A few days ago I installed stainless steel braided brake hoses from Crown Performance on the front and installed the Goodridge hose for the rear brakes. Immediately following this install, which included the required brake fluid bleeding, the brake dragging that I had been experiencing disappeared.
Other improvements include:
- Steering wheel vibration at 70mph, what you would expect with an out of balance tire, is completely gone.
- The excessive road feel that occurred after I installed the new rotors, calipers, and pads, is greatly reduced.
- The force required to turn the steeering wheel while moving is back to the level it was before the new brakes were installed.
- My mpg has increased a little. On my last 270 mile trip I got 20.7mpg doing around 70mph with the AC on almost the entire way.
- The transmission didn't downshift once during the trip back unlike the trip before the hoses were installed.
- With the front end off the ground, both front wheels spin easier than before.
I looked through both of the removed front brake hoses and could see straight through each when they were straightened out and held up to a light. There did appear to be a small obstruction in one but not enough to effect fluid flow. I have no idea what happened to this hose when under pressure.
The exterior fit of the Crown Performance hoses is not the best. The 6 point nut that is integrated at each end of the hoses does not cover the hole of the attachment point on the truck. When the tabs are pressed into place to secure the hose at the attachment point, the 6 point nut portion of the hose is sometimes pulled partially through. I may try to fabricate something to better secure the hoses. The Goodridge hoses were secured with two snap rings at each end which worked better than the Crown Performance design.
Everything works like I hoped it would when I initially did the install. The brakes are very smooth, controlled, require very little pedal pressure to stop the truck from highway speeds, are silent, and have very little dusting. The pedal is no firmer than before the new brake hoses were installed which is similar to other people's experiences with new hoses.
I've put about 2k miles on the new brakes and the pads look to be at the same thickness and the rotors show almost no wear. I can still see the very small grooves in the pad contact areas of the rotors that were created when they were made. The cadmium plating on the rotors is entirely intact, with no unplated spots at all.
After the initial install, I thought that there was a compatibility issue with the Akebonos and the Power Slots, but the current performance of the brake system dispells that. I can say that I am now very satisfied with the results of this project and it was a gret learning experience, although I was a little concern at first.
I just wish I knew what caused the brake dragging and why it went away after installing the braided brake hoses.
