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Large Front disk brake conversion?


RedZMonte

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according to this page, http://www.w-body.com/upgrades/brakes-rotors.html my 1995 allready has 4 wheel disk, correct? I think i am going to price out a set of rear disks for the monte... kind of embarising having rear drums behind my 17's.

 

But the next questions is... for the fronts all i need is the knuckles and a new set of rotors correct? Can I use my KYB GR-2's with the new knuckle/strut assembly? can i swap my hubs over because i just got BRAND NEW ONES about a week ago.. don't want to waste them.

 

it looks sweet with my rear disk brakes peaking out from behind my monte carlo wheels on my lumina. now i need my fronts to do the same. I think i am going to powder coat the brake caliper housing.

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What the christ is "powder coating" anyways?! I always hear about it and I'm oblivious to it's meaning... :twisted:

-MaD-

 

basicly its a way of painting things. when you spray the Powder coat on, then it needs to be baked. it makes the paint hard and VERY durable, any colored wheel is powder coated and clear coated from factroy.

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Yeah, it's real powder. Pretty much dry paint. It's sprayed onto a prepared surface [mostly metal]. It is then baked in an oven. After it is finished, the powder becomes very hard and shiny. If it's done right, it also prevents rust. You can get powder coat paint in almost any color you want.

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How much do you suppose it would cost to powder-coat a cutlass sedan.

 

I'd like neon green, or maybe lemon yellow.

 

 

 

...I'm kidding, I want black.

 

Is this something you should do as body work? Isn't the exterior paint baked on anyways, like from the factory?

-MaD-

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Guest Anonymous
Eh, that's what I figured. That's similar to a OEM paint job, right?

-MaD-

 

I would say better than a factory paint job. No runs and no orange peel in the paint causr it's not sprayed on as a liquid.

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according to this page, http://www.w-body.com/upgrades/brakes-rotors.html my 1995 allready has 4 wheel disk, correct? I think i am going to price out a set of rear disks for the monte... kind of embarising having rear drums behind my 17's.

 

But the next questions is... for the fronts all i need is the knuckles and a new set of rotors correct? Can I use my KYB GR-2's with the new knuckle/strut assembly? can i swap my hubs over because i just got BRAND NEW ONES about a week ago.. don't want to waste them.

 

No, the Monte Carlo is an exception. The 95 Monte's and Luminas have rear drums. I think rear disc brakes started with the 96 Monte Z34, but regular Monte's got drums.

 

On the fronts, yes, all you need is knuckles and rotors. You should be able to use the GR2's with your new strut/knuckles. You can swap your hubs over, no probs.

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Guest TurboSedan

i'm wondering how much the front brake upgrade will improve braking performance. i'm guessing the front brake upgrade would be more noticable than the rear brake upgrade (performance wise) since the front does like 75% of the braking? it just seems like the rear brake upgrade is done more for reasons with caliper design and reliability than the bigger rotor itself, whereas the front brake upgrade really only means bigger rotors. of course, i still want to get carbon fiber pads and crossdrilled or slotted rotors too and hopefully that makes big differences also.

joshua

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I imagine there malibuolds that the advantage to bigger rotors in the front is better heat dissipation because of the larger surface area. This means your brake parts, especially the pads, will last longer. If you want to improve, performance wise, stopping distance then the best place to look to for that are the tires. It's a question of adhesion to the road since even a small set of modern rotors and calipers can easily lock a wheel without breaking a sweat. :)

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according to this page, http://www.w-body.com/upgrades/brakes-rotors.html my 1995 allready has 4 wheel disk, correct? I think i am going to price out a set of rear disks for the monte... kind of embarising having rear drums behind my 17's.

 

But the next questions is... for the fronts all i need is the knuckles and a new set of rotors correct? Can I use my KYB GR-2's with the new knuckle/strut assembly? can i swap my hubs over because i just got BRAND NEW ONES about a week ago.. don't want to waste them.

 

No, the Monte Carlo is an exception. The 95 Monte's and Luminas have rear drums. I think rear disc brakes started with the 96 Monte Z34, but regular Monte's got drums.

 

On the fronts, yes, all you need is knuckles and rotors. You should be able to use the GR2's with your new strut/knuckles. You can swap your hubs over, no probs.

DUH, i dunno what i was thinking when i typed that.. but i know my car has rear drums.. I think what i ment was..

 

Does my monte allready have the large front disks?

 

I Must have been smoking something when i wrote that!

 

RedZ

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I imagine there malibuolds that the advantage to bigger rotors in the front is better heat dissipation because of the larger surface area. This means your brake parts, especially the pads, will last longer. If you want to improve, performance wise, stopping distance then the best place to look to for that are the tires. It's a question of adhesion to the road since even a small set of modern rotors and calipers can easily lock a wheel without breaking a sweat. :)

 

Correct. the 1997+ GTP guys are upgrading the fronts using a "Olds Intreuge Autobaun brake package" which are all stock parts for the Intreuge and just going with a larger rotor and stock gp calipers see a noticable difference. again because of heat dispersment. it should make a noticeable diff.

 

If not it looks cooler having the big disks as well as makes your mod list longer. :)

 

RedZ

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DUH, i dunno what i was thinking when i typed that.. but i know my car has rear drums.. I think what i ment was..

 

Does my monte allready have the large front disks?

 

I Must have been smoking something when i wrote that!

 

RedZ

 

Oh, it probably does. One way to know for sure is to look at the OEM rotors. If they have a raised 3/8" ridge with writing on it around the rotor hat, then you have the bigger front rotors.

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Correct. the 1997+ GTP guys are upgrading the fronts using a "Olds Intreuge Autobaun brake package" which are all stock parts for the Intreuge and just going with a larger rotor and stock gp calipers see a noticable difference. again because of heat dispersment. it should make a noticeable diff.

 

If not it looks cooler having the big disks as well as makes your mod list longer. :)

 

RedZ

 

That's not exactly correct. There will be better heat dissipation due to larger surface area, but not much since the effective pad area does not change (you use your existing calipers and pads) so the pads are likely to get just as hot as they did before.

The reason the larger rotor diameter improves braking, is because it increases brake torque and stopping force for the same pad pressure.

 

Tb = Brake Torque

Fr = Clamping force of pad on rotor

Dr = Rotor diameter

 

Tb = Fr*(((Dr/2)-1")/12"/ft)

 

We don't know what the clamping force (Fr) is, but let's assume it's 1000 lbs because it's easy to do math with. Fr will be the same for both rotor diameters because the calipers and pads are the same, so for this example, it really doesn't matter.

 

So for 10.5" front rotors, Tb = 1000*(((10.5"/2)-1")/12"/ft) = 354 ft lbs.

For 11.25" front rotors, Tb = 1000*(((11.25"/2)-1")/12"/ft) = 385 ft lbs

 

So simply increasing rotor diameter will improve braking. In fact, going from 10.5" to 11.25" front rotors should increase brake torque at the same caliper clamping force by almost 9%.

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So by doing that math Shawn, how many % better is the rear upgrade?

 

If the 94+ rear calipers have exactly the same clamping force (which they may not, they're completely different), the improvement in brake torque would be 11% from diameter increase alone.

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