Replacement brake pads

[mrblaine]

OK, so you are saying do two bed-ins back to back with a regular cool between them, then do a third later in the day after the rotors have completely cooled? I just want to make sure I don't screw this up.

I didn't know if the invoice would help you. He bought all 4 pads and rotors. Who knows what the guy did, I just want to get them right.

A single cycle is get them hot, drive around and cool them down.
Get hot
Get cool
Get hot
Get cool
Wait some until they cool down to ambient
Get hot
Get cool
Get hot
Get cool
Report findings.
You will need to be aggressively and safe. You are pushing hard enough to achieve lock up. If you are finding it unsafe at 60, drop it down to 45 or so.

 

[Jon Wildes]

Black Magic pads and Centric Premium rotors.

i was looking on the website @mrblaine last night and saw an upgrade for the stock pads and rotors. is this a good in between until i can afford the full big brake kit. im running 35s and know i need to upgrade at some point.

 

[mrblaine]

i was looking on the website @mrblaine last night and saw an upgrade for the stock pads and rotors. is this a good in between until i can afford the full big brake kit. im running 35s and know i need to upgrade at some point.

My general position based on driving more TJ's than should be legal is I don't recommend the pads and rotors for 35's because there is no way for me to know they will work as well as one needs. They are however a fairly cheap experiment to let you know if you need more.

TJ's are just too varied in how the brakes work for me to predict a safe level of braking with just the pads and rotors. Folks report they work very well with that tire size and folks report they need more. Only way to find out is to try them.

 

[Jon Wildes]

My general position based on driving more TJ's than should be legal is I don't recommend the pads and rotors for 35's because there is no way for me to know they will work as well as one needs. They are however a fairly cheap experiment to let you know if you need more.

TJ's are just too varied in how the brakes work for me to predict a safe level of braking with just the pads and rotors. Folks report they work very well with that tire size and folks report they need more. Only way to find out is to try them.

I can tell you this anything is better than what I'm using right now. fully stock crap brakes. the term stopping on a dime isn't even a thought. I will probably try out the pads and rotors and see what that does until i can upgrade fully. can you send me pricing for just the rotors and pads please?

 

[mrblaine]

I can tell you this anything is better than what I'm using right now. fully stock crap brakes. the term stopping on a dime isn't even a thought. I will probably try out the pads and rotors and see what that does until i can upgrade fully. can you send me pricing for just the rotors and pads please?

Pricing is on the blackmagicbrakes.com website. What year?

 

[Jon Wildes]

Pricing is on the blackmagicbrakes.com website. What year?

97

 

[mrblaine]

97

477 and 67022

 

[Jon Wildes]

477 and 67022

thats what i was looking at

 

[Sunder]

I've had BlackMagicBrakes on my front axle for over 2-3 years (and something else on my rear disc Ford 8.8).
I run 33" and 35" tires (depending on the season)
I am impressed with these brakes.
When it comes time to replace my rear brakes, I plan to replace them with Black Magic Brake pads.

I understand and appreciate that these brake pads are not recommended by the seller (mrblaine) to be ran on 35" tires (and should be upgraded to the Vanco Big Brake system).
I respect his honesty and integrity with this stance.
However - I am more than pleased with their performance on 35" so far - even on steep rock crawling.
When "funds allow", I do plan to upgrade to the Vanco system - but until then, I feel that these pads on 35's have better stopping power in my Jeep than when I had the stock pads and 30" tires.

They are very expensive brake pads. I cringe at the price, to be honest. But I do not regret buying them, and will buy them again when needed (hopefully with the big brake upgrade that I'm saving up for).
A small price to pay for safe peace of mind.

Perhaps they are not the "coolest/sexiest" mod you can do to a Jeep - but they protect all my other cool/sexy mods.

 

[Jon Wildes]

I've had BlackMagicBrakes on my front axle for over 2-3 years (and something else on my rear disc Ford 8.8).
I run 33" and 35" tires (depending on the season)
I am impressed with these brakes.
When it comes time to replace my rear brakes, I plan to replace them with Black Magic Brake pads.

I understand and appreciate that these brake pads are not recommended by the seller (mrblaine) to be ran on 35" tires (and should be upgraded to the Vanco Big Brake system).
I respect his honesty and integrity with this stance.
However - I am more than pleased with their performance on 35" so far - even on steep rock crawling.
When "funds allow", I do plan to upgrade to the Vanco system - but until then, I feel that these pads on 35's have better stopping power in my Jeep than when I had the stock pads and 30" tires.

They are very expensive brake pads. I cringe at the price, to be honest. But I do not regret buying them, and will buy them again when needed (hopefully with the big brake upgrade that I'm saving up for).
A small price to pay for safe peace of mind.

Perhaps they are not the "coolest/sexiest" mod you can do to a Jeep - but they protect all my other cool/sexy mods.

Thank you for this review I appreciate it. I think its a good in between till i make it to the big brake system.

 

[tworley]

I installed the BMB pads and rotors on my 97 in August with 35s. Huge step up from what I had before. I was able to lock them up in an emergency situation a month or two ago. Though I would still push for the BBK, why not have more braking when its available?

 

[mrblaine]

I have 33s on 2004 LJ and I'm running Black Magic pads that the PO put on. Personally I'm not impressed at all with these pads and they were bedded in properly. I will eventually be going with Pro Stop which is Centric's performance line. I have them on another vehicle and they are great. I would recommend getting new rotors as well. RockAuto would be a great place to get all of this.
DON'T FORGET you need to bed your new pads in...
Get your Jeep up to around 60 MPH then put the breaks on hard to get your speed down to 15 MPH. Do this 4 to 5 times right in a row without stopping completely. If you've done it right you will smell the brakes. Once done DO NOT COME TO A COMPLETE STOP, continue to drive for at least 15-20 (the longer the better) mins using the brakes as little as possible (a highway is a good place to get on). Once done come to a gentle stop at home and let the Jeep sit over night for the rotors to cool completely. There are varients of this procedure but they are all similar. Been doing this and it's amazing how well it beds the pad, which means imparting pad material onto the rotor. Black Magic require this too.

Saved you the trouble of finding it. Not that it didn't suck, but find it I did.

 

[gg1]

Great read here for me. I can tell the black magic pads aren’t a good fit for me. My brakes get used very little and I almost never brake hard, so they will be like my big brake kit I had on my Audi from brembo. I ended up removing the big brakes in less than two months. Thanks to all that posted on this.

 

[mrblaine]

Great read here for me. I can tell the black magic pads aren’t a good fit for me. My brakes get used very little and I almost never brake hard, so they will be like my big brake kit I had on my Audi from brembo. I ended up removing the big brakes in less than two months. Thanks to all that posted on this.

You may want to check some dates and not the kind that grow on trees. I found this 6 month old thread to help someone else who has been a bit remiss about a few things and I say that in the kindest way possible.

 

[gg1]

As Blaine said above, no doubt either they weren't broken in properly or after they were, you did not use them aggressively enough on occasion. They won't remain awesome with nothing but normal braking. If you continually brake gently and never really haul the Jeep down from a fast speed with them they will lose that awesome stopping power they are capable of.

When I notice my Black Magic brakes are not working quite as well as I have become used to, I just do a quick mini-breakin by multiple aggressive stops hard enough to heat them up again and they then return to their former awesomeness. I don't consider the break-in process is being done properly until I can smell the brakes getting hot.

It was this post that makes me think the brakes aren’t a good fit for me. Didn’t like the big brembo brakes. My brakes last for a very long time because I drive gently. Very little brake usage. Most folks would probably enjoy them though.

 

[mgroeger]

You may want to check some dates and not the kind that grow on trees. I found this 6 month old thread to help someone else who has been a bit remiss about a few things and I say that in the kindest way possible.

LOL, thanks for finding this for me Blaine.
I want to clarify my statement from earlier in this thread as to how I wasn't impressed. Blaine reached out to me privately immediately to address my dissatisfaction. He asked me to take detailed pics and send them to him. Well that was 5 months ago and I'm embarrassed it took me that long to finally get around to it. Blaine took one look at the pics and said the pads were in upside down.
I can't say I'm all that surprised since the PO installed them with many other things and I've found QC lacking. Regardless, Blaine and I discussed the situation and what I will be doing moving forward. I can tell you this based on our conversations... the guy is serious about his product and customer support. I know that is well known on this forum and I'm not saying it to be a kiss ass, just pointing it out.

 

[TJim]

@mrblaine Is there any way I can find black magic pads available in Europe?

If not, any other suggestions of any products that could available over here?