[theastronaut]

If your current brakes will lock up your current tires then you need stickier tires, not stronger brakes.

No one has mentioned tires, tire compound, grip level of the tires... You could have the most powerful brakes in the world and if you're running all season or older tech "performance" tires (Radial T/A, Cooper Cobra or similar) then you're not going to stop as quickly as better tires would allow.


Example: My '88 Ford Festiva (yes, the throwaway econobox) has front rotors that are literally smaller than my hand with single piston calipers, $6 semi-metalic pads, 30 year old original solid rotors that are grooved badly (more surface area for the pad!) and very small/narrow drums in the rear. But I have 100 treadwear Toyo R888 DOT track tires on it and coilovers that control the body motion. Anyone would look at the brakes and laugh and say that they're too small and need to be upgraded... but the "anemic" stock brakes will send you through the windshield if you're not buckled in because the tires actually grip and make the car stop instead of locking up and sliding. It's violent if you nail the brakes at 70 mph, pulling wayyy over 1g. Even with such sticky tires, it'll lock up the tires at 80, so the tiny stock brakes are all it needs.

If your stock-style 12" brakes aren't strong enough to lock up the tires then you have issues that need to be addressed, not parts that need to be upgraded. My old '66 C10 had stock D52 style calipers and 12" rotors and even with manual brakes it would easily lock up all season 215/75-15 tires up front. They were plenty powerful enough as-is, and stickier tires would've helped the truck stop even better before needing stronger brakes.