Topic: Front brakes swap

[kennysabarese]

To clarify about how fast I burned through brakes. I actually got through 4 track days on the stock brakes. Plus 20 thousand miles of street driving.

Now the first two days the car never got faster than 90MPH because the straight was really tiny. I  had brake fade, but I wasn't even running DOT 4 fluid at that point. Then months later the second two days were stops from about 120 and I had DOT 4. There was fade and wobbling and overall scaryness.

I am getting Porterfield high performance street pads in the spring, I am also going to sand and brakleen Critters old rotors before I put the new pads on. Then I will be doing some track days where I will be up to at least 130MPH on a NASCAR style track. So we'll see how that goes. If I need to I will get the rotors cut. But cutting will reduce the thermal handling.

I will report back when the time comes.

[wspohn]

i am pretty sure, brakes for Redline, GXP and GT are the same

Same physical pads, but I have read several times that Opel specced different pad material than the other two, so the Opel pads apparently constitute a slight upgrade.

Unless you are in Europe, it would be easier to buy from Porterfields than from Europe.

[Kuprito]

Opel pads can be a little better but they are still crap.

I am using AP600 with great results. I think it's enough for 300-350hp and that weight.

Anyway... Please, stop asking if I need this upgrade or things like that. I did it for a reason, I did it to my car and I am now happy with the braking power.

I only posted that to help people that weren't sure about the benefits and what parts are needed to make that.

This improvement is cheap, easy and total labour time was about 3h. The only cons are the e-brake delete and the vehicle tests (and I am working to solve that).

[wspohn]

Anyway... Please, stop asking if I need this upgrade or things like that. I did it for a reason, I did it to my car and I am now happy with the braking power.
This improvement is cheap, easy and total labour time was about 3h. The only cons are the e-brake delete and the vehicle tests.

1 - I posted generally about brake upgrades and wasn't singling you out.

2 - not having an e-brake is more than a trivial side effect, now that you mention it.

[Kuprito]

1 - I posted generally about brake upgrades and wasn't singling you out.

2 - not having an e-brake is more than a trivial side effect, now that you mention it.

The power of the stock e-brake in kappas is very poor, it will do nothing with an hydraulic failure...

I prefer better braking on 99,9% of situations and no e-brake than having a soft e-brake and worse power braking.

Anyway, I am working on that:

[TomatoSoup]

2 - not having an e-brake is more than a trivial side effect, now that you mention it.

Yeah, right...  How do you do a hill start without one?  (And, if you say "ride the clutch" I will get extremely upset. )

[snaponbob]

"ride the clutch"
"ride the clutch"
"ride the clutch"
"ride the clutch"

Just had to do it !!!

Mores seriously, in San Fransisco it could be a head ache, but honestly hill starting a manual isn't THAT big a deal.

[wspohn]

Weelll....yes it can be (pet peeve warning).

When some idjit that drives an auto and thinks (if they think at all) that everyone else does as well comes up behind you on a steep hill and stops a half inch behind your rear bumper, you are gonna wish you had a hand brake.

[Kelu]

Not very likely in Europe where the majority of the cars are manual. I think starting from a ramp without ebrake is something standard in license exams, maybe is just around my country.

I like to play in the morning when is a row of bumper to bumper stopped cars from the entrance up to the exit of a underground passage and the exists are very steep, I like to keep it without even using the brake for some good seconds, is good that in my way to office I don't have to use any underground passages or I will tear my clutch too soon. Even so, on my previous car, the clutch survived up to 135 000km (nearly 84 000 miles) with many drag races and riding of it.

[wspohn]

True. The caliber of driver seems higher in Europe in general.  No one would get away with sitting in the left lane on the highway, they'd get run over!  And most of the cars are manual shift and most people do know to give room on a hill.

That's not to say that the drivers aren't absolutely mad. I've had to drive through rush hour traffic in Milan and Turin and had to deal with insane drivers in small Fiats apparently intent on crashing into you rather than give way.  And the French aren't a lot better.

[TomatoSoup]

In the UK, a hill start on a steep incline is part of the test (just like your country, Kelu).  If you roll back AT ALL you will fail the test.

So, wspohn, no one bothers to give room on a hill, because everyone knows (and expects everyone else to know) how to start off without rolling back.

[Arabas]

True. The caliber of driver seems higher in Europe in general.  No one would get away with sitting in the left lane on the highway, they'd get run over!  And most of the cars are manual shift and most people do know to give room on a hill.

That's not to say that the drivers aren't absolutely mad. I've had to drive through rush hour traffic in Milan and Turin and had to deal with insane drivers in small Fiats apparently intent on crashing into you rather than give way.  And the French aren't a lot better.

If u say that for Italians drivers, wait till you come to Greece!!! everybody thinks he is a small Schumacher! lololololol

[Kuprito]

Los tornillos famosos que se aflojan:





























I am writing the text right now...

[snaponbob]

I forgot those ball joint separators even existed and that is a must have.  Nice pics.

If somebody wants one, Google will "set you free". http://www.google.com/search?q=ball+joint+separator&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

[Carbon Sky]

Did you put front spindles on the rear as well?  Otherwise, I don't understand why you removed the spindle.

[Kuprito]

Are you calling spindle to the knuckle?

I put front kunckles on rear because of the front brake brackets... How could you fit front brakes on rear an look stock?

[Carbon Sky]

Well to me this is a spindle:

http://www.newdaymotorsports.com/images/newspindle.jpg

Anyways, interesting . . . I had no idea the front "knuckle" was interchangeable with the rear.

Are you calling spindle to the knuckle?

I put front kunckles on rear because of the front brake brackets... How could you fit front brakes on rear an look stock?

[snaponbob]

Since there is a bunch of hair splitting going on, the technical term is (usually) "suspension upright". The actual hub on our suspensions is the wheel bearing assembly. On the front end, the spindle is attached to the hub (bearing). Parsing that further, wheel spindles can be bolted or welded to the upright. HTH SOME.

[Kuprito]

The word in spanish is: Mangueta

It comes from MANO that means HAND

It's very similar than english because knuckle has to see with hand...

[Carbon Sky]

I'm just still a little surprised that the uprights on the front and rear are interchangeable in terms of mating with the rest of the suspension.

[Ben L]

   Interested to see how it works over the long haul.

[wspohn]

I'm just still a little surprised that the uprights on the front and rear are interchangeable in terms of mating with the rest of the suspension.

Certainly a good move on GMs part, reducing the number of unique castings they need to stock.  Makes sense.

When they built the Fiero they used a Citation front cradle moved to the rear and simply locked in the rear toe with a rod, so no surprise that it works, just that they thought about it!.