Project Upgrade

[Berettaspeed]

well im going to have some extra cash and i was wondering what brake pads would be the best for high speed braking and also somewhat street driven.i need them to handle the heat. i have had brake fade/overheating too many times. road race guys you must know! i have some 12" GTP rotors i plan on trying to get mocked up to work to help out. i plan on getting a clutch and possible some street drags. i don't know which brand im going with. ups and downs with tire rack seem really bias. everyone seems to go from bad tires to new tires which of course are going to be better. LOL

also i will be getting some tunning software and new bushing all around.

basicly i need help with pads, possible rotors, and would brake fluid matter?? prolly not hey.

and help with tires.no slicks i must be able to run them on the street. i would love to get some street tires with great traction, but it seems its not going to happen. i was thinking for street tires F1 GS-D3s, but thats too much for my pocket. even with a really good discount. im using 16X7 rims or 15X7 rims. is a taller tire going to give more bite than a shorter tire??

[sloLs1]

well from my FWD experiance.... there isnt any tire out there that will give you %100 hook up with decent power. but i would recommend the BFG drag radials.... they worked out alright for me... and trying to find a M/T dr in your size might not be easy... and those wear out real fast! the BFG's lasted maybe a month on the saturn...:rolf but i drive that car past it's limits! maybe some other people have some recommendations.... but thoses seemed to work the best for me.... might be different for you:durr


and as far as brakes?!?! well your on your own for that one.... or so it seems... can you buy "better or Bigger" brakes for a berreta??? you cant for a saturn!


good luck!

[Poncho]

I've had great luck with Riken and Kumho tires for the price. Hawk pads FTW. can you steal 98-02 v8 camaro aluminum calipers to adapt? going to drill the rotors for the BP? you can upgrade to dot 4 fluid.

In your smaller sizes yet, the difference won't be that apparent bite wise, but if you break it down a shorter tire will spin faster adding to your gearing, taller tires will slow you down. bite-wise, there really woudln't be too much of a difference, width is where it matters there.

[Berettaspeed]

there are no brake upgrades that i know of. everything will be homemade. LOL

i will have to mod the caliper hold downs thats nto a probelm. my problem is finding a caliper to fit withing my rim with the rotor i want t o run. are the camaro calipers dual piston or single??? any real difference? also arethe GTPs the same size as a camaro rotor?? these are 12". i need some hand-me-downs from someone here who has already upgraded.. ill buy'em.. if they work. LOL

what i meant from taller tires is the side wall hight. i can have the same overall hight MAX 23" and have a 2" side wall or a 3.5" side wall. the 3.5 should bite better right?and the 2" would corner better? i just want something that i can use to take advatage of the most. im using 225/50r16s right now and thats the max i can run.

[Poncho]

98+ Z28/SS Camaros are 12" rotors

stock GTPs from the 2nd gen are 11" then when the gen II monte/impala came out they had 12" fronts.

commonly people would upgrade their GTPs to the 12", as all you needed was the caliper brackets from a monte/impala. then others would take the camaro PBR dual pistons and retap the holes and bolt them on a GTP.

I wonder if a GTO setup would work? 04s had 11.9" fronts, and the 05-06 had 12.8" front brakes.

tire wise it ain't the 80's anymore an you can get a sticky tire w/out a ton of sidewall.

[Z28Roxy]

Nitto drag radials will hook better than street tires but last a relatively long time.

I ran two sets for about 15k miles each. When my car was an auto with less mods I could floor it and go, not a single bit of spin unless on gravel or wet pavement.

I don't how they would do now, that was when my car was probably only trapping at about 100. After my next mod (rockers) my car could probably trap close to what yours does, so I don't know if I'd be able to slip the clutch and floor it, still have to feather it a little, or maybe even do a small clutch dump.

I'll let you know how they work for me if I install some pretty soon.

Discounttiredirect.com sells them for $140 with free shipping in 245/50/16 size.

[Waver]

Nitto drag radials will hook better than street tires but last a relatively long time.

I ran two sets for about 15k miles each. When my car was an auto with less mods I could floor it and go, not a single bit of spin unless on gravel or wet pavement.

I don't how they would do now, that was when my car was probably only trapping at about 100. After my next mod (rockers) my car could probably trap close to what yours does, so I don't know if I'd be able to slip the clutch and floor it, still have to feather it a little, or maybe even do a small clutch dump.

I'll let you know how they work for me if I install some pretty soon.

Discounttiredirect.com sells them for $140 with free shipping in 245/50/16 size.
that is what I was going to say, go with some nittos or even mt et streets....

[wikked]

Hawk HPS pads for their l33t stoppage, and very minimal dust.
Autozone blank rotors, since it's all about the pads really.

Got stainless brake lines yet? That will help too.

[BadAzzGTA89]

Nitto 555r's are a nice tire!

[Berettaspeed]

hawk HPS ehh.... mmm ill have to check them out. also ill check out the camaro 98+ aluminum calipers... asl long as these fit into my 16s ill try and do somthing with them... where do guys get rid of them? like when they upgrade. im sure they get rid of them for a decent price?? LS1 boards??

[Syclone0044]

I converted my Syclone to LS1 12" front brakes, they make a kit so it was easy. But with my stock 16" wheels the fit was very close, so close it actually wore off some of my tape-weights inside my rim, but was easily solved. Your rims may vary. But the LS1 calipers are sought after, so you gotta be lucky and find them for sale before some other guy gets them, or watch ebay. You can go to autozone and buy them outright but they have a hefty core charge. I got a set from Al's junk yard in Franklin, that's what i've been road racing with LOL!

[Z28Roxy]

hawk HPS ehh.... mmm ill have to check them out.

Hawk HPS pads = def a good idea.

I needed to do new brakes on my car, and I considered going with an LS1 F-body or C5 vette brake upgrade. I ended up just doing hawk HPS pads on my LT1 rotors/calipers, and the thing stops awesome now.

Probably not as good as LS1 rotors + hawk pads, but probably just about what stock LS1 brakes would do (just a guess, the stopping power is much much better).

[SpdRcrZ]

I put the 12" W body (oem on Impala and Monty, but upgrade for the GP) on my '02 Z24. I used the N-body (99-04/05) aluminum knuckle, 5 speed N-body (same years) axles, and F-body (98-02) Calipers..... I know your steering is setup a bit different, but I'm sure you can mix and match GM parts like I did, to get the same results.

I used Power Slot rotors and Hawk pads on it as well. For the rear, I had a full N-body (same years again) IRS setup to go on, with same rotors and pads..... never got there though, since the car was totaled.

With the OEM master cylinder, it stopped HARD (with just the fronts), but the pedal travel was a bit farther. I had thought about swapping to the N-body master, just never did it.

[Berettaspeed]

I put the 12" W body (oem on Impala and Monty, but upgrade for the GP) on my '02 Z24. I used the N-body (99-04/05) aluminum knuckle, 5 speed N-body (same years) axles, and F-body (98-02) Calipers..... I know your steering is setup a bit different, but I'm sure you can mix and match GM parts like I did, to get the same results.

I used Power Slot rotors and Hawk pads on it as well. For the rear, I had a full N-body (same years again) IRS setup to go on, with same rotors and pads..... never got there though, since the car was totaled.

With the OEM master cylinder, it stopped HARD (with just the fronts), but the pedal travel was a bit farther. I had thought about swapping to the N-body master, just never did it.

yup i have GA knuckles and i need half shaft outers still. the beretta tie rods are on the strut so i can just cut off the extra part on the GA knuckle. once i get my out CV i can swap them onto my current cv joint. i still need calipers. i want to the dual piston. i have an older caddie master. alittle bigger. not much though. then i have to get some damn rims..GRRR

ya i take my sweet time upgrading my crap i know. LOL

[wrath]

How thick are the rotors? You might want to use a giant single piston caliper for simplicity. It's not like you need much in the rear. 80s stuff is heavy cast iron but it's easy to mount. I, personally, like 80s Chevy fullsize 3/4 ton calipers. They are ginormous, cheap, and pads are cheap. I've only boiled the fluid in one once and that was on my mud truck when a caliper seized. Got so hot spit would boil off the wheel. My next favorite are probably S10 calipers. My last two favorites are tied: 99-04 Chevy fullsize rear calipers and 70s Eldorado calipers.

I use 3/4 ton calipers front and rear on the thing in my avatar. 12.6" vented rotors (stock) in the front and 12" vented rotors (out of a standard cab early 90s pickup) in the rear. With dual-diaphragm powerboost brakes I can lock up all four at around 20mph. After 3 45mph hard stops the brakes begin to fade. I use cheap Wearever silver pads because they're the only ones I've found that the mud doesn't eat and doesn't produce Ford-like brake dust. But, we're talking 660lbs of tire.