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F-Body brake question

asite57

asite57

New member
my body who has a 98 firebird recenlty needed to replace his front calipers so he went to the local autoparts store and bought 2 new front calipers and slides plus the hardware for $106 total. i was wondering if to do this upgrade i could just do that, zzp and wbody store sells them in upwards of $300 i know id still need the mounting kit from zzp but that still puts the total project under $175 much better then the other sites im just kinda wondering if you all think this plan will work
 
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Re: F-Body break question

most calipers have a core charge. 50 for a caliper but then if you don't bring in a proper core they charge you an extra pile of money.
 
Re: F-Body break question

true.... I saw a set on e-bay(used) with brackets for 100$. make sure they come with brackets. Also i'm pretty sure you will have to redrill and tap out the holes(so they will bolt up to your car).
 
Re: F-Body break question

I ran the FBody upgrade and it really wasn't an upgrade at all, the lines constantly rubbed the inner tire and would wear through, everyone was nut swinging hawk ceramic pads and all they did was squeal, once the GTP wound up under the a$$ of a ford ranger i knew it was time for a change. Stay away from Ceramic pads all they do is squeal and don't grab.
I have the 12" calipers from the Monte Carlo and run Russell Stainless lines with NAPA heavy duty pads and rotors and its by far the best brake set up.
Hope this helps, don't wind up under a truck!
Russell Performance 692220 - Russell Street Legal Brake Line Kits - Overview - SummitRacing.com
 
Re: F-Body break question

QwikGT said:
I ran the FBody upgrade and it really wasn't an upgrade at all, the lines constantly rubbed the inner tire and would wear through, everyone was nut swinging hawk ceramic pads and all they did was squeal, once the GTP wound up under the a$$ of a ford ranger i knew it was time for a change. Stay away from Ceramic pads all they do is squeal and don't grab.
I have the 12" calipers from the Monte Carlo and run Russell Stainless lines with NAPA heavy duty pads and rotors and its by far the best brake set up.
Hope this helps, don't wind up under a truck!
Russell Performance 692220 - Russell Street Legal Brake Line Kits - Overview - SummitRacing.com
Click to expand...

Sure they were hawks?

I've run EBC reds with stock calipers and rotors. Had to threshold brake even at 50-60MPH.

F body setup adds significant braking power on the front end. Math is there.
 


F bodys on my regal are night and day over stock. even new stock sucks compared to the f body upgrade.

by far the best upgrade ive done to date.
 
i've had my gp since 05, did the swap when CGP was raving about it back then and it sucked. went this route and never looked back
 
as for tapping the hole i was gonna do this ZZPerformance - FBody Caliper Install Kit #ZZ-FBCALKIT if your lines were rubbing through you should have used stainless steel ones, ceramic pads are the best the grab fine but most of all no brake dust ive never drove a GP with fbody brakes but i have drove many fbodys so i got an idea of how great they are, i just wanna do the hole job for under $400
 


i picked up a used set with 20,000 miles on them with 4 slotted rotors, f body calipers and the brackets and bolts with the pads for all 4 corners, and ss brake lines for all 4 for less then those calipers and a set of rotors and the brake lines.

check out e bay for the calipers. or other on line stores. get the caliper brackets from a junk yard if need be, you can stay under 300. it just may take some time to find the parts.

the brake lines im pretty sure i have the long ones, i had to twist the line some and then tighten the nut to the brake line on the car body side to pull it away from the tire to avoid tire rub while turning. also played with the caliper side to make sure things were clear. they are a nice upgrade as well. that other guy who posted knows not what hes doing lol with the line rubs that is....
 
i agree not to be mean but ive done a lot of brake work on many cars and ive completely disassembled these w body calipers at like a dozen times mines have 173k on them and it shows, as for doing it for under 300 i dont know man im sure it can be done but i dont want a huge hassel
 


oh another question came to mind if i buy the kit without pads and rotors do i just go to autozone and say i want pads and rotors for a firebird 97-02?
 
Re: F-Body break question

QwikGT said:
I ran the FBody upgrade and it really wasn't an upgrade at all, the lines constantly rubbed the inner tire and would wear through, everyone was nut swinging hawk ceramic pads and all they did was squeal, once the GTP wound up under the a$$ of a ford ranger i knew it was time for a change. Stay away from Ceramic pads all they do is squeal and don't grab.
I have the 12" calipers from the Monte Carlo and run Russell Stainless lines with NAPA heavy duty pads and rotors and its by far the best brake set up.
Hope this helps, don't wind up under a truck!
Russell Performance 692220 - Russell Street Legal Brake Line Kits - Overview - SummitRacing.com
Click to expand...

Did you read this post?

and 98-02
 
pretty sure you need rotors for an 04+ grand prix cause they are 12in and the right bolt pattern. pretty sure the monte carlos and impala 12 inch rotors work also... but firebird/camaro pads are needed.
 
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