Hi Jack
What brand/make rotors and pads do you recomend for the LS to replace the OEM's. with. T.I.A.
Unless there is a real need for me to get struck in the quicksand, I tend to stay out of recommendations in the different forums.
The company I worked for was both an OE supplier as well as aftermarket, under their own name and through private labeling to other resellers. And we were in the pass car, light truck, CV and transit fields. In fact we were the OE supplier of the rear pads on this vehicle. And unlike the companies that sell in the aftermarket, we were the only one to run vehicles tests on our products as well as our competitors.
The common belief automotive is that OE parts are the cheapest that the bean counters can get away with, and the aftermarket can supply a better product at lower prices. That’s just not true due to economy of scales. There is no better prize to a friction/rotor/caliper manufacturer then to get awarded the OE and warranty parts business on a platform. And it’s also where the toughest requirements will be for production tolerances, as well as stopping ability, wear life, and NVH suppression. I had a group of engineers, and vehicle test personnel that came from dealers and private garages. Many came in at their initial employment buying aftermarket brakes; all bought OE by choice once they experienced the differences they observed during testing.
I have been somewhat of an outlier from that trend, as there are times when you personally want a specific characteristic that the OE product doesn’t have, and you’re willing to sacrifice some of the OE benefits. And of course due to the age of these vehicles getting OE is becoming tough as service inventory runs out.
Rather then making this into a doctoral that I usually do, I’ll point out the brake pad insulator differences. On the OE level, we would co-currently work with a noise insulator supplier during the award competition for the friction business on a platform. The OE insulators would be made from stainless steel, one or two layer, with silicone adhesive used sometimes for the attachment to the pad steelback, and as a constrained layer between two layer of shim stock. The silicone’s viscosity would be formulated for the best noise dampening based on the frequency of the brake noise and temperature at the steelback when the noise would occur. Insulators could cost as much as the brake pad.
Aftermarket insulators are made from standard steel, which typically will rust out in about 3-5 years, and the silicone or other coatings are never adjusted for the frequency of the friction material brake noise. They are a common off-the-shelf item. Usually available for about 20 cents to each dollar of OE insulator cost.
For rotors I always try to get the OE rotors, and when I can’t I get the most expensive from a well known OE supplier from any platform. I look for TRW, Bosch, Akebono. I never bother with slotted or drilled rotors. If I can’t find them, I will purchase the aftermarket brand sold though the auto manufacturer dealers as I know from my career experience that the auto manufacturer will have tolerances tighter then what the aftermarket companies put out in the marketplace. In this case, the Motorcraft line (it’s not OE!). Luckily for me when the company closed down my two facilities I was able to grab a few sets of OE rotors for the LS that I left in inventory for years rather then let them get thrown out for scrap.
This is not a pad recommendation, just what I use.
Friction wise on my wife’s LS for the last two replacement sets I’ve been using Hawk pads. I wanted a higher coefficient of friction on this vehicle rather then what was supplied OE. The dust from these pads has been a little lighter then OE, I do get some low speed (driveway / parking lot) squeal but it’s a low dB level. I also use stainless braided Teflon lines up front as I want a high, tight pedal. Like other aftermarket pads in my driving environment, I can state from experience that the noise insulators on these pads turn to rust scale after 5 years, but the pads still stay relatively quiet.
As much as I start out with a high pedal, about 1/3 through the friction materials life the pedal will start to get longer leading to a softer feel. All pads on this vehicle will develop this characteristic due to the tapered pad wear that occurs with these staggered diameter caliper pistons. The design works great in racing applications, is a good selling tool to the public, but in civilian use it doesn’t work out so well. We saw that front pattern during OE prove-out and I saw it in both our vehicle's OE pads and the first replacement Hawk set.
