Need brake pads/shoes for ram 1500 is ceramic the best?

Posted By: frank

Need brake pads/shoes for ram 1500 is ceramic the best? - 05/09/09 06:28 PM

Looking to upgrade the brake system in 95 Ram 1500 truck. Is a ceramic pad the best way to go? Looking for increased brake performance for trailer towing. Thanks

Posted By: HealthServices

Re: Need brake pads/shoes for ram 1500 is ceramic the best? - 05/09/09 06:41 PM

The newer ceramics are the way to go high wear and low noise when installed correctly

Posted By: frank

Re: Need brake pads/shoes for ram 1500 is ceramic the best? - 05/09/09 07:20 PM

Any particular brand? AZ sells Wagnor pads

Posted By: Mastershake340

Re: Need brake pads/shoes for ram 1500 is ceramic the best? - 05/09/09 08:22 PM

With the stock brakes, towing with a '95 1500 is scary!!
If you haven't already, replace the master cylinder with the one for that year Ram 2500, which is a direct bolt on. I think Dodge did that exact same thing with the master cylinder starting in '97.
Also, there is a direct bolt on wheel cylinder that was used on Chevy trucks in the 90's that has a little bigger bore diameter and adds some braking ability.
I did both these mods on my '95 1500, now my brake pedal doesn't feel spongy, and the brakes feel like their actually doing something. The money I saved on shoes more than paid for the new master cylinder, since I no longer had to drag my feet on the pavement to get the dam truck to slow down!

Posted By: therocks

Re: Need brake pads/shoes for ram 1500 is ceramic the best? - 05/09/09 08:56 PM

The ceramics are great.I believe Bendix makes a set thats extreme duty.They are recommended for like ambulances safety vehicles.When we did the ambulances at work we used them.They are pricy but the work and they last.Rocky

Posted By: Crizila

Re: Need brake pads/shoes for ram 1500 is ceramic the best? - 05/10/09 12:47 AM

Ran a fleet of cars and trucks ( squads and ambulances ) with ceramics. Marginally better cold. Much better hot. Last a long time. Eat rotors for breakfast.

Posted By: frank

Re: Need brake pads/shoes for ram 1500 is ceramic the best? - 05/10/09 01:00 AM

Quote:

Ran a fleet of cars and trucks ( squads and ambulances ) with ceramics. Marginally better cold. Much better hot. Last a long time. Eat rotors for breakfast.

Should the rotors be replaced also??

Posted By: MoparJoe

Re: Need brake pads/shoes for ram 1500 is ceramic the best? - 05/10/09 01:07 AM

Quote:

Ran a fleet of cars and trucks ( squads and ambulances ) with ceramics. Marginally better cold. Much better hot. Last a long time. Eat rotors for breakfast.

I have 50k on a set of ceramic pads and they are still in good shape but they have ate 2 sets of rotors in that time, they wear flat and even but cut thru the rotor like a lathe.

That being said I'd run tham again since the OE mopar pads would warp the rotors and I was only getting 15k out of the pads.

Posted By: therocks

Re: Need brake pads/shoes for ram 1500 is ceramic the best? - 05/10/09 01:40 PM

Most new vehicles I replace rotors.They just dont give you much meat on them.That and for the price its cheap insurance.Rocky

Posted By: frank

Re: Need brake pads/shoes for ram 1500 is ceramic the best? - 05/10/09 03:51 PM

Is there an aftermarket rotor that's better than what you would pick up at the local Auto Zone? Not looking for drilled or anything like that, just a good quality rotor. Thanks

Posted By: Crizila

Re: Need brake pads/shoes for ram 1500 is ceramic the best? - 05/10/09 04:06 PM

Quote:

Most new vehicles I replace rotors.They just dont give you much meat on them.That and for the price its cheap insurance.Rocky

Thats a fact! How are them trailer barkes working? Gotem on both axles? Got the controller turned up?

Posted By: frank

Re: Need brake pads/shoes for ram 1500 is ceramic the best? - 05/10/09 04:27 PM

Trailer brakes work perfect. Yes, both axles. My controller is a Prodogy unit; pretty much top of the line. Total weight is only 6900 pounds. I'm sure the brakes on my truck now will work ok but I don't want to take any chances with this car. Been in resto over two years

Posted By: HealthServices

Re: Need brake pads/shoes for ram 1500 is ceramic the best? - 05/10/09 05:00 PM

Don't know if you know how to tell the difference but I think AZ has both cheap and stepped up versions. See if you can take a look at them. The ground rotors tend to be the better rotors and the machined rotor tends to be cheap quality wise.

Posted By: Crizila

Re: Need brake pads/shoes for ram 1500 is ceramic the best? - 05/10/09 07:12 PM

Quote:

Trailer brakes work perfect. Yes, both axles. My controller is a Prodogy unit; pretty much top of the line. Total weight is only 6900 pounds. I'm sure the brakes on my truck now will work ok but I don't want to take any chances with this car. Been in resto over two years

I'm using the same controller ( great unit - assume you have it adjusted to the 3rd step ), but you are trying to stop a 1000 lbs more than I am. Thats asking a lot for your truck. - I guess someone already said that.

Posted By: Spike

Re: Need brake pads/shoes for ram 1500 is ceramic the best? - 05/11/09 01:27 AM

Put a set of Hawk brand pads on my Ram and it was an improvement.

Posted By: 69_SIX_PACK

Re: Need brake pads/shoes for ram 1500 is ceramic the best? - 05/14/09 07:13 PM

I was just curious about this myself. I need to replace the pads on my 1997 Ram. The last time I did them was 5 years ago and I used regular semi metallic pads like I have always done with good results. I have no experience with the ceramic pads. Are they that much better? I don't really want to worry about going through rotors

Dave

Posted By: HealthServices

Re: Need brake pads/shoes for ram 1500 is ceramic the best? - 05/14/09 08:42 PM

The big change to ceramic was because of Semi metallic pads. Semi metallic pads (at least some of the bad ones) were known to eat rotors and did not have good cold stopping. Ceramic pads are better with cold stopping and tend not to eat rotors like the Semi metallic