Matt,

From my experience it's not necessarily the metal discs becoming very rough that causes the binding. More it's related to the metal calipers (black ones) getting bent or the little metal black bracket that holds the calipers getting worn that causes the binding.

In extreme cases I have seen people that drive alot cause some wear into the ball shaped diff output shaft in the center diff to form two grooves where the brake dics ride, but from my experience and seeing the ones that had this, it didn't bind the brakes, rather it just reduced the effective strength of the brakes.

On my own trucks I found it more beneficial to have the two silver discs get a rougher finish to them as this allowed for increased stopping power. The calipers themselves don't get too much wear, rather the discs see a majority of the wear. Also I have dialed out a lot of the rear brake on my Nemesis as this makes it much easier to control the truck in the air. In the past I ran without the front brake, but when jumping I found that I could have really used the front brake to get the nose of the truck down. For a little more braking power, you can also change the springs on the brake linkage and replace them with fuel tubing. I like the more positive feel the fuel tubing offers when you brake over the springs.

If anyone else on this thread has brake questions or setup tips regarding this, feel free to post your experiences or questions.

Simon