Topic: New brakes for 1981 Trans Am

[19transam81]

I have a 81 trans am with the WS6 4WD package. I just had a passenger rear caliper hang up a couple days ago (Has the e-brake linkage and stuff). We rebuilt it and now it is still hanging up but not as bad as before. I talked to a few guys and they said that with the car sitting a lot the brakes will have a tendancy to do that. So I started looking for new brake calipers for all the way around the car. Can anyone reccommend a company with affordable aftermarket calipers? The cheapest I found was $425 and that was just for the front. I dont have near that much to spend on brakes because I am in college. So any ideas are appreciated. I would like to upgrade them to increase performance, but it is only a street car that sees the road in the summer for the most part, so I am not looking for anything crazy. I just thought that if I was spending $100 to replace an origional, then I would look into aftermarket and see how much it would be to upgrade.  It appears that I may just have to buy a stock replacement caliper online. Thanks for the help.
-Cody

[brian c]

Have you checked Autozone?? I see reman'd calipers for $129 for the rear, $26 for the front. Unless you're doing autocross with your car there really isn't a need to upgrade. Well unless you go huge with your rims that is...

What kind of calipers were you looking at that were that steep? SS Brakes??

[19transam81]

Ya SSBC has "quick exhange" calipers or something to that effect which upgrades them to 2 piston or 4 piston calipers for like $425 for the front two. I found some remaned calipers online for $90 - $20 core if you send it back in. But I have heard that the origional and remaned calipers are prone to getting hung up when the car doesnt get driven often.

I have also read that the cross drilled/slotted rotors are a bad idea too? Anyone have info on those? I have heard that if anything to get the slotted rotors. Or should I just stick with the solid rotors?

[brian c]

Hanging up? Horse pucky. My car sat from Sept of last year until April. No problems with the stock brakes. Just make sure the sliders are lubed properly and you won't have any issues. And my car is stored OUTSIDE with just a car cover over top of it during the winter.

Put the money elsewhere. Brake lines are always a good spot if they haven't been replaced since the car rolled off the assembly line. Ditto for the gas line.

Yep. Had cross drilled rotors on my 04 GMC Sierra. Had to pull them off after 20k miles due to delamination.

[19transam81]

Thanks for the info...ill more than likely just go with a reman unless I find a really good deal on some calipers...