Brake Upgrade

[dufus_king]

Hey all this is my first thread, but i will be doing quite a few. I have a 2000 gt and it has disks in the back. as we all know the brake system for grand ams sucks and i want to upgrade to a better setup. what companys offer a compleat big brake system, and where would i go to get it? i wand brembo if it exists, but i know somewhere baer has a system. thanks

[Foxy]

I think that you should examine what sort of driving you'll be doing, and tailor your brakes towards that driving. Most drivers - unless you're taking your GAGT to the track - don't really need BBK's. Are you looking more for bling, or for practicality?

I'm not entirely familiar with the GAGT brake setup, but I'd imagine that your needs could be well-fulfilled by a set of nice pads (I like Hawk HPS, but the new EBC Redstuff pads and Carbotech Bobcats are also very good high-performance street oriented pads - IE pads that'll work at a decent temp, but will still bite on the first brake application at cold temps, unlike full-out race pads), fluid (higher wet boiling point, the better - I like ATE Superblue or Motul 600), and stainless-steel braided lines. This will generally cure most mushy brakes and offer improved fade resistance for a price well below that of a BBK. It's not as blingy, though ;)

[SilverGA2001]

Originally posted by dufus_king
Hey all this is my first thread, but i will be doing quite a few. I have a 2000 gt and it has disks in the back. as we all know the brake system for grand ams sucks and i want to upgrade to a better setup. what companys offer a compleat big brake system, and where would i go to get it? i wand brembo if it exists, but i know somewhere baer has a system. thanks

PFYC.com sells the Baer upgrade, but it's $1285.00, pretty pricey for anything but track use. You might be happy with just doing some nice slotted rotors, a good set of aftermarket pads, and possibly even the before mentioned steel braided lines. Doing just those 3 things will make a big enough difference that you might be happy with all the money you save.

[Pte Socks]

ok, isnce you dont really know much about brakes, id first recommend knowing the capabilities or your brakes. IVe seen it a thousand times that the qualities of the car, far exceed those of the driver and this causes bad situations. First, get to know your car and what you dont like. Jsut because you hear GA brakes arnt good, doesnt mean they are. I never touched my brakes for 60,000 kms with never a fault and that is an se with rear drums. I did upgrade but I did so for a reason, my 17's with tries weigh 15 lbs more than stock so I needed a better brake setup to compensate. As for BBK, dont bother. Unless your a guy to takes a GA to the race trake and professionally races, dont bother. If you really dont like how your brakes are, upgrade your pads, your fluid and your brake lines. You will notice the biggest difference from those. I myself stull have to upgrade my lines, but ive upgraded the others already. If you really want to redo yoru brakes and use money, get 2 front piston calipers, slotted rotors all around, something like hawk hps or greenstuff pads, ss lines and dot 4 brake fluid. Im personally running dot 4 with the hawk pads and powerslot rotors and didi notice a better braking experience, ubt then agin, I do get my pad wear and more dust

[loud2kse]

get a baer kit directly from baer. It looks sweet, stops faster, but you'll need 18 inch rims.

[Foxy]

If the stock GA brakes can induce ABS, he won't stop any faster with a BBK.

[loud2kse]

how do you figure?

[BadBlack00Ga]

Because if your inducing ABS, you're losing traction, and if your losing traction its not your brakes that are keeping you from stopping faster, its your tires.

[Foxy]

Precisely. Stickier tires net shorter stopping distances. BBKs don't shorten braking distances (they may make it longer, as a matter of fact, depending on how tolerant the ABS is of changes to the system, and how it affects the brake bias). The advantage of BBKs is that they can absorb more heat before they fade, so that the 20th stop from 100mph will feel just like the first; long after the stockers have caught on fire.

But if you are making that many stops on the street, you need to slow the heck down. If you're tracking your Grand Am, then invest in the BBK. For a street-driven Grand Am, unless you just have a ton of money burning a hole in your pocket, pads/lines/fluid and perhaps new rotors ought to work..

[Pte Socks]

As SCC in the Ultimate Street Car competition has stated many times, BBK do NOT get better breaking distances, in essense the key to a short stopping distance is low weight, low unsprung weight ( In fact, BBK tend to add weight whihc is detrimental to this ) and a good working ABS.