I’m sure that is a question most everyone will want an answer to.
I don’t really want to lose that much sidewall. I would say go 37’s but the amount of tuck seen on vids make me nervous
I would change the rim to avoid boiling the brakes =)
Which guy? The one that boils brake fluid and has had every pad/disc on every car smoke? Yeah. I’m him. Too much time on racetracks
Lol
No you're spot on, same boat here, brake upgrade is gonna have to be done and done fairly early
I’m gonna toast those breaks in the first spirited drive. May put me into a tree if the fade is bad enough.
), but let's just take it as a reference point.
. One final note for the group - I'll circle back if the crew at Essex has a different perspective on sticking with the 15 inch rotors and simply doing a caliper or caliper + stock size rotor swap. I'd love to be wrong about the need to go to a larger wheel.
Runner
it Will be possible to over heat the brakes but not common. You just don’t use brakes the same off road and with a lower grip than on pavement, the heat just won’t be there. If you plan to track a road course with the TRX, that’s another story.
. I am curious to see if people fade the brakes offroad, and if so, how they are running when that happens. I can see it being possible, especially with 700 up and all of the weight ... but after reading about all of the testing Ram did over a number of years, it seems like they are pretty comfortable that the brakes will hold up to their intended (off road) use. 
I am confident there will be options available in the ne’er future once more TRX trucks hit the street.
Essex/AP have done some cool kits with calipers (number of pistons and size) and rotors (diameter/size) that are really well tailored to a given car/truck for both power, weight, and race format. They give you the braking capacity you need for consistent laps without going overboard so that you aren't carrying unsprung weight (or rotating mass) that you don't need. So, from an admittedly limited sample size, if I had to pick a company to work with on a kit that would give you as much performance as possible within the factory 18's, Essex would be a good place to start. That said, when you give them the power and weight you are trying to slow down, they might tell you to go with a larger wheel before a full kit is worth your while.
Another great option for disc and pad only upgrades would be GiroDisc. They only do discs, at least the last time I checked, but if you wanted to work with someone to get every last bit of braking out of the factory calipers and still squeeze under the factory 18's, GiroDisc is a great company.
A final thought for Bambi and any vendors or potential vendors building a package - if we are trying to upgrade the brake performance for the trail, it would be great to hear how long the brakes hold up, what your trail conditions and speed are like when they start to fade, and what we could do to enhance things for the desert.
For the road though, I think we would have to look at a 20 inch wheel to fit a larger caliper, and maybe a larger rotor, to gain extra thermal capacity to make a real leap when it comes to avoiding, or rather, delaying, fade. Yes, a 35 inch tire on a 20 inch wheel has a lot less sidewall than a 35 on an 18 inch wheel, but I think we'll end up making that trade, and or, going to a 37 inch tire on a 20 inch wheel, to be able to fit larger brakes.
I do not have a formula to guestimate brake system sizing or capacity for a given vehicle weight, power, or type of driving, but for reference let me dive into the Trackhawk, as mentioned above, since I've tossed one through a few corners. The Jeep weighs 5350-5400 pounds and comes with 15.8 and 13.8 inch iron rotors in the front and rear respectively. That difference of 15.8 vs 15 inches for the TRX may not sound like a lot, but on the outside of a rotor, that translates into a fair bit of metal (heat capacity and fade resistance). If you can fade the brakes on a Trackhawk at 5400 lbs on a road course or long mountain road, it stands to reason that the same setup will fade even sooner with an extra 1000 lbs of weight, if you were running, or trying to run a TRX at speed on the same track or road. I know that's not exactly apples to apples as a TRX wouldn't carry the same amount of speed as a Trackhawk due to the extra weight, aerodynamics, suspension, etc. (including brakes
Sorry for the long post but I like big brakes
KnightMare - awesome that you already reached out to a few different companies. If no one else has reached out, I'm happy to drop Essex (US distributor for AP Brakes) and Racing Brake a line and to see if they have anything that would fit or anything in the works either for the factor wheel setup or an aftermarket (20 inch) wheel.
Essex/AP have done some cool kits with calipers (number of pistons and size) and rotors (diameter/size) that are really well tailored to a given car/truck for both power, weight, and race format. They give you the braking capacity you need for consistent laps without going overboard so that you aren't carrying unsprung weight (or rotating mass) that you don't need. So, from an admittedly limited sample size, if I had to pick a company to work with on a kit that would give you as much performance as possible within the factory 18's, Essex would be a good place to start. That said, when you give them the power and weight you are trying to slow down, they might tell you to go with a larger wheel before a full kit is worth your while.
Another great option for disc and pad only upgrades would be GiroDisc. They only do discs, at least the last time I checked, but if you wanted to work with someone to get every last bit of braking out of the factory calipers and still squeeze under the factory 18's, GiroDisc is a great company.
A final thought for Bambi and any vendors or potential vendors building a package - if we are trying to upgrade the brake performance for the trail, it would be great to hear how long the brakes hold up, what your trail conditions and speed are like when they start to fade, and what we could do to enhance things for the desert.
For the road though, I think we would have to look at a 20 inch wheel to fit a larger caliper, and maybe a larger rotor, to gain extra thermal capacity to make a real leap when it comes to avoiding, or rather, delaying, fade. Yes, a 35 inch tire on a 20 inch wheel has a lot less sidewall than a 35 on an 18 inch wheel, but I think we'll end up making that trade, and or, going to a 37 inch tire on a 20 inch wheel, to be able to fit larger brakes.
I do not have a formula to guestimate brake system sizing or capacity for a given vehicle weight, power, or type of driving, but for reference let me dive into the Trackhawk, as mentioned above, since I've tossed one through a few corners. The Jeep weighs 5350-5400 pounds and comes with 15.8 and 13.8 inch iron rotors in the front and rear respectively. That difference of 15.8 vs 15 inches for the TRX may not sound like a lot, but on the outside of a rotor, that translates into a fair bit of metal (heat capacity and fade resistance). If you can fade the brakes on a Trackhawk at 5400 lbs on a road course or long mountain road, it stands to reason that the same setup will fade even sooner with an extra 1000 lbs of weight, if you were running, or trying to run a TRX at speed on the same track or road. I know that's not exactly apples to apples as a TRX wouldn't carry the same amount of speed as a Trackhawk due to the extra weight, aerodynamics, suspension, etc. (including brakes
Sorry for the long post but I like big brakes
