After reading many, many posts asking what works and so on, I thought to myself, "Dan, cavmk3oc needs a guide..." so I wrote one...
Really, before I start listing parts and so on, I should say a few things about pad compositions and discs, and that this guide will feature nothing on how to go about changing the parts. Some ideas discussed will be pure speculation, which will be noted, and if anyone has tried them please feel free to chirp up.
That said, I will split the guide into 3 parts;
1. Discussing pads and discs,
2. 4 stud hubs,
3. 5 stud hubs.
Enjoy...
How2 - Braking upgrades, the Guide...
Moderator: Robsey
How2 - Braking upgrades, the Guide...
Elwood Blues: "Our Lady of Blessed Acceleration, don't fail me now!"
Gaz loses sleep for my car and helps me with parts at ungodly hours of the day. Awesome
Gaz loses sleep for my car and helps me with parts at ungodly hours of the day. Awesome
Discussing pads and discs,
There are many types of brake pad available for your Cavalier, from buget Halford crap (and they really are crap) to high spec racing equipment and with many varieties there are as many specifications. Compounds can be changed according to personal tastes and driving styles.
The enthusiast must always take care when fitting non standard brake pads, as operating temperature ranges may vary, such as performance pads not braking efficiently when cold or standard pads fading under exuberant hard driving.
In Cavaliers that suffer from excessive brake fade, the problem can be minimized by installing better quality softer and more aggressive brake pads, and conversely the most expensive pads may require to much heat to be effective on the daily commute.
In my experience modern fast road pads suit the Cavalier very well as an excellent all round choice, at least for the FWD range.
The better consideration as with discs, is that size matters. The first port of call if a serious improvement is needed is increase the pad size and hence the area in contact with the discs. Which mean callipers, but more on that later.
With regard to discs size matters... no other rule need be obeyed. Drilled and grooved can be bought and if fade is still an issue even with better pads then you should think seriously about slowing down (assuming your on uk roads), both of these methods are designed to aid heat and dust dissipation and not to give extra "bite"... in fact they would, marginally at least, reduce contact area between pad and disc.
Re-drilling discs is possible and should be considered as a cheap alternative for 4-stud Cavalier wishing to increase disc size.
Increasing calliper piston (or pot) size will result in further brake pedal travel without addressing master cylinder size... just a thought...
The last discussion point is braided hoses, simply put; they reduce the rubber hoses ability to expand providing a very slightly sharper feel.
The enthusiast must always take care when fitting non standard brake pads, as operating temperature ranges may vary, such as performance pads not braking efficiently when cold or standard pads fading under exuberant hard driving.
In Cavaliers that suffer from excessive brake fade, the problem can be minimized by installing better quality softer and more aggressive brake pads, and conversely the most expensive pads may require to much heat to be effective on the daily commute.
In my experience modern fast road pads suit the Cavalier very well as an excellent all round choice, at least for the FWD range.
The better consideration as with discs, is that size matters. The first port of call if a serious improvement is needed is increase the pad size and hence the area in contact with the discs. Which mean callipers, but more on that later.
With regard to discs size matters... no other rule need be obeyed. Drilled and grooved can be bought and if fade is still an issue even with better pads then you should think seriously about slowing down (assuming your on uk roads), both of these methods are designed to aid heat and dust dissipation and not to give extra "bite"... in fact they would, marginally at least, reduce contact area between pad and disc.
Re-drilling discs is possible and should be considered as a cheap alternative for 4-stud Cavalier wishing to increase disc size.
Increasing calliper piston (or pot) size will result in further brake pedal travel without addressing master cylinder size... just a thought...
The last discussion point is braided hoses, simply put; they reduce the rubber hoses ability to expand providing a very slightly sharper feel.
Elwood Blues: "Our Lady of Blessed Acceleration, don't fail me now!"
Gaz loses sleep for my car and helps me with parts at ungodly hours of the day. Awesome
Gaz loses sleep for my car and helps me with parts at ungodly hours of the day. Awesome
4 stud hubs
There are many different upgrades available; aftermarket 4, and even 6, pot kits from the like of Brembo, AP Racing, etcetera, etcetera... All truly excellent products which will pretty much guarantee improvement.
Not really in the spirit of this guide though, and I feel it's enough to merely mention that they exist... the important thing to remember is the disc size, 295mm... pretty big... or are they?
Take a look at a 4 stud conversion by Sparzzy; a set of used Cavalier v6/turbo callipers, some near new fiat 20v turbo Coupe 305mm discs (with a little modification, see link). Big brakes at a very inexpensive price... add some uprated pads and I think for £172 (new prices from Brakeparts.co.uk), not including pads, there is little to rival it... this will need 16 inch alloys/steels. 286mm discs from the v6 could be used instead of the fiat discs if redrilled, with I expect little difference but more modifying.
On the line of callipers, the v6/turbo single 54mm pot setup is cheap and bolt on, but not the only option. Indeed the Vectra v6 callipers offer a slightly larger pad/disc contact area and an increase of 3mm in pot diameter.
Bear in mind post 93 Saabs came from the GM stable and it would appear the post 96 2.0 turbo 900 used very similar callipers to the Vectra v6...
Much bigger and you will be best upgrading the master cylinder. Not sure what would be best, although I suspect the v6/turbo item will fit. Speaking of bigger, wilwood offer some tasty 4 pots for approximately £100 each... so with Sparzzy's disc setup thats a mere £270, not taking into account these are available for upto 323mm discs. Amendment - the wilwoods in question may need carriers, unsure on the specifics so have noted thus...
There was speculation on another forum concerning mk2 Astras as to the suitablity of Porchse items, but other than some vague rumours nothing substantial.
Not really in the spirit of this guide though, and I feel it's enough to merely mention that they exist... the important thing to remember is the disc size, 295mm... pretty big... or are they?
Take a look at a 4 stud conversion by Sparzzy; a set of used Cavalier v6/turbo callipers, some near new fiat 20v turbo Coupe 305mm discs (with a little modification, see link). Big brakes at a very inexpensive price... add some uprated pads and I think for £172 (new prices from Brakeparts.co.uk), not including pads, there is little to rival it... this will need 16 inch alloys/steels. 286mm discs from the v6 could be used instead of the fiat discs if redrilled, with I expect little difference but more modifying.
On the line of callipers, the v6/turbo single 54mm pot setup is cheap and bolt on, but not the only option. Indeed the Vectra v6 callipers offer a slightly larger pad/disc contact area and an increase of 3mm in pot diameter.
Bear in mind post 93 Saabs came from the GM stable and it would appear the post 96 2.0 turbo 900 used very similar callipers to the Vectra v6...
Much bigger and you will be best upgrading the master cylinder. Not sure what would be best, although I suspect the v6/turbo item will fit. Speaking of bigger, wilwood offer some tasty 4 pots for approximately £100 each... so with Sparzzy's disc setup thats a mere £270, not taking into account these are available for upto 323mm discs. Amendment - the wilwoods in question may need carriers, unsure on the specifics so have noted thus...
There was speculation on another forum concerning mk2 Astras as to the suitablity of Porchse items, but other than some vague rumours nothing substantial.
Elwood Blues: "Our Lady of Blessed Acceleration, don't fail me now!"
Gaz loses sleep for my car and helps me with parts at ungodly hours of the day. Awesome
Gaz loses sleep for my car and helps me with parts at ungodly hours of the day. Awesome
5 stud hubs
To be continued once I find a suitable 300+mm disc setup (other than the mega rare 2.6 veccy gsi discs, or the less rare Saab 9-3 Viggen discs, which re the veccy I've only been able to find on Ebay in drilled/grooved format but at a reasonable price), but for the moment the calliper advice pertaining to 4 stud applications is entirely relevant.
To just go back to the Vectra 2.6 GSi discs, and for that matter all vectra 5 stud setups require hub modification as the Cavalier hubs are to big for the vectra discs.
To just go back to the Vectra 2.6 GSi discs, and for that matter all vectra 5 stud setups require hub modification as the Cavalier hubs are to big for the vectra discs.
Elwood Blues: "Our Lady of Blessed Acceleration, don't fail me now!"
Gaz loses sleep for my car and helps me with parts at ungodly hours of the day. Awesome
Gaz loses sleep for my car and helps me with parts at ungodly hours of the day. Awesome