Real Fiero Tech

I am not quite ready for the corvette brakes and want to make my stock ones perform better.

What kind of pads are you useing? Dose anyone know of some good ones (All I can find are semi-metalic). Are the fiero stores pads worth it? Know of any good companys that make a good caliper slide pin rebuild kit?

You can go to almost any local parts store and get better pads like semi metallic and also the slide rebuild kits. GM parts are so common almost all parts stores stock this stuff

Semi met pads will provide a little better braking, but honestly I duobt you will notice a huge improvement. It might only make a few feet difference from 60 mph

Believe me, it's better to have those few feet and not need them them to need them and not have them.

Porterfield R4-S pads are tons better than the Fiero Store Carbomets, and are probably the best out there for a Fiero calipers IMO.

As for the slider pins, is it an 84-87 or 88?

The Porterfield RS-4's (or R4S or whatever they are) have been recommended repeatedly on the Fiero Racing List.

Stock pads are semi metallic according to the dealership. Auto Zone stocks the pads but I will have to order my slide pin rebuild kit. The local Napa has to order the pads, and all the stores around that I have talked to sell just semi metalic. Has anyone found someone that sells Performance Friction carbon metallic pads?

Hopefully my funds will be coming in soon so that I can afford some larger wheels and then do the Corvette brake upgrade. But for now I dont want to spend $160 for all four pads.

As for they year of my Fiero it is a 87'

Got 15's? You can do the 11.25" brake upgrade without stepping up wheel sizes.

It has the stock gt 15's. If they fit I will be on the look out for some. I remember hearing that they would not clear the 15's but if they do I am all in. I have a place that I can make the brakets and other parts needed.
Where are most of you guys finding the calipers and rotors form? Ebay mabe, or local junk yards? How much should I be prepared to pay for them?

Can you still get on Pfiffle?

Parts req'd laid out here:
http://www.fiero.com/forum/Forum1/HTML/048271.html

Would waiting for the 12" corvette brakes be woth it? 3/4 of an inch isnt that much to step down. I did a search and found a lot of info on the 11.25 swap.
I am planing on buying larger rims here soon and want the brakes to look nice and fill up the wheel. I have read that the 11.25 brakes are easier and cheeper do you know buy how much? I am going to start pricing but if anyone know's it would be helpfull.

Can you still get on Pfiffle?

what is this? I cant get the url to work it takes me to a webmasters page.

Pfiffle = P F F

Try the link now... it should be fixed.

Pfiffle = P F F

Thats what I thought but wasnt sure :salute:
Will how do you like the 11.25? Is there a reason that you decided to use them insted of the corvettes?

How come no one uses the newer corvette brake setup? i.e. 88+ or even newer.

I'll share some of our experience we have had in roadracing a Fiero..

When we started, a lot of our competitors shared with us that we should change brake pads every weekend, or better, every race. So we did.

But we were removing almost perfect pads, that looked like they hardly wore. I usually saved them for our street Fieros, and they worked perfect.

But then we observed that those same people who said to replace them every race, HAD LITERALLY WORN THEIR PADS OUT! These were not NASCAR 500 mile races, but 30 minute road races rarely exceeding 90 mph. (That's 140 km/h for our Canuck friends!)

Now another thing I was told, was to buy only real race pads. Well, after looking in the market, we found no-one made them. Boy, there's a flash!

But when we really got into it, we found there was ABSOLUTELY NO BRAKE FADE with our stock brakes. ! We would brake so hard going into turns, you could really smell it. THese were stock solid OEM rotors; not vented.

The reason to have vented brakes is to minimize brake fade, caused by heat build-up. For nose heavy front engine (especially FWD) cars, they need vented front rotors up front, because the front rotors are doing most of the braking, and generating most of the heat.

But the light weight mid engined Fiero is balanced nearly 50-50, and the front brakes only do half the braking. Hence, much less heat, and much less need for vented rotors!

Here's our conclusion. If you want to reduce stopping distance, the choice of TIRES is far more important to shorter stopping distance, than pads and rotors.

If your car can lock the tires when braking, the stopping distance doesn't matter whether you used vented or non-vented rotors. It's the tires that control the distance, once they lock up.

As to choice of pads, use one of the good brand names, and choose their premium pads, and you won't go wrong. Always install new or rebuilt calipers when you change pads.

What did we race with? Wagner (Lockheed) Premium pads. You can feel the difference in the pedal. I swear by them.

What class did you race a fiero in? There's only a couple people that actually have raced these things so I'm curious if I "know" you.

TIRES are the single most important part of the equation.

fIEROWISEGUY wrote:I'll share some of our experience we have had in roadracing a Fiero..


Here's our conclusion. If you want to reduce stopping distance, the choice of TIRES is far more important to shorter stopping distance, than pads and rotors.

We raced SCCA, ITB class, at Watkins Glen, Mid-Ohio, Nelson Ledges, and a few tracks in Michigan and Indiana.

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