O.K. Here is my issue. I bought both baer brake kits for my 03 cavalier. I put the front big brake kit on, which i love, im even thing about taking ABS off so i can really use them the way they were meant to be used. The following week i put the rear disc conversion on. Well after a lot of adjustments at my shop i got thoses puppies to work. they were the best thing since sliced bread the first 2 days. Then after all new things you start to find stuff wrong after the feeling of new goes away. So to get back on track my problem is this with bear and their rear brake kit. The emergency brake sucks a$$. there is absolutlely no way to adjust it. and the e brake cable is extremely difficult to pull up now. they also sent the wrong pads. i called bear to make a formal complaint after having spent 1500.00 on this kit. i was told to basicly suck it up. once i put it all together there was no way for them to tell what had been done to it. i was told that the wrong pad issue was actually not wrong at all. the pads are meant for an older late 80's early 90's corvette. it was the consumers responsibility to take 1/8 off of each pad so they fit width wise in the caliper and pad brackett. So im asking all of you because i would hate to take this kit off. has anyone here had this emergency brake issue. i can't be the only one who got suckered into this kit.
Pads are 88-96 C4 Corvette or a 93-97 Camaro.
Ebrake issue, there is a spring that you may need to adjust (down to 6"), its along the trailing arm, other than that, I am no help, sorry!
The E-brake issue has been known about FOR YEARS. Theres really nothing that can be done because the ratio at which our ebrake cable tightens is not enough to compress the ebrake integrated calipers enough to hold. It's sorta just been a fact of the BAERS for a long time. As far as brake pads being wrong that doesn't seem right because Baer only uses a couple different calipers so I mean there really isn't many pad options to mess it up. I have NEVER had a problem with my Baers and I have had them for over 5 years they make a great setup. The only real way to solve the E-brake issue with our vehicles would be to have a rear drum in hat style rotor like the prototype rear Wilwoods had. with a drum setup for the ebrake it would work perfect as the ratio for a drum to lock up is MUCH less than the calipers of a disk. Baer is right down the road from me and their customer service has always been fantastic. Saying you were suckered into them to me is a little unfair to say. E-brake is over rated anyway.
ASE Master Certified Automotive Technician
well the thing is this. if you design something and mass produce it, the bottom line is it should work. $1500.00 also means that the product should be fully tested and free of any defects or the manufacturer should make a notation of this before the sale of the product or let it be known to the consumer. im just saying that an e-brake is meant to hold the vehicle in place. so if my vehicle just starts rolling down the street because the ebrake isn't working i guess a potential crash would be over or under rated. All im saying is that i would have loved to know about this before hand and not after the fact. I was also trying to see if anyone had a correction for this problem. You know in my kind of work if i F*uk up i get sued and still have to fix my f*ck up. Thanks for everyones input and by the way this was not a nasty retort i just so happen to disagree with some of your opinions. Just because they are one of the only companies to make this kit for our cars does not mean we have to like their product just because we bought it. People get caught up in that trap all the time. Just put this in your pipe and smoke it.
CaliforniaDomestics wrote:The E-brake issue has been known about FOR YEARS. Theres really nothing that can be done because the ratio at which our ebrake cable tightens is not enough to compress the ebrake integrated calipers enough to hold. It's sorta just been a fact of the BAERS for a long time. As far as brake pads being wrong that doesn't seem right because Baer only uses a couple different calipers so I mean there really isn't many pad options to mess it up. I have NEVER had a problem with my Baers and I have had them for over 5 years they make a great setup. The only real way to solve the E-brake issue with our vehicles would be to have a rear drum in hat style rotor like the prototype rear Wilwoods had. with a drum setup for the ebrake it would work perfect as the ratio for a drum to lock up is MUCH less than the calipers of a disk. Baer is right down the road from me and their customer service has always been fantastic. Saying you were suckered into them to me is a little unfair to say. E-brake is over rated anyway.
Alan is right on this one. The Baer problem has been around for as long as I have had a Jbody. That's one of th reasons I did not wanna get a Baer setup. The Wilwoods that Alan talks about are indeed a good design, and will one day work right on my car. I just have not had the time or energy as of late to make them work. I kinda agree with Alan that sometimes E-brakes are over rated. Except on a 1/4 miles starting line. HAHA That is the only time I wish I had one.
michael roach wrote:well the thing is this. if you design something and mass produce it, the bottom line is it should work. $1500.00 also means that the product should be fully tested and free of any defects or the manufacturer should make a notation of this before the sale of the product or let it be known to the consumer. im just saying that an e-brake is meant to hold the vehicle in place. so if my vehicle just starts rolling down the street because the ebrake isn't working i guess a potential crash would be over or under rated. All im saying is that i would have loved to know about this before hand and not after the fact. I was also trying to see if anyone had a correction for this problem. You know in my kind of work if i F*uk up i get sued and still have to fix my f*ck up. Thanks for everyones input and by the way this was not a nasty retort i just so happen to disagree with some of your opinions. Just because they are one of the only companies to make this kit for our cars does not mean we have to like their product just because we bought it. People get caught up in that trap all the time. Just put this in your pipe and smoke it.
To the OP. I bet if you would have spent 1-2 minutes searching for Baer brakes in the suspension and brakes section, you would of found out about this before you bought them. I see that you only joined on the 10th, so maybe you had the brakes before you joined. And then maybe being a little surprised about this would be reasonable. However, my advice to you is to go search the forum, and find out the fix to this. I am pretty positive that it is posted in here somewhere
Well i have had this set up for over a year now. i do thank all of you for your input and support on this. but i have recently searched on here after i made the choice to start driving my j again. i was going to sell it because of the problems im having with it . So i guess im going to have to do some modifying.
Theres not technically a problem with the Baer rear setup it's merely the ratios in cable pull. Baer can not really do anything to fix a problem that is caused by the vehicles original equipment. No J has EVER had a rear rotor system so the idea that you are completely changing the way the braking is established will sometimes cause side effects to arise. If you really want an E-brake buy a line lock, problem solved. I would hardly consider the Jbody brake conversion kit "mass produced" The idea they even still offer it is more a courtesy than anything, VERY low demand for this product. I mean if you really wanna get technical none of the rear disk conversions out there are really what they should be because the line pressures/residual psi are incorrect for calipers/rotors to begin with because the brake system was designed for drums. These can all be fixed but it costs a little extra and needs some research. I do think Baer should have by now at least made potential buyers aware of the issue but this would likely only work if bought direct because they cant control what third parties advertise.
ASE Master Certified Automotive Technician
Nice retort to the question at hand. Even after researching line locks i am a little on the weary side of this decision. What company makes the best possible line lock solution. Plus there are only 8 results that come up on JBO so research and information is a little short here.
you're going to need two line lock kits from the way our brake systems are designed.
the master cylinder has two lines coming off it that go into a distribution block (sometimes integrated with an ABS motor).
one chamber from the master cylinder controls the front left and rear right, and the other chamber does the opposite.
so you can't plumb in a linelok into one of the lines coming off the master cylinder because you'd be locking one front and the opposite rear.
two kits need to be hooked up coming off the distribution block instead.
Quote:
ou're going to need two line lock kits from the way our brake systems are designed.
the master cylinder has two lines coming off it that go into a distribution block (sometimes integrated with an ABS motor).
one chamber from the master cylinder controls the front left and rear right, and the other chamber does the opposite.
so you can't plumb in a linelok into one of the lines coming off the master cylinder because you'd be locking one front and the opposite rear.
two kits need to be hooked up coming off the distribution block instead.
100% correct.
And i ahve the baer kit.. My ebrake works fine. You just need to turn off the autoadjuster in the Ebrake handle assembly. And you might need to get a nother adapter for the line in the back. Ill post up some pictures on how to do it.
I have also been sketching up some ideas on how to make a manual adjuster. Hopefully i can figure something out.
]:-> 287 TimeSlips In Hand. Car Still Runs Strong... 3 Differentials Later ]:->
Schnupper wrote:
100% correct.
And i ahve the baer kit.. My ebrake works fine. You just need to turn off the autoadjuster in the Ebrake handle assembly
There is no adjuster in the handle.
14.330 @ 96.37mph
Oh and on my SSBC kit, my e-brake works beautifully. Handle comes up like 3-4 clicks, and holds the car rock-solid.
14.330 @ 96.37mph
pump the brakes a couple times before pulling the handle..............works like a charm
swapped, supercharged, intercooled, 2.9, fun
BlownBlackZ wrote:Oh and on my SSBC kit, my e-brake works beautifully. Handle comes up like 3-4 clicks, and holds the car rock-solid.
I had the same results with my SSBC kit. SSBC for the win
FORGET GIRLS GONE WILD WE HAVE GOVERNMENT SPENDING GONE WILD!
Wow, I Freakin love the responses on this issue. I would love to see those pics that you have Schnupper. I may look into ssbc kit. so there either may be new brakes going on my car or maybe i'll try to rig what i have already got.
michael roach wrote:Wow, I Freakin love the responses on this issue. I would love to see those pics that you have Schnupper. I may look into ssbc kit. so there either may be new brakes going on my car or maybe i'll try to rig what i have already got.
Wait, did I just read someone thanking tenured members for advice? Usually the new guy berates them for not accepting their point of view... What is JBO coming to? Thought it would be a cold day in hell before I saw this... BTW thank you Mike for not being a douche. Seriously, we have too many of those on here...
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Yes, noob, the search button is for you...
BlownBlackZ wrote:Schnupper wrote:
100% correct.
And i ahve the baer kit.. My ebrake works fine. You just need to turn off the autoadjuster in the Ebrake handle assembly
There is no adjuster in the handle.
Yes there is an adjuster in the ebrake handle assembly
To diable the automatic brake cable adjuster...
1. remove center console.
2. Make sure that the ebrake is funny released
3. Jack the rear end up enough to crawl under it to grab the cable.
4. Pull the cable very hard till the ratchiting cam is rotated all the way against the clockspring
5. Make sure the ratchiting cam is visable to the opening of the cover plate
6. Then push that spring down into the notch on the ratching cam
7. Then SLOWLEY!!! release the cable
8., Install the console
9. Enjoy
If you do this.... Your rear brakes will probably drag. The clock spring seems tooo strong compared to the spring on the parking brake assembly. Im still working everything out and currently have 2 ideas im working with
]:-> 287 TimeSlips In Hand. Car Still Runs Strong... 3 Differentials Later ]:->
Just to throw in my 2 cents here...
To set the brake, first push the pedal down, then pull the handle. Problem solved. As mentioned above, the handle doesn't pull quite enough cable to set the brake, and this method resolves that.
There should be no issue with the ebrake dragging so long as the spring on the cable under the trailing axle is set properly.
never had 1 problem with the park brake on my baer copies , step on brake pedal(you have to any way to park) then pull up on the park brake lever
had 2 cars with these rear brakes , and never 1 issue
where do you get the ssbc-s? i thought they were on the rksport website, but they aren't...i know i've seen em before, so its not like i don't know the right website...just forgot it...
^^Pretty sure both Turbo Tech Racing and Gravana sell the SSBCs.
Dave De Stefano wrote:where do you get the ssbc-s? i thought they were on the rksport website, but they aren't...i know i've seen em before, so its not like i don't know the right website...just forgot it...
www.TurboTechRacing.com
-Aaron
www.TurboTechRacing.com
Performance Parts For Cavalier, Sunfire, Cobalts and More!!!
ill have to give the pump the brake before e-brake engagement trick a shot. I have NO idea why i never did that, lol! Yeah the line lock thing has been discussed in some other threads and every post in this thread is correct on it. Me personally I will likely go that route but hey if pumping the brake pre engagement works go with that its much cheaper, lol
ASE Master Certified Automotive Technician
