Best brakes, A-body, 15" wheels?

[W30WS6RIP]

What are the best brakes for an A-body with 15" wheel restriction? Looking for reliable DOT stuff that can be driven for years on end without maintenance...probably nothing with an aluminum hat or hub. Anybody have experience with SSBC Super Twin calipers vs. Wilwood D52 vs. iron D52?

[alphaenvirmgt]

How about factory front disk for taxi, police car, or station wagon? Are you talking about GM or Mopar? Year?
Conrad

[Schwartz Performance]

Don't go SSBC, keep it oem (Corvette etc) or Wilwood / Baer. Also what's your budget?
-Dale

[Skip Fix]

s-10/Blazer rear discs. Lots of places have all the parts listed to do this.

Front should be able to use an A body disc setup as they had them form '67 up(67s used 4 piston calipers liek C2 Vette calipers, 68 and up a single piston). For a bigger 12" rotor the 12" B body spindle and a B body or 1LE rotor and a D52 caliper. The Wilwood D52 calipes are bulkier than a factory iron style.

Most of the C4 or C5 Vette front kits or siilar Baer PBR kits require a larger wheel usually even a 17 and not all of them fit. My 16" Trans Am GTA wheel do not fit a 13" Baer kit.

15" are the liniting factor here.

[raustinss]

Use the B body conversion which you can then use camaro 1LE 12" rotor....for the rear either the s10 conversion of use 77-79 Cadillac Seville rear disc option....brackets with 79-81 ws6 rotors
Good. Luck

[Nothingface5384]

I have Wilwood dual piston D52 calipers with 94-96 impala SS D614 Pads direct swap for factory GM disc cars .
Stops well, even fits 14in steelies

I know theirs a 4 piston that'll clear a 15, but dont recall if it was Wilwood or Baer ..most likely both offers a kit like this

[Skip Fix]

Most of Wilwood's kits that fit 15"s use a small rotor and their dynalite caliper which has a really small pad.

I think Wilwood has some kits using the D154 rear calipers that kind of match the D52 calipers and use an internal E brake.

[RobNoLimit]

If you can swap in 12" Impalla rotors, or the 1LE 12", that will help, but don't give up clamping force. Try using a set of Howe steel D52 single piston calipers. They are lighter that stock GM, and have a 2.937" dia. piston, thats 9.22 sq.in. of piston surface. - More than any other common caliper, OE or aftermarket. Pt # 337. ($69.00) match with Hawk # HB100c pads. This on 11" rotors will out brake almost any 'big' brake set up.

[1989GTA]

I agree with the above. As stated the right brake pad will go a long way in improving your stopping power.

[Nicks67GTO]

In all honesty with 15" wheels, the good old Right stuff Detailing stock GM 11" D52 front and 11" Eldorado rear have done just fine for me. I'm upgrading to bigger wheels and brakes so these will get sold soon but they have worked just fine the last 3 years and have quickly pulled my GTO down from over 120mph without any issue.....of course this was on a closed road with a professional driver.

[cutlassmann]

Why do you say stay away from SSBC?

[Gratefuldiver]

I would stay away from SSBC. I bought there $350 master and it leaked like crazy at the piston area. I checked everything several times and finally after it drained itself dry a few times on my frame I sent it back. Of course they couldn't find anything wrong with it and made me pay for return shipping. Funny how it never leaked again after I got it back. Overpriced + bad service = never again for me

Wilwood on the other hand has been great to work with. I installed the D154 calipers on the rear just the other day. Those are a stock metric replacement and use a stock 11" rotor so they should fit 15". The D52 is the SAE version.

[cutlassmann]

Don't go SSBC, keep it oem (Corvette etc) or Wilwood / Baer. Also what's your budget?
-Dale
what baer brake i need to go with on my car i have 18 on it and my budget is about 1500-2000

[1989GTA]

"In all honesty with 15" wheels, the good old Right stuff Detailing stock GM 11" D52 front and 11" Eldorado rear have done just fine for me."

Same here. I did install the EBC Red Stuff brake pads to get the stopping power I was looking for. In the meantime I went to 17" wheels but kept the brakes as they are working just fine. This is on a 1965 Buick skylark.

[jake72ss]

I have the bbody spindles w/ 1LE rotors, stock calipers in the front and 76 Eldorado calipers w/ 11" '79 WS6 TA rotors. It works fine on the street I've never auto crossed it or anything of the sort. HTH
Jake

[Hydratech®]

You would truly be blown away beyond belief as to what the factory disc / drum GM A body brakes can do when in a proper state of service combined with one of our hydraulic brake assist systems (if you have properly functioning power steering):

http://www.hydratechbraking.com/GM_A_Body.html

Truly mind bending performance without even touching brake fluid (when swapping in one of our systems in place of an existing vacuum booster).