I never understood the fad of dumping rear drums for disc. Set up right, they stop every bit as good as a disc, and keep a RELIABLE parking brake. My '07 Silverado has rear drums, and with the single torsion spring, a shoe swap can be done in less than 10 minutes (with the right tool). Just my .02 ...

Either way, I don't think there's a 2nd gen that has rear drum anyway .... but I could be wrong ...

I've had good luck so far with EBC yellows on the front of that Silverado. Can't vouch for the Blazer though, but I'd imagine they'd work every bit as good - they get great reviews. A little spendy though, but WAY cheaper than some of those crazy conversion kits. Just keep the stock size, slap on a EBC rotor to match, and it'll stop on a dime. Not like these Blazers have 600 HP, after all ...

Yeah, no comparison of the 1st gen single piston calipers to the twin piston second gen. That was a nice factory upgrade.

 

Great suggestion, I'll go by the junk yard and see what I can find. It won't be for a few days though due to all the snow we got here in New Mexico.

 

I'm looking to upgrade both. I'm fairly certain that my passenger side wheel hub needs to be replaced so I'm going to upgrade the brakes while I'm in there anyway. Pardon my ignorance because I assumed that all blazers had drums in the back. I can't see them due to the type of wheel that is on the car but I'll verify drums or discs when this snow melts.

 

Ok so, I am an idiot The front and rear are both discs. So in that case, what rotors and pads do you guys suggest?

Sorry, I owned a 96 jimmy before and I just assumed that all blazers and jimmys had drums in the back. My apologies.

 

You'll get opinions all over the board on this one!

I do a TON of brake work and use Advance auto parts "gold" series pads, and their standard rotors. I've had 1 problem with 1 rotor. No pull, no fade, no noise, great pad life, and minimal dust, (no pad is dust free). Provided you replace the rotors, pads, hardware, lube the guide pins, and make sure all of the caliper pistons move freely, they'll be fine. On the rear, replace the pads, rotors, complete caliper assembly, (including hardware & bracket) each time you do them. DON'T apply any "goop" to the back of the pads. The factory doesn't do it, and it's not necessary when you replace them, if you do the job right. Noisy brakes means you cut corners somewhere

 

Just to add ... those EBC Yellows I mentioned before make a bit of brake dust ... but they STOP. NOW. Trade off was worth it to me.

 

I use the second most cheap set from orielly. They have lasted over a year sofar, no noise at all, stops AMAZING, has avoided a couple real close accidents. Only down side.... crazy amounts of brake dust... but since its coming up on winter, i could care less.

 

Awesome! This insight about the rear assembly is very helpful. My main concern with any non-sports car, is being as safe as possible and being able to stop in case of an accident or almost accident.

 

Now have any of you guys swapped to drilled, slotted, or drilled and slotted rotors? Do they provide any benefit over the standard rotors in these vehicles? I know how they perform on my corvette but I don't see the blazer needing to decelerate from 130 to 60 anytime soon... or ever for that matter ha ha! I'll be getting a 6in lift kit installed in about a week w/ 32" in tires and plan to do a bit of trail driving for camping or biking, so while I'm in there to upgrade the suspension, I was just going to do the brakes too.

 

Probably won't notice much difference using drilled/slotted rotors on the trail, but let us know