
I went from stock to 285, and six months later switched to 315's. It took a few times around the block to get used to the pedal but now I am just used to the heavy steering and heavy brakes.

Makes things fun when I switch to a newer vehicle and try to do a nose stand at every stop sign till I recalibrate the foot-brake-o-meter..
 
EBC green or hawk LTS pads, instant upgrade in bite and fade. I have Hawks LTS pads front and back, they work even better after heated up, factory pads would just fade and smoking.

For reference I run heavy 77lb 35s. Also check your lspv and do the lspv control arm lift mode, huge difference if you got a lift.
 
Ditch the lsvp and report back. Worthless on a lifed truck.
I removed Lsvp, abs unit, and put on rbc YELLOW pads. Instantly have amazing brakes. Can lock up all four if I want. Even with no abs the pedal travel allows driver to easily drive without locking up. I feel 100% safer driving my cruiser after all this. Took me four yrs of screwing with brakes to get to this point. Never thought the brakes could works sooooo good. imo it has something to do with abs unit. I'm sure it helps ditching about 20' of brake line too.
 
Qball said:
https://forum.ih8mud.com/index.php?threads/LSPV-Adjustment-with-Pictures.165499/#post-7278096


I simply used a piece of aluminum bar from Home Depot, drill 4 holes and raised the arm by 2.5 inch(my lift). Plenty of spare bolts you can use from other parts of the truck.
Click to expand...
Your LSPV arm will now make contact with the left upper control arm when the left side of the axle flexes, bending the LSPV arm and negating any adjustment you have made.
If you raise the LSPV arm at the rear diff, you need to bend it to clear the control arm.
 
When you bought your new 35's, did you compare tire weights among brands? So many people ignore this fact and it makes a HUGE difference with a heavy rolling weight on a tire. I bought 285/75/16 Duratracs for mine and part of it was because they were on the mid to low end of the weight scale.

Rotational weight is hard to slow down and if your braking isn't up to par, it makes it feel scary. The larger diameter and heavy tires are hard to slow down, especially annoying for a DD.
 
I've never thought the FZJ has poor braking. But then my 80 came with cross-drilled rotors :meh:. I've used OEM 80 and 100 pads as well as Advance Auto Parts brand. There was no significant difference between them. I used my 80 to regularly tow a landscape trailer weighing ~3500-4000 LBS loaded without issue. I regularly drive F150s, F250s, E350s and Expeditions. None of them have much different braking performance than my 80.
 
scrowley said:
and put on rbc YELLOW pads. Instantly have amazing brakes.
Click to expand...

Did you mean EBC? if so, yes, Yellows are awesome pads, but anyone using them should know that there is a LOT of brake dust and that it is quite corrosive. Also, they are capable of producing so much heat (and still working fine) that on some vehicles they can easily overwhelm the brake rotors.

I put EBC Yellows on a past Jetta I owned and it basically destroyed the stock paint/clearcoat on the wheels inside of 6 months. And this was with cleaning them once a week. It also glazed/blackened/cracked the stock rotors. Granted.. while OEM (high quality steel) these were base jetta rotors which probably weren't designed for the way I was driving it.. GLI/GTIs had bigger brakes... but still, it should be considered.
 
I've been dealing with the same issue. On my 92 with drums in the rear I used to be able to lock my 33s up no problem. Then my oem booster went out at 360,000 miles, a re manufactured one went out within 200 miles, and now I'm on a second re manufactured at 365,000.

All was well and then I went to 35s. I didn't think it would be that big of an effect since each tire/wheel combo was only 25lbs heavier than what my 33s and 15s weighed. Since going to 35s, my brakes just don't have much bite and seem weak.

I've adjusted the pedal to give more responsiveness right at first but it just doesn't bite in. Both new oem shoes for the rear drums and a master cylinder rebuild kit are on the way. Hopefully that fixes the problem for me. If not, I'll be looking at a rear disk conversion and bigger disks in the front.
 
jonheld said:
Your LSPV arm will now make contact with the left upper control arm when the left side of the axle flexes, bending the LSPV arm and negating any adjustment you have made.
If you raise the LSPV arm at the rear diff, you need to bend it to clear the control arm.
Click to expand...


Saw you mention that in that thread but so far I had no issues and I went off-road and did some poser flex shots even. I'll take a look a closer look at it later.
 
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