Parking brakes

[GTO1]

Do you need to keep the parking brakes on the car for A/I. If you do not have to have them does anyone have any comments on why you would or would not want to keep them on the car.

[JKnight]

You do not need to keep the parking brake. It's additional weight. As for what to do when you park the car, I've admired the Massey's approach, which is some pvc cobbled together in a U to make a double sided wheel chock.

 

Jason

[pederb]

That's right, no parking brake is needed.

[white_2kgt]

I always liked knowing it was there, just in case...the next car probably won't have one though, but it will have dual MC's.

[racercosmo]

It's not really a good practice to come off the racetrack, then apply a huge clamping force to your smoking hot brake rotors. A wheel chock is a race car's parking brake.

[Waco Racer]

I never use the parking brake in the paddock, but, it sure helps when trailering the car.

[rppngears91]

Hey guys iam running the Cadillac calipers (79-85) and ive been told i HAVE to set the ee-brake or it will actually ruin the calipers? Does anyone know if this is true or false? thanks a lot guys (I want to get rid the whole e brake assembly its not necessary)

[Keith]

I never use the parking brake in the paddock, but, it sure helps when trailering the car.

 

That's the only reason that I have a parking brake on my CMC car.

 

Gee, the question about having to use the e-brake doesn't make sense to me. Underwhat circumstance are you being told that you must use the e-brake or risk damaging the caliper?

[TPetrosky]

The following is a quote from the MJBobbit brake conversion site.

 

"Here is some important maintenance information about the rear Cadillac Calipers:"

 

"If you are using Cadillac ElDorado rear calipers there are some important things you should know. One of the biggest advantages of a disc brake system is the fool proof self adjuster. Not so with this rear GM system. The rear calipers adjust off the parking brake. The parking brake is incorporated into the caliper. You must set the parking brake every time you park the car. The rear caliper pitons utilize a one way clutch inside the caliper piston. When the parking brake is applied the clutch senses when there is .030" or more clearance between the friction material and the rotor on the inboard side. When there is more than .030" the clutch turns inside the piston adjusting it out keeping the rear brakes adjusted. If you do not set your parking brake every time you will start to lose brake pedal (low and spongy) and the adjuster mechanism will not work any longer."

[rppngears91]

The following is a quote from the MJBobbit brake conversion site.

 

"Here is some important maintenance information about the rear Cadillac Calipers:"

 

"If you are using Cadillac ElDorado rear calipers there are some important things you should know. One of the biggest advantages of a disc brake system is the fool proof self adjuster. Not so with this rear GM system. The rear calipers adjust off the parking brake. The parking brake is incorporated into the caliper. You must set the parking brake every time you park the car. The rear caliper pitons utilize a one way clutch inside the caliper piston. When the parking brake is applied the clutch senses when there is .030" or more clearance between the friction material and the rotor on the inboard side. When there is more than .030" the clutch turns inside the piston adjusting it out keeping the rear brakes adjusted. If you do not set your parking brake every time you will start to lose brake pedal (low and spongy) and the adjuster mechanism will not work any longer."

has anyone had any personal expierence with this!?! (good or bad)

[trackboss]

Sounds like you need to dump those calipers. They don't belong on race cars.

[Gfaules]

The following is a quote from the MJBobbit brake conversion site.

 

"Here is some important maintenance information about the rear Cadillac Calipers:"

 

"If you are using Cadillac ElDorado rear calipers there are some important things you should know. One of the biggest advantages of a disc brake system is the fool proof self adjuster. Not so with this rear GM system. The rear calipers adjust off the parking brake. The parking brake is incorporated into the caliper. You must set the parking brake every time you park the car. The rear caliper pitons utilize a one way clutch inside the caliper piston. When the parking brake is applied the clutch senses when there is .030" or more clearance between the friction material and the rotor on the inboard side. When there is more than .030" the clutch turns inside the piston adjusting it out keeping the rear brakes adjusted. If you do not set your parking brake every time you will start to lose brake pedal (low and spongy) and the adjuster mechanism will not work any longer."

has anyone had any personal expierence with this!?! (good or bad)

 

I have been in the business of servicing Cads for years and I have had them fail too many times to tell you. The above post regarding Cad rear brake calipers is dead on.

[racercosmo]

Sounds like you need to dump those calipers. They don't belong on race cars.

Do you mean because they are street car parts?

[Gfaules]

Sounds like you need to dump those calipers. They don't belong on race cars.

Do you mean because they are street car parts?

 

In many cases there is nothing wrong with street car parts and as you probably know, there are many used on race cars today with no problems at all. However in this case (Cad calipers) unless you modify them so they do not utilize the self adjusting system they have, they are simply bad by design in even a street car let alone a race car.

 

When Cadillac came out with this design along with semi-metallic pads, there were countless stories of little old ladies driving thru garage doors, people driving over the family dog, and so on, many of which were a result of cold pads. My first new Cad was an Eldorado that I bought my wife for her birthday. On the way to Oregon we lost the brakes two times and had to stop for repair. Talk about quality.

[rppngears91]

Does anyone know how to correctly modify the Cadillac calipers so that they do not use this self adjusting system? I was going to throw them on my car this week, but now I do not want to.

 

What calipers would you guys recomend that I should try to get my hands on?

[IGZOSTD]

I don't know if this will work with the GM Caddy calipers but I had the same situation with Lincon calipers on the back of my 66 and I would just set the brake to take up the slack and then release parking brake before exiting the car, never had any problems .

[trackboss]

Cosmo, its because they sound like garbage. I don't want to be running next to some hobbled together car that has questionable brakes. There are a few factory brakes that are just ok for racing. One downside is pads are very expensive and they wear quickly. I don't understand why the need when plenty of race quality brake kits that save lots of money in pads and have many other benefits are not considered before junk like this.

[rppngears91]

I don't know if this will work with the GM Caddy calipers but I had the same situation with Lincon calipers on the back of my 66 and I would just set the brake to take up the slack and then release parking brake before exiting the car, never had any problems .

Isnt that still clamping the pads to the rotor, therefore not allowing the cool air to absorb the heat from the pads and rotor (that area at least)??

[rppngears91]

What are most AI guys running out back (brake wise) on their Fox bodies?

[Gfaules]

Does anyone know how to correctly modify the Cadillac calipers so that they do not use this self adjusting system? I was going to throw them on my car this week, but now I do not want to.

 

What calipers would you guys recommend that I should try to get my hands on?

 

Some years ago there used to be an "elimination" kit for them but even they were such poor and questionable quality that they are no longer available.

 

I have spoken several times to the tech people at WILWOOD Brakes and they are amazingly supportive not to mention affordable. Give them a call.

 

http://www.wilwood.com/INDEX.ASP

[Gfaules]

I don't know if this will work with the GM Caddy calipers but I had the same situation with Lincon calipers on the back of my 66 and I would just set the brake to take up the slack and then release parking brake before exiting the car, never had any problems .

 

The Lincoln caliper situation is completely different design than the Cads and in fact are a great brake design. All you have to do on the Lincoln calipers is fasten the e-brake arm on the caliper so that it can't move and problem solved. It is not a self adjuster like the Cad design.

 

Racers have used the famous Lincoln Versailles rear end for many reasons one being they come with disc brakes and there are a lot of good quality racing pads for them too.