monte carlo brake upgrade why?

[dohc v6]

well i put the monte carlo brake or newer lumina brakes on my car and they are huge rotors compaired to stock but the pads are the same so how does this do anything.

[GnatGoSplat]

The pads sweep a greater distance per revolution so it will reduce stopping distance.

[glock19]

The larger rotor size will increase the heat capacity of the system. They won't get as hot as fast and provide you with more consistant braking due to less heat buildup.

 

Glock

[Strecker25]

not to jack the thread but looks like original question was answered...i have a 94 lumi so i take it the brakes are not the "upgraded". Can someone link me to a tutorial or thread about this upgrade?

[GnatGoSplat]

The upgrade is pretty simple, you replace the strut/knuckle assemblies with those from a 96+ W-body. You can reuse your existing calipers, caliper brackets, and pads. It's easiest to swap the entire strut/knuckle as an assembly, but you can dismantle it and reuse your old springs and/or struts if you wish.

 

For those who would like to see the improvement quantified in numbers, it's possible to do this by calculating the pad-swept area on the rotors. We can do this by subtracting the center of the rotor from the total area of the rotor (center of rotor is radius - 1.5" which is the height of the pads).

 

Pad swept area of a 10.5" rotor is 42.41sq in. each side.

Pad swept area of an 11.25" rotor is 45.94sq in. each side.

 

So the 11.25" rotor has an improvement of 3.53sq in. per revolution of the wheel.

3.53 is 8% of 42.41, so the larger rotors are an 8% improvement with the pads and calipers being the same.

[Strecker25]

so basically this is a good upgrade to do when i replace my springs also, as i plan on getting the lowering springs come summer once theyre availible

[GnatGoSplat]

Yep. That's what I did. I put the new springs on my 96 Monte knuckles, and also put new balljoints on them. Then I swapped the complete assemblies into my 89.