ps374

My 84 has the orginal stock type brakes. The car stops ok but not as good as my other newer cars. A 01 Galant,06 Vue. The fluid has never been changed in the 9 years I have owned the car. Since I am on a fixed income ( retired) can anyone recommend a change in pads , rotors, etc that will help my 84 stop as good as my family sedans without costing big money.? I would like to keep it under $1,000.

WVZR-1

I'd for sure do new brake hoses and a complete flush of the brake system. Be careful with your choice of fluids. If there are no leaks in any of the calipers or hard lines I'd just do a quality brake pad of most any brand. I don't believe there's anything to be gained by getting "exotic" for a 30 year old driver. You will never get comparable braking to your 20 year + newer vehicles but you should be able to get very manageable braking. Rotor choice I think needs to be just a quality product and again nothing exotic. Hydraulics and a working booster are the critical areas I'd concentrate on.

fpnmf

I was looking for upgrades for my 84 as well..

Several vendors have rotor and pad kits for under 500..

Change the fluid and lube the pins should be the rest...

Corvette Central has a kit on special ...cross drilled rotors and semi metallic pads..$399...

If you order from them ask if they are in stock before you pay..

Craig

MavsAK

First completely drain the fluid out.

Flush it after you've bled it dry with cheap DOT3 fluid. Once the fluid coming out of the calipers is clean as what was poured in, replace the brake hoses with new ones.

Being an 84, the calipers might need replacing. Seals age and the piston surface of the caliper gets worn over time, so those might need replacing too. You can usually get those pretty cheap.

Definitely replace the pads with either hawks pads or bendix (or better) grade brake pads. Throw on some wearever at least grade rotors.

When you fill the car with new fluid since it's not an ABS car you can use DOT5 brake fluid which will make the brakes damn near boil proof.

Inspect the vacuum lines connected to the power brake booster. If there's any doubt on them at all (ie they look "gritty") replace.

You might be surprised at how well the car stops then.

All told you'll be somewhere around 500ish after your cores are returned.

WVZR-1

I don't believe a change to DOT 5 without the replacement of seals on pistons and in the master is a very good idea. I believe it would require multiple flushes and if there was an issue you'd be right back to your poor braking presently. It's certainly been done but there's likely as many "NAY" sayers as there are "YAH" sayers so I guess it becomes the choice of the user.

MavsAK

I should have added swap the master cylinder out too in my list there.
I wouldn't use a 30 year old master and 30 year old calipers no matter what is done with the fluid. They're bound to be tired, if nothing else from the water damage, oxidation, and the copper levels in the fluid that turns acidic.

c4cruiser

As mentioned, start with a complete flush of the brake fluid and replace all of the flex hoses even if you do nothing else!! For normal street driving, a good quality DOT3 fluid will work fine. Castrol LMA, Valvoline, or even the Ford Motorsports HD fluid will work with no problems. I would also avoid the DOT5 fluid.

Some people like to use stainless braided brake lines and they will cost about the same as stock lines. If what you have now is original to the car, get new hoses either way.

For street use, there is no reason to use drilled and/or slotted rotors. There are lots of sources for good replacement rotors. I have used Raybestos Professional Grade (Rockauto has them) in the past and they work fine. Same with stock rotors from Centric. Check out Tire Rack for rotors too.

For pads, the Hawk HPS pad sets will be an improvement over stock.

Given the age of the car, I would also suggest replacing the calipers. There's no way to know if the piston seals are OK or if the pistons and the bores may be pitted or simply worn out. Caliper sets can be purchased as "Loaded" (with pads) or "Semi-loaded" (no pads).

Given your budget, I would recommend a fluid flush and new hoses first. Then do rotors and pads next. Then replacement calipers. Can you do your own brake work or know somebody that can help? That alone can save many hundreds of dollars on labor.

Adam@Amp'dAutosport.com

For a quality brake pad look at the Carbotech 1521 pad. I can get you a set front and rear for $235.


Carbotech™ Bobcat 1521™ The Carbotech Bobcat 1521™ is our high performance street compound that is our most successful compound. The Bobcat compound is known for its awesome release and modulation, along with unmatched rotor friendliness. Like our AX™ & XP™ line of compounds, Bobcat 1521™ is a Ceramic based friction material offering minimal rotor damage and non-corrosive dust. Bobcat 1521™ offers outstanding performance, even when cold, low dusting and low noise with an excellent initial bite. This compound’s virtually perfect linear torque production provides incredible braking force without ABS intervention. Bobcat 1521™ operating range starts out at ambient and goes up to 900°F. Bobcat 1521™ is suitable for ALL street cars, perfect for your tow vehicle, police cruiser. The Bobcat 1521™ compound has been found to last two-three times longer than OE pads you can purchase at a dealership or national retailer. That’s one of the beauties of Carbotech Ceramic brake compounds. Bobcat 1521™ is NOT recommended for any track use.

gerardvg

First check the disc thickness, there is a minimum thickness sometimes shown on the outside diamiter of the disc. If the thickness is good go for the Hawk street brake pads, check the brake hoses make sure they are not swollen or look wet at all. If in doubt replace them.

Bleed the brakes, i do the gravity method as the booster diaphragm tends to tear with the extra pedal travel with the usual bleeding method. Start at the rear remove the caps from the master cylinder and open the bleeders screw a few turns and check /top up the reservoirs. Make sure both sides have equal amount of brake fluid coming out. Then after the fluid has been replaced do the front.

If the discs have some wear new brake pads will not make good contact across the disc, that can take some time to adapt as the brake pad wears. If it is obvious replace the discs and brake pads together.

Use a G clamp to depress the piston of the callipers when changing the brake pads, they will slide back smoothly if not remove the piston and check the calliper/piston for any corrosion.

As usual do not over use the brakes at first just normal driving at first, some brake pads come with bed in instructions.

A C4 even the early ones that have been well maintained will have really good brakes, i have a company vehicle and get new cars every 3 years and my 85 vette has never let me down. They have been upgraded to the J55 13 inch discs and twin piston callipers (mainly for track use) even though the old standard brakes performed really well with the hawk hp plus brake pads.

Standard road car brake pad material is no good for a corvette, they were designed for high speed stopping and needed a heavy metal (friction) compount. std brake pads will give the feel of standing on the brake pedal and the car will barely slow down. Hawk hp plus need only minimal effort to brake hard, time after time after time they are that good.

Adam@Amp'dAutosport.com

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...r-your-c4.html

aDigitalPhantom

I see a few suggestions to use DOT 5. I would not use DOT 5. However it might be worth considering DOT 5.1. DOT 5.1 wont cause problems with DOT 3 like DOT 5 will.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DOT_5.1

Tom400CFI

Good quality pads like Adam posted above or Hawks, good (clean) fluid, on new rotors, with a proper brake-in, modern tires, and the car should stop on the street about as well as most current sports cars. On stock parts, C&G measured 173' from 70 mph in 1983 when they road tested the '84. In fact, in "the '80's", C&D ranked the C4 'Vette #1 in braking in the world...BEST STOPPING CARS