EBC Yellowstuff Brake Pads - Worth It?

alpinecrick said:

The part numbers on RockAuto for the rotors (18A258SD ) and the pads (171599) are the same for my 96 and 97 trucks. The rotors have the "squiggly" slots in them. I have stayed away from slotted and/or drilled rotors because of the alleged strength issues, but may try these.

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For what it's worth I'm pretty certain that those ACDelco 18A258SD rotors are re-boxed Raybestos 580438PER. I have no concrete evidence to prove that and I'm not even saying it's a bad thing, but the Raybestos are about $15 cheaper each and look identical. I saw them while I was doing this research but went with the EBCs as I liked the look of the pattern a little more and got a great deal on them. I may try the five lug Raybestos rotors on my red truck though, the five lug EBCs are over $500 a pair.

I can't find any pictures of those ACDelco 171-599 pads that are good enough to read a DOT code, but after what I've learned in this thread I would want to know that personally before spending the money. I agree that OEM parts are generally a good bet, but when there's evidence to support an equivalent or better product for less money I'll go that route.

Also I agree with Supercharged111, most of the people I've read about who have issues with durability run cross drilled rotors. Slotted don't seem to suffer as badly.

Good to hear your truck now has brakes like it should! And I agree those Delco/Raybestos rotors look like they have the same style slots probably the same thing.

df2x4 said:

For what it's worth I'm pretty certain that those ACDelco 18A258SD rotors are re-boxed Raybestos 580438PER. I have no concrete evidence to prove that and I'm not even saying it's a bad thing, but the Raybestos are about $15 cheaper each and look identical. I saw them while I was doing this research but went with the EBCs as I liked the look of the pattern a little more and got a great deal on them. I may try the five lug Raybestos rotors on my red truck though, the five lug EBCs are over $500 a pair.

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After checking around it appears you are correct about the ACDelco and the Raybestos rotors. I got to compare them side by side. Good call, that does save some coin.

I don't recall who I promissed this, but I finally got around to checking my PFC pads. They're old stock, for sure. I bought several sets.

Looks like FF and FG, to me.







The FF's were the older of the two sets..... 05 and 06 . The earlier pads also had larger chamfers on the edges.

These are the bigger thicker pads for the 1-ton duallys.

Update on the Akebono's: still stopping great, love the brakes. No discernible noise or squealing. One big benefit is that there is virtually no visible dust. I recently washed the truck for the first time since replacing the brakes, and have no significant dusting. So if that is a concern, know that these are a good choice.

16 pages in on an old thread but this got linked in a new thread...
I’ll offer a few thoughts based on what I learned hauling a race car and trailer around for 10’s of thousands of miles with a 1/2ton gmt400.

My biggest issue was rotors. They always warped no matter the brand. Pads I knew I would be fine but have to spend $$$. The rear drums are awful 90% of the time since they weren’t working 90% of the time.

My towing setup used
-Used rotors that had been turned. Nobody turns rotors nowadays they just replace but getting a few brutal heat cycles into them and then turning out the war page prevents more warpage.
-At the time I used or tried Hawk HPS, Hawk HP+, Hawk Super Duty and Reybestos truck/towing pads. All were comparable but the HP+ bites harder initially and dusts like crazy
-I never did disk swap the rear when towing with that one but have done it since.
My current 1/2 ton has 1 ton calipers up front and gmt800 rear disks and master cylinder as well as Reybestos pads and the brakes are excellent

Figured I'd update this thread based on some observations from my mechanic today. I took my Suburban in for a few things this morning, one of which was a slight pulse in the brake pedal when applying the brakes at 50+ MPH. He just called me with the findings. Turns out, the EBC GD7013 dimpled/slotted rotors that I had put on two years ago are already warped beyond repair with less than 7K miles on them. So I guess the conclusion is that none of EBC's products are worth the money, at least in my experience.

Going back to standard blank parts store rotors on the Suburban for now, I guess we'll see if the Raybestos EHT369H pads kill those too. The Raybestos 56258PER slotted rotors on the red truck are still doing great, knock on wood...

In the same vein as the above update post:

Two years and several thousand miles later, the Akebono brakes are still smooth and quiet with good bite and stopping power. No problems noted, and no complaints.

SAATR said:

In the same vein as the above update post:

Two years and several thousand miles later, the Akebono brakes are still smooth and quiet with good bite and stopping power. No problems noted, and no complaints.

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So about 3000 miles?

Caman96 said:

So about 3000 miles?

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Closer to 15000. Was at 260k at installation, now at about 275k.