Has anyone swapped out their rear drums for disc brakes?

What would be involved in doing this?

 

really not worth it, but the parts are redily available if u want to do it.


dont think any cobalt has done it.

 

what you will need to do is to swap the whole rear axel if you want the ss rear breaks or you can buy the conversoin kit i think its like 1400

 

Yup, an SS rear axle will get the job done for the $350-650 range. Aftermarket kits runn more like $900 and up.

 

may as well buy a new car while i'm at it

 

I was thinking about this the other day since I put on my EBC rotors. Does anybody make just a caliper and bracket for it? Cause really thats all I would need, I'd just go get the old rotors turned and reuse those. Unless you actually have to replace the hub as well. Anybody know?

 

and while your at it your gonna have to do a SS front break swap to because if not you will have a 5 lug rear and 4 lug front lol

 

not to mention a new set of wheels...

 

yep but you can just sell yours and then buy some new ones

 

look up SSBC, they have kits for sale on Turbo Tech Racing, they have a front and rear 2.2L (4 lug) big brake kit.

The rear big brake kit comes with everything you need for the conversion.

 

Yea but I don't wanna spend 3k on bigger brakes, I don't want the larger rotational mass.

 

you dont want the larger rotational mass!? I dont think you'll tell a difference. My dad's 07 ZO6 has some MONSTER brakes, as detailed as they were with that car, I think if it mattered they would have done something different. When I drive that car thats one of my favorite things, is smashing the brakes from 100mph, I go 0-100-0 and it is awsome

I would get the SSBC kits IF you can afford them, otherwise just upgrade what you have.

 

Not all cobalts/G5 LTs come with 4 lug.

 

but if he has rear drums Im pretty sure he has 4 lug

 

Yes I have 4 lug, my question basicly was. Can the hub be reused or do you have to get the 5lug?

 

I have rear drum and 5 lug on my g5.....so umm that theorys out the window.

 

Yes you can use your 4 lug hubs if you switch to rear discs, youll just have to drill the rotors to the 4x100 pattern

Z06's have 505hp......not really an apples to apples comparison.

Also the brakes on the Z06 are one of the cars weakest points. You go on the Vette forums or to a GT3 road race and you wont see guys talking about how good the Z06 brakes are. They are all ditching them.

Thats why you just drill the rotors and stay 4 lug.

If you upgrade to the SSBC rear discs, youll now have 10" front brakes and 12" rear brakes......not too good for your brake balance and looks ghey to boot.

No, noone just makes a bracket/caliper kit. You wouldnt have a parking brake if you did that.

If you were ambitious/dont care about the park brake, it would be a relatively simple job to fab up a bracket and pick out an aftermarket(or factory) caliper to bolt/weld on the rear axle.

 

What about using a set of front rotors from an LT? Same dimentions as rear SS disc?

Couldn't I use the rear calipers/brackets from an ss? Unless your saying that the SS calipers/brackets are attached to the SS hubs.

If I had an SS in front of me right now I would put em both up and do the research myself. However being deployed in Afghanistan makes that pretty difficult.

EDIT:

I found these pictures off GMpartsdirect.


The hub mounting bolts appear to be the same so that doesnt look to be a problem, but what about the bracket? I couldn't find an illustration for the bracket anywhere on that site.

Also they only listed 2 trailing arms, one with soft ride and one without so I assume the mounting bolts for the hub are identical.

 

No, they arent the same dimensions. They are much thicker, larger in diameter, and have a different offset

You could use the rear brackets/caliper from an SS, the problem is that you would STILL need either an SS rear axle or to fabricate mounting tabs for the SS cailper. The SS brakes mount to a portion of the rear axle that drum brake cars dont have. Ive got pics of it on the site.


The HUB mounts are the same, thats why you can put 4 lug hubs on an SS axle, and why there are 5 lug drum cars from the factory. You cant find a listing for the bracket(lets call it the mounting tabs) becasue they arent available seperately. they are PART OF THE AXLE.

Yes there are basically only 3 total axles. FE1, which is Soft Ride, it uses drums ONLY. Then there is the FE3/FE5 Sport/SSNA/SSSC rear axle which has a larger 22mm sway bar than FE1 and has the disc brake mounting tabs. and then there is the FE5 for the SSTC, its got an even larger 24mm sway bar and again has the disc mounting tabs.




Again, to be clear, without an aftermarket kit, metal fabrication or an SS axle you can not install rear discs on a drum brake car

 

Thanks for clearing all that up Maven. Got a link to those pictures of the mounting tabs?

 

also something talked about in the ion world is using the rear brakes from an older sc2 as they have the same 4 x 100 lug pattern.. and you could probably yank them form a junk yard.. i dont know all the specifics but i bet you could get it to work somehow

 

Every pound that you can shave off of unsprung weight makes a HUGE difference in performance.

I have seen one, and only one, Z06 go out on the track with the stock brakes. He ended up in the runoff area after losing control in a turn because his brakes weren't just "a little hot".....they were on fire. Yes, they absolutely blow *****.

 

Yeah, I didnt what get into telling stories of the **** Ive seen, some people just dont believe.



I forget what thread I posted them in, but these are some pics. Kinda low quality, but still pretty easy to see that the brakes bolt directly to the axle. The highlighted area on the FE5 axle, doesnt even exist on the FE1 axle.

 

Oh ok I see it, took me a minute for the 1st pic lol. Thanks again Maven. Something I might be looking into after deployment.

I also see that your sig says you're putting in the FE5 axle. Let me know how that goes and put up a how-to with pix if you dont mind.

 

I looked up those SSBC kits, they are 12" front and back, not 10" front

they require 17" wheels

do you want rear discs for looks or performance?? I am just mildly upgrading my brakes, slotted discs, SS brake lines, good pads and replacing the old shoes in the rear. I am putting on 8" wide wheels, so more rubber should really help a lot

IDK if that helps your decision or not

and what exaclty blows about the ZO6 brakes?

given I have only punished them on the road and seen no problems, but what are you saying actually leads to there "shittyness"

my dad put on ceramic pads, the originals made an unacceptable amount of dust. they seem to help a lot with dust and a little with performance...a little