I recently ordered the Baer front brake upgrade for my 91. It came with Baer logo PBS (J55/GS style) brake calipers and two piece Eradispeed 13 inch rotors. Unbeknownst to both me and MAM, it came in with Baer Pads installed in the caliper.

In the meantime I took advantage of the Hawk Pad deal that Jason offered.

So question 1. Is there any performance problems I'm apt to experience by installing the Hawks on the back while using the Baer supplied pads on the front--or should I just go with the Hawks on both front and rear?

Question 2. Is there any difference, other than cosmetic between the GS rear calipers and the stock ones. The car has 104K miles on it so I'm prone to either replace or rebuild the rear calipers at the same time. If there was any performance advantage to a GS or other alternative rear caliper, I'd probably go with new ones to go with the two piece Eradispeed 12 inch rotors I got for the back.

Question 3. I know this is a matter of aesthetics and personal preference, but would most of you find it foolish for me to repaint the new Baer calipers in black. I kind of wanted black and that is what was shown in the MAM catalog copy, but they came in a goldish silver with Baer red lettering. Would I be devaluing their addition by changing their color. Since I intend to keep the sawblades on, either way really isn't going to be all that visible.

TIA for all those who followed this to the end.

 

RE: pads

Brand doesn't matter, but I'd want pads that had similar heat characteristics, so they maintain the same predictable bias at all temps. (In fact, you can actually improve the bias by putting grippier pads only in back.)


RE: paint

You're already devalueing the parts by 50% as soon as you use them on the car. Paint them whatever you damn well please. If it looks good, and better than original, someone might even be willing to pay a tiny bit extra over other used ones. The red on silver looks horrible in my opinion.


but I see you have sawblades, don't waste your time painting the calipers.

 

Regarding #2, I was going to say that they are the same other than paint, but after seeing these pics side by side (my '96 and a GS), the casting does appear different. Performance-wise, I'd stll have to guess that the difference is negligible. I'll leave it to an expert to say one way or the other.

 

Thanks guys,
I had no idea pads were coming with the calipers, indeed, had every reason to believe they weren't. Baer makes a big thing in the sheets that came with the calipers that these pads are "pre-bedded" for the rotors, so I'be been prone to go with them, even though I've heard nothing but good about the Hawks.

As for color, yah, I can't stand the Baer color. I'm not really trying to make a fashion statement for others, but even with the sawblades I'll be seeing the calipers when I raise the hood or pull the wheels. Thus I think I will go ahead with black.

I can't help but thing the rear GS calipers were a bit more different than just paint. Does anyone know off the top of their head if the ZR-1 rear calipers were the same part number as the standard rear!

Thanks again for the info