Brake Calipers, Iron vs Aluminum

[CTX-SLPR]

Howdy,

Well I'm working on getting my disc brake system moving again since the IRS is going to be kind to me this year and the wife says that its all for the car since the salary is going to the savings. I've been looking at a lot of 1/2 ton trucks running around here recently and noticed that they all have some pretty hefty front brakes on them however they are all iron. What ,other than the weight, is the advantage of aluminum calipers over iron?

Thanks,

[Huskinhano]

Re: Brake Calipers, Iron vs Aluminum

I'm not an expert but I would tend to think maybe better heat dissipation and perhaps cheaper manufacturing since aluminum is softer and I would think that the tooling would stay sharper longer. I would think the iron ones have the advantage of being stiffer and not distort under heavy use.

If you don't have a set of late model truck calipers already let me know. About 2 years ago I bought a set of GM metric truck caliper off ebay to make my own disc set up but never used them. They appear to be in good shape with hoses. I'll make you a good deal if you're interested.

[std]

Re: Brake Calipers, Iron vs Aluminum

On most street cars it's just a cool thing to have. In racing the big thing is unsprung weight. Any time you can get rid of unsprung weight, the car will handle better.

[fabricatordave]

Re: Brake Calipers, Iron vs Aluminum

what car you changing brakes on??

[CTX-SLPR]

Re: Brake Calipers, Iron vs Aluminum

I'm building a disc brake kit for my '64 Riviera. It uses 66-70 Riviera spindles, 65-70 Riviera drum brake hubs, and redrilled C5 Corvette 12.81in x 1.26in directionally finned discs. I'm building my own caliper brackets to adapt the spindles to the stock caliper brackets from whatever calipers I end up using.
I spotted some 4 piston calipers on my Uncle's Tundra so I stuck a magnet to them to see if they were iron and started plotting on how to use them. The problem came that they are designed for a 28mm disc and the Corvette disc is 32mm. Thats going to be too much to try to squeeze in there, and I'd loose parts store compatability if I tried to shave the pads down.
GM 1/2-ton calipers are single piston and I'm trying to use 2-4 piston unit but I'm not finding much designed to swallow a 1 1/4in rotor besides the F and Y-body units with two or more pistons.

[SpiderGearsMan]

Re: Brake Calipers, Iron vs Aluminum

99 up GM half ton trucks run 2 piston floating calipers
corvette stuff is what you should be looking at
f cars had aluminum calipers
94-96 B bodies - good girlock 4 wheel discs

[fabricatordave]

Re: Brake Calipers, Iron vs Aluminum

the late f body isalmost the same as corvette stuff im using f body on my 68 camaro and built my own adaptors f body will work with vette rotors

[nickleone]

Re: Brake Calipers, Iron vs Aluminum

"I spotted some 4 piston calipers on my Uncle's Tundra so I stuck a magnet to them to see if they were iron and started plotting on how to use them. The problem came that they are designed for a 28mm disc and the Corvette disc is 32mm. Thats going to be too much to try to squeeze in there, and I'd loose parts store compatability if I tried to shave the pads down.
GM 1/2-ton calipers are single piston and I'm trying to use 2-4 piston unit but I'm not finding much designed to swallow a 1 1/4in rotor besides the F and Y-body units with two or more pistons."

If the tundra calipers are two piece make a spacer with orings to widen them. Its done alot with older Rally Cars where they upgrade to what is available.

Nick

[CTX-SLPR]

Re: Brake Calipers, Iron vs Aluminum

Thanks Spidey,

The corvette calipers are $122.79 a side (fully loaded) with bracket on Rock Auto, so thats a viable option. The F-body stuff seems to be slightly more available but uses smaller pads so while I have more rotor area and leverage with the 12.81in over the 11.88in F-body rotors I'd like to use the larger pads if I can. The trucks look designed to swallow a thinner rotor for the 1500 stuff and thicker rotor for the 2500-3500 stuff. I don't know how well the front calipers on the B-bodies work but I am planning on using the rear PBR's since I'm using a 8.5in 10-bolt rear axle.

Nick, they are cast 1 piece units so short of cutting them open then putting a billet spacer with O-ringed tubes in the middle I think they are out, especially at around $140.79 a side loaded with no brackets.

Thanks for the help and discussion ya'll, I'm trying to keep things on the cheap side so I didn't want to be excluding the iron stuff for no real reason. Looks like unless someone has a set of F-body calipers for cheap I'll just get the Y-body stuff.

[fabricatordave]

Re: Brake Calipers, Iron vs Aluminum

i got my f body calips out of the salvage yard for 35.00$ that is a option . does the place your quoting price have a core? ? ? ? if your spindles look any thing like 1st gen camaro or 1st 2nd gen nova i have made brackets if you need any suggestions

[BlackoutSteve]

Re: Brake Calipers, Iron vs Aluminum

Prior to my iron Delco Moraine single floating calipers, the perious owner had installed Holden HZ aluminum calipers of a similar design, (car was originally a drum brake car) and the aluminum PBRs were shit!
Aluminum is great for disapating heat, but it expands too much and that deflection is bad.

Unless you're buying OE or after-market fixed calipers with a good reputation, stay away from aluminum floating.

The iron Delco Moraines (found on 1969 and later GM) are a fantastic caliper in my opinion, especially when you consider buying them ready to go with pads for $60each. They pull up the car very well.

[Mr4Speed]

Re: Brake Calipers, Iron vs Aluminum

There's a lot of info on the brake stuff you're looking at here-

http://www.thirdgen.org/techboard/fa...ght=ls1+brakes

The LS1 F-body calipers are dirt cheap from Napa.

[CTX-SLPR]

Re: Brake Calipers, Iron vs Aluminum

If the tundra calipers are two piece make a spacer with orings to widen them. Its done alot with older Rally Cars where they upgrade to what is available.

Nick

Did some close looking at the pictures for the Tundra caliper online (not a stocked item at any of the stores I could find listing online inventory so I haven't tried to find one to physically look at) and it looks like it is a 2 piece unit. This would make more sense since it would be very hard to cast a 4 piston caliper in 1 piece. Looks like I might have to start looking into engineering a spacer because I do really really like the idea of 4 piston fixed over a 2 piston floating.