Brakes

I actually posted this on the monte carlo forum, but not as many people are on that, and it's not really different from a lumina, so.....I have never been that impressed with the brakes on my monte (96) and I am considering putting vented rotors and composite pads on it. Anyone ever try this? It's not that much extra money, but I'm wondering if it's worth it, as I've never been in a car with GOOD brakes. Thanks for the input.

I doubt that it would improve the brake's feel much, those mods are generally to reduce fade from heating under extreme (racing) use. But if you do it and it helps, I'd like to know. The brakes on my '97 have always felt a little lacking to me, when I drive something else, I just about put myself through the windshield the first time I hit the brakes, as hard as I'm used to using the pedal on the Lumina. I've always believed that an upgrade to a dual piston caliper set-up in the front would yield the best results.

what the hell, I think I'm going to do it. I can get the parts for a really good deal through a friend, (EBC Greenstuff pads and vented rotors), so it's not much extra money. I too, feel the same way when I drive other people's cars. Unfortunately, I can't get the parts for about a month, but I'll update when it happens

Chevy just uses weak boosters in all their cars. My caprice would stop on a dime with no effort. My Corsica takes probably 1.5 times the distance the caprice did, I have to litterally stand on the brakes to do that, and it weighs half as much. Maybe a bigger master cylinder would help also.

the biggest problem with these cars if they have rear drum brakes, is they don't stay adjusted. You have to either occasionally re-adjust them manually, or take the car in a parking lot, get humming along in reverse, and nail the brakes a few times to adjust them. Also check the fluid level in the master cylinder. as the brakes wear, the fluid level will drop, causing the pedal to get a little soft.

yeah the rear drums are a pain. can you buy aftermarket DRUM parts that are better performance? Come to think of it, I've never actually seen them for sale, but I've never asked, either

I've toyed with the idea of swapping the rear drums to discs, but never got the money required to do the swap. I've got access to a shop where I could leave the car over time, so I've got all the time/equipment in the world. Just no rotors/calipers. I had the chance off ebay but of course I blew that :P

I wouldn't want to put on rear disc, just to have 'em turn to rusted crap in six months. Nothing wrong with drums on the rear for a street car. But a slightly larger diameter rotor in front with dual piston binders would add a lot of stopping force where you want it. I heard you, rich, but I keep the rears adjusted and cleaned, and the brakes still aren't very strong on this model. Of course, the rear shoes have lasted over 100K miles, it may be that these shoes are too hard to be effective. Or the brakes on this one are just too biased to the front for the rear to work well. I remember the rears on my '77 Ford had 11" drums and 2" wide shoes. Those things WORKED!! You could tell they were back there.

Front's got dual pistons, doesn't it? My 99's got them, maybe it was an RPO code or just a change over the years?

Heres a great conversation re custom brake configurations...I've been in one of these Jeeps...it stops on a dime!
http://www.southernjeeps.org/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=4823&highlight=brakes

Both my luminas have dual piston calipers and i also think that they stop better than a single