Fiero Brakes
Carl Z
My wife and I have owned three Fiero's and the brakes on each have been
terrible. Hard braking will not lock the tires at all on dry or even wet
pavement. We have replaced rotors and calipers on the cars with no
change in performance. Is there a master cylinder problem with these
cars? Are there any modifications I could implement to improve braking?
Thanks,
Carl
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James W.(Jim) Simmons
Carl Z <ca...@netway.com> wrote in message
news:37A05933...@netway.com...
Carl,
What type brake shoes are you using. If you are using the lifetime type get
rid of them and go to a softer pad. Are your rear brakes doing their job.
Have you been using the emergency brake when you park(keeps the rear brakes
adjusted). and lastly, go to the Fiero Store home page and order a
completely new braking system.
Jim
Les Benn
the rear of the Fiero, if you don't mind giving up the parking brake.
hk
fix a tendency of the parking brake mechanism to fail. I recollect that was
in 1991.
A U.S. NHTSA official called me back then and gave me a list of part
numbers, which I may or may not retain depending on what I've tossed out
over the past decade.
I own an automatic-equipped 1985 GT and only the standards were part of the
voluntary recall, on the rationale that automatics have locking pins in the
transmissions. I suppose the idea was that I could use that info to refit my
own car if desired.
My impression was that the parking brake recall was a roundabout way of
addressing the broader brake issue, since a failed parking brake mechanism
could have the effect of preventing the "automatic" adjustment of the rear
brakes.
I presume that corrected brake parts would have gome into distribution for
all of the vehicles even those not formally recalled.
Keith Risler
Carl Z <ca...@netway.com> wrote in message
news:37A05933...@netway.com...
bozone
Drats, again!
--
================================================================
Fred Clarke - East Greenwich RI 02818 -- The Bozone
Seen regularly at: alt.autos.fiero
87 Fiero Coupe (bought new)
86 Fiero GT 4-speed daily driver / 86 Fiero GT-5-speed being repaired
================================================================
Sherman Collings
master cylinder, dis-assembled and checked all the calipers, fresh pads
properly adjusted, even new caliper hoses! No damn difference. Is the
booster bad or perhaps the proportioning valve? I don't know but this sure
is bothering me. The pedal is slow to respond and the brakes won't lock up
no matter how hard I STOMP on them- I'm a big guy and I CAN stomp! What in
the world is wrong here? Anybody?
Thanks
Sherman
bozone
87 coupe has never had good brakes. If all the 87 and before Fieros have
the same brakes, how come they all have different personalities. The
only thing that comes to mind up front is that if you don't use the
emergency brake regularly, the rear brakes will wear out of adjustment.
If that happens, your fronts will do most or all of the work. This will
be poor braking and a tendency to swerve side to side while braking
hard. That's what the 87 is doing and it needs to be fixed. But if all
that work has been done to your car, then that ain't it. However, the
86GT will lock the tires with a little effort and really stops well. How
can this be a universal problem?
--
Jeremy Cole
locking up, even with 215's on all four corners...
I don't have any special setup, just Canadian Tire replacement parts
(probably similar to what Pep Boys or whatever generic parts store you have
would give you). I can say that my emergency brake assembly was entirely
replaced, including the rear calipers when I bought the car 2 years ago, and
I use it regularly (contrary to what my girlfriend believes, sideways is
FUN!). :)
Just luck of the draw?
JC
bozone <boz...@intap.net> wrote in message
news:37A7626F...@intap.net...
bozone
sums up the brake problems with Fieros. Probably as a rule of thumb,
using the parking brake regularly keeps the rear brakes in adjustment
and gives enough stopping power. I wonder about the wisdom of thinking
that the front brakes do most of the work. Since the engine mass is in
the rear, seems a shame not to use its weight on the rear wheels to do
more of the work. But hey--- I'm not an engineer.
Fred
Keith...@alumni.uwo.ca wrote:
Certain models of the Fiero, Camaro and Firebird were argued to have had a
problem with the parking brake in what I recollect was reported to be the
1985-1986 period or so.
GM did a recall on STANDARD transmission vehicles in 1991 (automatics have
locking transmission pins so they were not recalled). The problem re the
brakes themselves seeming less effective might be related to parking brake
functionality, because the parking brake apparently has to be used to allow
the automatic adjustment of the rear calipers to take place.
I bought a 1985 GT new in February 1985. I discovered for example that the
rear brakes could not be made to lock up at speeds up to around 45 mph or
so. These cars do not have anti-lock that would otherwise resist lock-up.
I complained to the Canadian transport safety agency Transport Canada in
1985 about the brakes and an investigator looked at my car. One thing he
pointed out was that the rear brakes may be quite normal in NOT locking up
at speeds below say 50 mph, because the front brakes in any event do
most of
the braking anyway, and GM. he said, may have designed the system that way
to allow control to be retained.
The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) did
investigate the Fiero brake issue, and though it was not officially
connected, it appeared to me that the voluntary 1991 recall of the vehicles
by GM somewhat addressed the issue in a roundabout way.
In 1990 the Canadian consumer show CBC Marketplace carried a 12-minute
segment on what was in 1990 a proposed NHTSA lawsuit that was to address the
brake issue. In 1991 GM voluntary agreed to fix the parking brakes in a
recall, but only for standard-transmission vehicles.
I would think that if you had newer parts put on since that the post-recall
parts would be available. A NHTSA official called me years ago and gave
me a
list of part numbers, although I do not recollect whether it was a complete
parts list or not.
GM reportedly did do a running change in Fiero brake design in or after the
1986 model year or thereabouts. Keep in mind, as the investigator who looked
at my car noted in 1985, that perhaps GM set the brakes up to require a
strong push to protect aggressive drivers from over-controlling the
vehicles.
I recently restore my '85 GT mechanically after storing it for 5 years. On
delivery the mechanics noted that the car seemed now to be working great,
except that the brakes seemed a bit mushy.
Keith E. Risler
Keith...@alumni.uwo.ca
bozone <boz...@intap.net> wrote in message
news:<37A7626F...@intap.net>...
> I dunno. I have 2 Fieros on the road. The 86GT will stop on a dime. The
> 87 coupe has never had good brakes. If all the 87 and before Fieros have
> the same brakes, how come they all have different personalities. The
> only thing that comes to mind up front is that if you don't use the
> emergency brake regularly, the rear brakes will wear out of adjustment.
> If that happens, your fronts will do most or all of the work. This will
> be poor braking and a tendency to swerve side to side while braking
> hard. That's what the 87 is doing and it needs to be fixed. But if all
> that work has been done to your car, then that ain't it. However, the
> 86GT will lock the tires with a little effort and really stops well. How
> can this be a universal problem?
>
JazzMan
>
> This message was posted to me and missed the group but this pretty much
> sums up the brake problems with Fieros. Probably as a rule of thumb,
> using the parking brake regularly keeps the rear brakes in adjustment
> and gives enough stopping power. I wonder about the wisdom of thinking
> that the front brakes do most of the work. Since the engine mass is in
> the rear, seems a shame not to use its weight on the rear wheels to do
> more of the work. But hey--- I'm not an engineer.
>
> Fred
>
<snip>
Although it would seem that having the biggest brakes at the heavy end of
the car is best, in actuality the front brakes do indeed do most of the work in
stopping a car. What happens is that when braking, the weight of the car
shifts to the front (when going forward, of course) by quite a bit. This
is called weight transfer, and all vehicles experience it. Bicycle riders
are probably most familiar with this effect, as are motorcyclists. If you
look closely at the next sport motorcycle you see, you'll notice that in
the front is a pair of relatively huge disk rotors and either
giant single piston calipers or dual piston calipers, but in the rear is a
seemingly puny single piston caliper.
A good book on automotive handling that should be in every automotive
enthusiast's library is "How To Make Your Car Handle" by Fred Puhn, published
by HP Publishing. Hopefully it's still in print. This book has in-depth info
on all aspects of auto handling and suspension designs, from layman's concepts
to the mathematics and physics of car suspensions and dynamics.
And, since I haven't seen this mentioned yet in this group, here's a good URL
for Fiero service issues: http://members.xoom.com/fierov6/OSG/osg.html
JazzMan
(Soon to be the owner of a high-mileage '86 GT, and someday maybe an '88 GT 5spd)
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Matt McDonald
occassion
the car would lunge to one side. The original brakes stopped properly
however.
To correct my problem I installed ocelot cross drilled rotors, full sythetic
racing brake fluid,
and carbon metalic pads. This Mostly fixed my problem but, the braking
ability
was greatly enhanced. The only side effect is that the carbon brakes need
to be up to
temperature before they function well.
Hope this helps...
Matt
tommy
if your parking brake doesn't work ( or is not used ) then your rear brakes
are not being adjusted.