Baer Brakes

[Denalix5]

When I bought my 04 Denali I changed the wheels to run 22's instead of the stock 17's. 305-45-22. I noticed right away the stopping distance when I pushed the brakes greatly increased. I did some research and narrowed my choices to upgrading to Brembo's or Baer brakes. After calculating the price the Baer's were the way to go. 1/2 the price of the Brembo's.

At the time Baer only offered the eradispeed upgrade for my Denali. This only upgrades your rotors to 14" slotted and cross drilled while using the stock calipers and pads. This was a great improvement.

A couple months ago Baer finally released the illumispeed upgrade. Basically it upgrades your rotors and your calipers. I went ahead and upgraded the rotors and wow what a difference. Now my Denali stops like a car and not like a 3 ton truck.

If anyone is looking to do the upgrade I would just do the illumispeed upgrade and not just the eradispeed. The stopping distance is much better and the looks of the Denali with red calipers is greatly enhanced. The eradispeed uses only the stock calipers so it doesn't fully grab the entire 14" rotor. This leaves a mark on the portion of the rotor not being used.

And here is the kicker, its cheaper to do the full illumispeed upgrade rather than doing the eradispeed first and then deciding to do the full upgrade like I did. I had no choice at the time because the full upgrade was not available.

One other thing, you must upgrade your spare tire to at least a 18" wheel and tire set up just in case. The new caliper and rotors won't work with the 17's or 16 spare. Also don't go larger than 18 as your spare or it won't fit under your truck. I already checked that out.

Anyone doing this upgrade will be very satisfied. Good Luck.

I know this is a duplicate but thought it should have its on thread.

[tonytone]

If I may ask...where did you get your Baer Illumispeed kit, and for how much? I saw the kit and it does look tempting, especially considering that it's much cheaper (pricewise) than the Brembos...

Just like you, I wouldn't consider just upgrading the stock rotors to larger ones w/o upgrading the calipers to ones that can take advantage of the larger rotors--not doing so would somewhat offset the advantage of larger rotors to begin with.

[Denalix5]

Originally Posted by tonytone

If I may ask...where did you get your Baer Illumispeed kit, and for how much? I saw the kit and it does look tempting, especially considering that it's much cheaper (pricewise) than the Brembos...

Just like you, I wouldn't consider just upgrading the stock rotors to larger ones w/o upgrading the calipers to ones that can take advantage of the larger rotors--not doing so would somewhat offset the advantage of larger rotors to begin with.

I'm not sure of the price of the illumispeed upgrade because as I mentioned, I had the eradispeed upgrade done first. That was about $1600 for just for the rotors and if I remember correctly the calipers were almost $1800. This is for front and back. The dealer told me now they have a package deal where its cheaper to have the illumispeed done rather than doing it in two parts.