Complete Brake job.

[chitownmikemc]

I plan on doing a complete brake job on my 1998 Firebird over the winter and wanted to get opinions on calipers. Is it cheaper, better or otherwise to rebuild the existing calipers, or replace them entirely. The car sat in an unheated barn for a few years, and I am going to change all the brake fluid what is the best replacement fluid to go with. Is there anything in the anti-lock brakes that will have to be changed, or reset when doing this. I am old school and have done hundreds of brake jobs, but most of them were before anti-lock brakes.

 

[melsg5]

Unless your calipers are frozen or leaking why are you changing them? If they are leaking or frozen you have to disassemble them first to determine if the bores are scored or pitted. The car came with DOT 3 fluid you could upgrade to DOT4 or DOT5.1. The advantage is they absorb less water and have a higher boiling point if you are going to do any really heavy duty braking. Typically on ABS you cannot drain the fluid from the unit without a electronic tool/scanner to activate the ABS unit.

 

[chitownmikemc]

brakes

From visual inspection the calipers are not leaking. The car doesn't pull when braking hard so I don't think they are frozen. From sitting for a long time there is a lot of surface rust on the calipers, and the rubber boots on the slides is dry rotted. I am going to start this weekend on tearing the brakes down, and will make the determination at that time.

 

[Too Fast]

So what did you find? I think it'd be quicker and easier to replace the calipers with rebuilt ones. I don't like to open the whole brake system up and let it drain until it's empty. Also it's not a good idea to clamp the rubber hoses to prevent that from happening. I depress the brake pedal a little, to close off the ports in the master cylinder so the hoses don't leak when the calipers are disconnected from the hose.

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[chitownmikemc]

Unfortunately life has gotten in the way and I have not even started the brake job yet. I am going to start after the holidays.
I went to G.M. school back in 1974 when disc brakes were fairly new. We were taught how to rebuild the calipers, and I thought it would be a good thing to do on this car as it sat in storage for almost three years. The guy I bought it from had it lien on the car for monies owed and sold it to recoup his money. The car has 130,000 on it and I have no history at all, other than it sat in for a while.
The brakes stop the car good now, but just don't feel right. I plan on keeping the car for a while so I want to do a complete job and be done with it not having to have to worry about constant repairs. I was taught do it right the first time and you won't have to do it a second time until it is necessary.
Thanks!

 

[Too Fast]

Yeah life does that sometimes, eh? Brakes last a long time on the 4th gen TAs, at least on mine they do. I replaced the rear pads at 65k, the fronts lasted until 101k, but all rotors are now about .045'' under spec. No pulsation, I refaced them with an on-car brake lathe to stop any of that so the rotors are matched to the hubs.

I've had my '00 WS6 6 speed car since 2005, she now has about 129k. Love it, no plans to sell.