Brake Rebuild

[ßill]

I have a leaking left front caliper on my ’90 ZR1. I am planning to rebuild all 4 corners. The car is not raced and from what I read on the forums is driven very conservatively. I have two questions for now. Are there any gremlins lurking around to surprise me? What pads would you use for normal street driving?

Thanks for your help

 

[Jeffvette]

You can get the rebuild kits from gm. The rears are the hard ones.

Pads, just use a oem pad or go to a hawk hps or ebc green pad.

 

[tyrel]

Rebuillding the calipers is pretty straightforward, sounds like you know what you're talking about and there are no surprises there. HOWEVER: recently when I went to change my brake hoses, from the metal brake line end it clipped right into place and bolted up nicely, but the caliper end of the brake hose looked funny to me, on my stock brake hose there was no washer whatsoever where the hose met the caliper. I looked and looked, then I unbolted the other caliper to check it out and sure enough no washers. I thought "okay, I don't need a washer since there wasn't one on the stock hose." I consulted my service manual which showed that a washer was supposed to have been used. Now, my car has 75,000 miles on it and it's inconceivable that it lasted all this time without the washers, and there were never any brake fluid leaks.

So, I put the hose on, thinking "okay, this'll work," but after I bled my brakes sure enough it started leaking where the brake hose attached to the caliper, no matter how much I tightened it. Okay, I went to Home Despot and bought copper washers, reinstalled my brake hoses, tightened them to spec, and lo and behold no more leaks.

I don't know if there's a lesson here, but I studied my old and new calipers and old and new brake hoses very closely and saw no discernable difference between them. One setup was fine without the washer, one wasn't. Must be something molecular.

 

[tlong]

Now for pads

I highly recommend ceramic pads unless you like cleaning your wheels every 200 miles.

 

[ßill]

Thanks for the thoughts, Ordered the caliper kits from chevy, they should be here this afternoon. any down sides to the ceramis pads? the car has 85000 miles.

 

[c4cruiser]

I have a set of EBC Greenstuff pads on my 87 autocross car and I was very suprised to see how little they dusted. Even after a track day, the wheels were not that bad. The Hawk HPS pads are a nightmare! After one track day, the chrome wheels on my 92 were so black, they looked like GS wheels.

Pads like the EBC Greenstuff and the Hawk HPS provide much improvec braking over the stock pads. They work better when cold and when they warm up, they really stop you quickly. Performance Friction "Z" are another good choice and they can be found at a local AutoZone store. The Tire Rack has both the EBC And HAwk pads as well as Raybestos which are alos decent pads.

Don't forget to do a complete fluid flush. Get a good quality DOT3 or DOT4 fluid. Castol LMA is a good fluid for street use and the Ford Motorsports High Performance fluid is a great heavy duty fluid if you ever wan to try autocross or a track day or even spirited driving in the hills. Takes about a quart to do a complete job.

At 85K miles, you might want to replace the flexible lines while the calipers are off the car. SS braided lines will give you a firmer pedal feel and they actually cost less than OEM lines. Goodridge (Tire Rack) or Earl's (Summit Racing) are good choices and can be had for less than $125 a set. And you will need copper washers for the banjo fitting to the caliper. Get some OEM washers and toss the aluminum one that come with a line kit.

 

[ßill]

Thanks c4. I was going to flush the system thanks for the recomendations for fluid and volume. I'll stay away from the hawk pads. The car already had SS lines installed, I'll get new washers. Are the pads for the standard and J55 brakes the same?

 

[AdvancedAutoCC]

For low dusting/low noise pads try NAPA Ceramix pads... that's what I install on all daily drivers that come through my shop.