Caliper Hits Inside of Rim...

Here's the situation. I'm working on my wife's '53 belair that has a late 90's camaro rearend. The rear end has disc brakes with an about 11-1/2" rotor that I am assuming is stock to the axle. I ordered new rims and tires for the car, they fit but I noticed that the caliper is rubbing on the inside of the rim. It makes enough contact to keep the rim from turning. Is it possible (safe) to get grind off some of the outside of the caliper? I'm planning on replacing all of the brakes so if anyone knows of a kit for this axle that might have a smaller rotor or caliper that would be great. Did this year camaro also have a drum brake option for the rear? Perhaps I could just switch to drum. Let me hear your opinions. Thanks.

 

Grinding the caliper MAY be OK, depends on where and how much material needs to be removed for clearance. If it's just casting or forging "flash", no big deal, but if you have to remove, say, an 1/8" or more from the entire outer radius of the caliper body, I would not consider that acceptable.

Ray

 

i have grinded calipers before (not saying its safe) but ..i have done it ..dont know how much you need to turn down but mine rubbed just a bit so i smoothed them out ...and they just passed over the caliper

 

I've also had to gring calipers before. I've done three disc brake conversions (all front wheels) and one of them said right in the directions that part of the calipers had to be ground down. This was a reputable brake company and it has worked fine...just seemed a little 'hokey' to me.

Jay

 

Camaros and Firebirds had drum brakes on 6 cylinder cars, but they should be fine on your Chebby. The Camaros probably weigh more than the ol' '53. You may have to pull the axle shafts to install new backing plates though.

 

next question, what master cylinder are you going to use? If you're switching from disc to drum so easily..? Its a system that has to be thought out.

 

Well, eventually i'd like to swap out the whole system as the current state of the brakes is pretty sad. I'm looking for new kits but I'd like to get this clearance issue addressed first as I can't even roll the car around as is.

 

Or, maybe another option would be to swap out the axle in it's entirety and look for something stronger?

 

can you put a spacer on the rotor to bring the rim out?

 

Grind it.

 

Holy Crap I didn't even think of that.

 

Yeah, the cheapo cast spacers from Pep Boys will get you rolling provided you have enough threads on your studs to keep the wheels on tight, then start looking for/make some machined spacers made out of aluminum or steel.

 

ya, spacers would be the easiest, you it does push the rims out tho, so i dont know if you want the rims looking out of proportion. but autozone sells some cheap spacers in different sizes.

 

That's just the car telling you it wants a set of super sweet IROC wheels...

 

You should be able to get under and look for a high spot and just grind that spot if the contact is all over the caliper get the spacers to at least make a roller out of it

 

IF YOUR SETUP IS LIKE MOST AND YOU NEED JUST TO CLEARANCE THE EDGES, IT IS NOT A PROBLEM, I CANNOT COUNT THE NUMBER OF TIMES I HAVE PUT A LITTLE GRINDING CLEARANCE ON THE CALIPER, KEY WORD IS _-__LITTLE___ it is fine dont get carried away

 

Before buying spacers, try some washers over the studs to give you an idea of how much distance you need.

 

Time for some new wheels....

 

GM actually used steel spacers on alot of the Camaros & Firebirds with rear disc brakes. They were fairly thin steel spacers and gave just enough clearance so the calipers don't rub. Keep in mind though that as the brake pads wear the calipers may change location slightly. In a perfect world the pads will wear exactly the same amount and the caliper location won't change but we all know that ain't gonna happen. Allow for some extra room.

 

I grind calipers all of the time, with good results (mostly for 13x1.25 discs in 15" wheels). My DD has ground calipers on all 4 corners. 45k later, no problems.

This grinding, however is on the "top" of the caliper, not the side. If they are hitting on the side, just run a thin spacer.

Most single piston calipers move away from the rim as the pads wear, so if it clears with new pads, it will continue to clear.

 

I've ground front and rear calipers on 98-02 Camaro/Firebirds, basically the same stuff. Just did the fronts of my OT 2000 Z/28 drag car project:

 

This is a simple matter of CSP, or "common sense prevails".

 

Don't do any grinding just let the caliper grind the clearance it needs from the wheel. who knows you might create some super high tech cast iron / aluminum alloy. Sorry couldn't help myself. if ya actually get to happy with the grinder all that will happen is you loose your back brakes... and remember the back brakes are pretty much just along for the ride... most of the braking force is up front, what this translates to is PSI in the line... 80% of force and psi is up front... if memory serves on a normal car brake pressure hits about 20k psi max. which means the backs will see 4000psi max I'm sure there's some tech document on the internet about what thickness is needed for castings to withstand a certain psi.

 

ALOT of rims are tapered on the inside & some also have a step towards the surface where they mate with the hub. If this is the type of wheels you have using a spacer will also stop the rim from rubbing the top of the caliper. Every situation is going to be different. The onlt way to know what will work for you is to see where it's rubbing and make adjustments accordingly.

 

These are a factory GM part made specifically for Camaros with rear discs. Any decent size salvage yard should have them. Grinding on stuff is fine if it's the only solution and it's done right but why do that when the correct part is available dirt cheap ?

 

I've never seen factory spacers before must be pretty rare.

 

Whatever you do, don't grind a diamond pattern in the casting or we will have to hire an engineer, metallurgist, have the castings tested and find a banker to hold the money.

I have "clearanced" a set of front calipers to clear a set of minilite rims I just had to have on some euro-trash I was driving at the time. I guess it would all depend on how close any of the mounting holes are to the area, my project only needed 1/16" off the outer edge and the caliper mounted with 1 bolt center outside plenty of meat left and 2 bolts inboard.

Take some pics, and mark it up with a felt pen and post them when you get a minute

 

They came on every Camaro from 82-92 that had rear disc brakes & 16" wheels. VERY common in any good size salvage yard. I have some hanging on a nail in my shop "just in case'

 

You didn't mention what rims you are using. Is it possible to machine a little off the rims as well as grind the rotors for clearance? Maybe even use the spacers as well.

 

Dude, that's what it had and what I'm trying to get rid of! Haha