Brembo front calipers using 345mm PPV rotors

[CrashTestDummy]

Bringing this back up, since I am about to start some vacation time, which means shop time around these parts.

I checked the rotors I had in stock, and they appear to be the Camaro/Regal GS rotors for the Brembo brakes, and not replacement 9C1 rotors, as I had hoped. I checked a GM site for PPV rotors, and got a GM P/N. Then, wondering about pricing and availability locally, I checked a local parts house listing. They showed three DIFFERENT rotors for a PPV, 261, 342 and 345 mm. Figuring I'd nail it down, I found a site that purports to convert GM P/Ns to Delco P/Ns, and the front rotor P/N from the GM site 'converted' to 261 mm rotor!

So now, I'm triply-confused! I guess I'll go ahead and order the AC Delco P/N: 18A2652 from my local parts house, since if it isn't the right part, I can return it more-easily, but the parts listings out there are really, annoyingly confusing.

I guess the 9C1 pads will work, or do I need to use the Camaro set? If so, which freaking set? Thanks.

[xcidmigs]

Are you trying to install Brembo calipers or are you just replacing stock parts? Your last line about will 9c1 pads work makes me think you are talking about the Brembo upgrade as the title of this thread suggests, but if so why would you order the stock PPV rotors?

[Navy Lifer]

I checked the rotors I had in stock, and they appear to be the Camaro/Regal GS rotors for the Brembo brakes, and not replacement 9C1 rotors, as I had hoped.

I checked a GM site for PPV rotors, and got a GM P/N. Then, wondering about pricing and availability locally, I checked a local parts house listing. They showed three DIFFERENT rotors for a PPV, 261, 342 and 345 mm. Figuring I'd nail it down, I found a site that purports to convert GM P/Ns to Delco P/Ns, and the front rotor P/N from the GM site 'converted' to 261 mm rotor!

So now, I'm triply-confused! I guess I'll go ahead and order the AC Delco P/N: 18A2652 from my local parts house, since if it isn't the right part, I can return it more-easily, but the parts listings out there are really, annoyingly confusing.

I guess the 9C1 pads will work, or do I need to use the Camaro set? If so, which freaking set? Thanks.

This is ACD 18A2652, which is correct (345mm) rotor for PPV front: https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.ph ... 99&jsn=485

Camaro Brembo pads for this caliper are same as SS sedan - D1474A, with small dampers. If you are using 18" OE/steel wheels, suggest using D1001 pads as listed for G8 GXP or Gen1 CTS-V, with no dampers, which improves clearance to the barrel of the wheel, although I'm not certain whether D1474A will clear steel wheels.

D1001 GM pads are lower cost than D1474A GM pads - the production pads are Ferodo HP1000 in both cases.

D1001: https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.ph ... 78&jsn=878 (same as D1050)

D1474A: https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.ph ... 98&jsn=598

Pad choice is a wide-open topic....what do you want to accomplish with this setup? 9C1 (PPV) pads will not work with the Brembo calipers.

[Navy Lifer]

Are you trying to install Brembo calipers or are you just replacing stock parts? Your last line about will 9c1 pads work makes me think you are talking about the Brembo upgrade as the title of this thread suggests, but if so why would you order the stock PPV rotors?

Migs, the writeup addresses this - this is the 6th generation Brembo caliper for Alpha platform vehicles, with 345mm rotors - the calipers will fit the PPV front rotors, but the rotors from Alpha applications do not.

[kevink]

Does anyone know how much weight, if any, this caliper swap saves?

[CrashTestDummy]

Since I've read through this thread a few times, it looks like they save about 3.5 lb per side. That is unsprung weight, so it is a good weight loss. The previous post was the difference in weight between the OEM calipers and used rotors vs. the Brembo calipers and new rotors. The previous poster didn't separate the calipers from the rotors, since they had a pretty significant groove in the rotor keeping the caliper attached.

Thank you , Bill. I got's some shopping to do this weekend!!

[CrashTestDummy]

We finished up work on the Firebird, so decided to start the Brembo brake project on the Caprice. We got both rotors/calipers/pads bolted up, and the hoses bolted to the calipers. I couldn't tell if the brackets to mount the hoses to the body were plated, or just bare steel, so I painted them, and am now waiting for that to cure before introducing some brake fluid to it. I also have a brake line that doesn't want to break loose on the driver's side, so it's stewing in PBlaster right now.

I see in earlier pictures, the front Techna-Fit hoses are the ones with the curved banjo bolt. For our calipers, the hoses with the straight banjo bolt seem to fit better and result in a better alignment of the hose to the strut mount, so we're using those on the front.

Hopefully, the driver's side brake line cooperates tomorrow. I really didn't hammer on it much, figuring I'd let the chemicals work their magic first. Everything else came apart pretty easily, considering this was a Wisconsin car.

Oh, and to note, like Fudghog noted in his install postings, the caliper we received that goes on the right side of the car was labeled 'LF'. The other caliper had no label on it, but these calipers came from two different sources. Apparently these calipers work on something that had the front calipers mounted on the front side of the strut.

[CrashTestDummy]

And done! The driver's side brake hose was a PITA to get off. I had to get the air saw out and slice into the end of the hose, and tap the cut with a chisel a couple of times before I could crack the brake line loose. All's well, though, everything went together well and seems to work well. Thought about taking it to this Sunday's autocross event, but we have to get all our annual tech and waiver paperwork out of the way, so maybe another event.

Here's the factory caliper before:



Factory hose routing (NOTE: I'd already unhooked the hose from the strut mount:



And the new caliper/rotor:



The rotors on the car are still in spec, so they went into the spares bin.

And the Techna-Fit hose routing on the new caliper:



Overall quite happy with the work. Pups approved it on the test ride around the neighborhood, too!

Added note to self: Next retired service vehicle we buy, we'll VERIFY it didn't come from north of the Mason Dixon line. Rust/corrosion sucks!

[lastcall190]

Added note to self: Next retired service vehicle we buy, we'll VERIFY it didn't come from north of the Mason Dixon line. Rust/corrosion sucks!

10000000%

I'll say that still looks reasonably clean under there all things considered!

-J

[CrashTestDummy]

It is amazingly-clean, considering. It's just the odd stuff that shows corrosion. That brake line, one of the flex pipes on one of the mufflers was rusted through, as well as the top of one of the mufflers (on the other side) were done. One of the rear cradle mount bolts was rusted, and it took them almost a week to get that bolt loose so they could drop the cradle to do some recall work.

It seems when doing work on the car, one side is fine, but the other has corrosion issues. That's not the problem on our '10 Tahoe that was in service on the west coast of Florida.