[cmc1]

like jerry said some lucky people can squeek by with 35s on the stockers.Mine would lock them up with all terrains.my ranger truck wouldnt pull my skiff up the ramp at one of the only places left so i had to start using my jeep to pull it.the boat is around 2000lbs.If someone pulls out in front of me i will kill me and them most likely.Stock brakes are just not ok to do with so much tire mass.I will have to break down for the vanco brakes as some as i can afford it.

[1CleanTJ]

stock brakes work fine under normal conditions with 35's but that one time where if you would of stopped 20ft sooner if you upgraded your brakes compared to stock my be an accident of kill someone. I HAVE ran stock brakes on 35's and never had a problem besides knowing my emergency braking will be longer. doesnt mean its the RIGHT way to do it. one of the main problems is you overwork your brakes, brake fluid gets hotter, the calipers get dimples ground into them, the piston's dont put pressure on the pad's evenly etc.

[badtux]

A question: When we say "stock brakes", are we talking about OEM calipers, discs, and pads, or are we talking about OEM calipers with aftermarket pads? Because while putting EBC Yellows or some similar premium pad onto your Jeep with OEM calipers won't make it stop as fast as a Vanco, it's still a whole lot better than the OEM pads on those calipers, and a *ton* cheaper than going to the Vancos. If you're piecing your Jeep together as the money comes in, rather than going out and irresponsibly maxxing out your credit cards, that's a decided consideration.

[dmgiff]

Originally Posted by fratis

this is in no way helpful. when you want to join the real discussion with something useful please feel free. try to keep the childish and self titillating comments to yourself.

brakes are a serious issue.

Now you are deciding when I may or may not join the discussion! How was what I said not useful? I said the same thing several others have said with a bit of "chicken little" humor thrown in. I said to try them with the knowledge you may have to upgrade the brakes.

I'm really sorry I offended you fratis... I stand corrected. Brakes are "serious" business. Whatever....

[DocMojave]

Originally Posted by MisfitSeven

smart. real smart.

I'm not sure whats stuck up your orifice but if anyone else is interested I love the new 35" tires but the brakes are still a little weak for my taste. I had them checked a couple of weeks ago, I don't remember exactly what the wear percentages were but it wasn't anything drastic, they had been serviced right before I bought my Jeep (about 5 weeks ago.). Its really not that bad, nothing I can't live with for a couple of weeks until I can upgrade anyway. It looks more like a personal preference related to driving style to me.

[van1]

Well I am glad that the OP posted the information. I will now try 35s with stock brakes instead of waiting...guess we will see what happens.

[emev0l]

The taller your tires are and the more weight you add to your Jeep or any other vehicle will make it stop slower. Different tires will also effect braking performance.

Can you drive your jeep with taller tires and stock brakes? Yes you can, but you have to change your driving style. You have to leave more space between you and the traffic in front of you.

There's a lot of different tires out there, and there all made with different tread and out of different tire compound.

If you want stock breaking performance while running 35" tires you need to upgrade your brakes.

Most people with 33" tires run stock brakes. You can notice a loss of break performance with 33" tires which is do to the height, the weight, and possibly the style of tire. It's worth running better pads and rotors to regain that performance.

I just hope anyone who runs 35" or larger tires at very least picks up some better pads and rotors to regain some of that braking performance if your not up to spending the money on Vanco Brakes.

Brakes always seem to be the upgrade everyone leaves out, it doesn't make your vehicle faster or taller, just safer.

It's not a can you do it or will it work thing. It's a performance thing.

If your brakes perform as well as you would like them to, then run them.

[Jerry Bransford]

Originally Posted by van1

Well I am glad that the OP posted the information. I will now try 35s with stock brakes instead of waiting...guess we will see what happens.

Personally, I believe that test is just whether the brakes "work"... kind of like can I get these 34" jeans buttoned over my 36" waist. Sure but that doesn't make it liveable thing. I don't believe the British government is doing anything more than a functionality test, nothing more.

Besides, it's the Europeans who also believe a TJ is up to towing 3500 lbs. where Jeep only believes it's up to towing 2000 lbs. safely here in the U.S. If you ask me, their safety standards are frigging so out of touch with reality that I don't really care if his Jeep's brakes with 35" tires DID pass some kind of government braking test. You all know how well the governments of the world do at anything they attempt. I give as much credence to his government brake test done outside of a lab as I do our government's ability to spend our money without wasting most of it.

[robncar]

Originally Posted by badtux

A question: When we say "stock brakes", are we talking about OEM calipers, discs, and pads, or are we talking about OEM calipers with aftermarket pads? Because while putting EBC Yellows or some similar premium pad onto your Jeep with OEM calipers won't make it stop as fast as a Vanco, it's still a whole lot better than the OEM pads on those calipers, and a *ton* cheaper than going to the Vancos. If you're piecing your Jeep together as the money comes in, rather than going out and irresponsibly maxxing out your credit cards, that's a decided consideration.

You know, right behind the ol' auto vs. stick threads, the brake threads are a solid #2...

Hey badtux, you've taked on two different mods in this thread, not bad! As to the "irresponsibly maxxing out your credit cards" comment. You know there are some folks, like me, that have paid cash for our stuff. Just to let you know.

We're practically neighbors but when I read some of your posts I kinda cringe. If folks disagree with you, straight to the sarcasm...

To topic...

Our braking with 35's and the stock stuff was marginal, at best. It did not inspire confidence that a panic stop could be effected efficiently. The Vanco's were a major improvement on our rig.

[lukethedork]

Originally Posted by Jerry Bransford

Personally, I believe that test is just whether the brakes "work"... kind of like can I get these 34" jeans buttoned over my 36" waist. Sure but that doesn't make it liveable thing. I don't believe the British government is doing anything more than a functionality test, nothing more.

I can check that the window on my house is functional by opening and closing it, but to check that it functions to meet my standards I would have to wait until it rains, to see if any water gets inside.

Same goes for the Australian and UK safety tests, they do not just check that the brakes are functioning. If it were a check to see if they were functioning they could just see if the wheel spins by hand with the brakes applied.
This test uses special equipment to make sure that the brakes are functioning to a certain set of Standards, In this case they are Standards set by Australian and UK road/vehicle authorities.

My brakes have passed the standards set by my local authorities, and thus I consider them to be SAFE for use in the country I live.

Luke.

[IslandTJ]

I'm going to chime in, although I don't run 35s on my Jeep. I run 33s and I upgraded my brake pads to EBC Yellowstuffs and Centric rotors. On the roads and freeway, my current set up works fine. I can even lock up with the Yellowstuffs to a full stop .

However, here in the Pacific Northwest we do have a lot of varied terrain and mountainous slopes and grades. I've driven down a lengthy sharp slope (for those who are familiar - in TSF after the end of the Archers trail on the west side towards Jordan camp) and I actually started to smell my Yellowstuff pad dust burning. At this point, I downshifted my auto to have my engine assist my brakes in slowing down the Jeep. Before I upgraded to the Yellowstuffs, in the same scenario - my stock pads would start to "burn" however, they would also start to fade and fail significantly . The Yellowstuffs do not fade but they still do burn, although not as quickly as the stock pads.

I guess what I'm trying to communicate is that when you have experienced first hand brake fading - it is a very scary feeling!!! Brakes are a critical component in our Jeeps and should be treated and maintained with respect. I used to run the cheap Autozone Duralast pads but they fade. So far my Yellowstuffs don't.

I'm sure if I ran 35s, the forces on my Jeep would increase, and so would the stopping requirements. I used to think the EBCs were expensive, not so more - given the increased performance they provide, not to mention the soundness I now experience going down a long down slope. Is the Vanco upgrade expensive, yes? But when you consider its purpose in the end, it's more of an "investment" than a "cost".

Jeep hard, Jeep safe!
Island

[Jerry Bransford]

Well I'm glad you feel so safe with your government safety brake test Lukethedork and that you rely on that so easily. It's not like your 35" tires reduced your brake system's performance well below how well it worked when your Jeep still had its small factory tires or anything like that.

The whole point of so many of us feeling that our brakes are inadequate with 35" tires is because they are no longer perform nearly as well as they did with the factory size tires. Our upgraded brakes like from VANCO do nothing more than bring our braking performance back to what it was when it left the factory... nothing more. I'm happy you're happy with braking performance that is well under that of how the factory shipped your Jeep with its 29" or 30" tires. How you can be happy with reduced brake performance, which is undeniable given the physics of everything, is your business but I find it pretty amazing.

[lukethedork]

Originally Posted by IslandTJ

I've driven down a lengthy sharp slope (for those who are familiar - in TSF after the end of the Archers trail on the west side towards Jordan camp) and I actually started to smell my Yellowstuff pad dust burning. At this point, I downshifted my auto to have my engine assist my brakes in slowing down the Jeep. Before I upgraded to the Yellowstuffs, in the same scenario - my stock pads would start to "burn" however, they would also start to fade and fail significantly . The Yellowstuffs do not fade but they still do burn, although not as quickly as the stock pads.

Jeep hard, Jeep safe!
Island

Now this sounds very Un-Safe!
I would strongly suggest you do not drive at an unsafe speed.
If you are suffering from sever brake fade then you need to slow down and select a lower gear.

Luke.

[RYANSTULC]

Originally Posted by lukethedork

This test uses special equipment

Please provide some detailed elaboration on this "special equipment",
or stop using the term as though it qualifies as beneficial.

[DocMojave]

I have actually had the experience of brake failure and its scary as hell. I ended up going over a divider and through a couple of wooden posts on a road sign. I consider my experience fortunate because I wasn't hurt and I was the only one involved. BTW this happened a long, long time ago.

After reading this thread, reading a few other similar articles and (briefly) experiencing 35" tires on stock brakes, I'm not going to put off the brake upgrade at all.

Is the Vanco Big Brake Kit one of the best choices, are the Hydroboosts, Vacuum boosters over kill? Are there better brake systems?