Have you heard about the great capabilities of the '06 Chevy TrailBlazer SS? If you haven't, then you should know it's one of the sleeper production performance rides of the year. While the TrailBlazer SS is great on the street, there are always possibilities to improve the performance of any vehicle. In this story, you'll learn how to improve the already great braking capabilities of the TrailBlazer SS with a GM Performance Division developed front brake cooling kit (PN 19154753).
If you don't already own a TrailBlazer SS, here's your chance to learn a little about them. And if you do have one, now's the time to begin improving it. For you do-it-yourselfers out there, this easy upgrade can be performed on your truck, whether it's used for racing, towing, or rigorous street use. The use of convoluted tubing-from a dryer, for instance-works wonders. Just add some simple zip ties to secure where it needs to be. Better braking means safer driving.
The GM Performance Brake Duct...
The GM Performance Brake Duct Cooling kit comes with two plastic front brake ducts that tightly mate to the back of the front fascia, two stamped steel backing plates, and all of the hardware required to install these components.
The install began by lifting...
The install began by lifting the TrailBlazer SS with a jack. To minimize the amount of brake dust and road grime, we washed the suspension and brake components off with brake cleaner.
Next, we removed the two 18mm...
Next, we removed the two 18mm disc brake caliper mounting bolts. A pneumatic impact wrench was used with an 18mm swivel socket to get the impact into the tight confines, but this task could have been accomplished with a 1/2-inch breaker bar, standard 18mm socket, and some muscle.
To make reinstallation easier,...
To make reinstallation easier, we compressed the brake-caliper piston down into the caliper body before taking the caliper off of the rotor. Then, we used a large zip tie to hang the caliper from the upper suspension link.
Next, the rotor was removed...
Next, the rotor was removed from the hub-but first, these small clips were pulled off two of the wheel lugs. These clips are used in the factory to hold the free-floating rotors on the hubs as they go down the assembly line. To remove the rotor clips, we peeled one tang up with side cutters until the clip split opened.
For all-wheel-drive TrailBlazer...
For all-wheel-drive TrailBlazer SS vehicles: At this point, the drive axle will need to be unbolted from the front hub on our AWD TrailBlazer SS-notice the half-shaft running to front hub by the arrow. If you have a rear-wheel-drive TrailBlazer SS, you've probably noticed the front wheel hub has what is called a stub shaft installed in the hub. This replicates the AWD axle locating aspect. The stub shaft does not need to be removed to pull the rotor.