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SSBC A181 Dual-piston caliper upgrade

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Old Aug 15, 2015 | 01:15 PM
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25thannivZ28's Avatar
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Car: 1992 Z28 Camaro w/70k
Engine: 427 w/4" Mufflex Exhaust
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Axle/Gears: 4.10:1
SSBC A181 Dual-piston caliper upgrade

I bought this from Jegs, assuming it would magically make my brakes better. I was wrong, I wouldn't even put my car on the street with it.

You cannot put these on without an addition of a $600 or better Master cylinder. Factory Master Cylinder not compatible, even if it's in perfect working order. I found this out after contacting both Jegs & SSBC Tech support lines.

Now I'm not saying anything negative about this caliper assembly, what I'm saying is if you want to use its full potential you need more than just this $400 assembly & drilled/slotted rotors like I bought to make it work. Installing only these calipers, pads & rotors will be far worse than the factory brakes.
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Old Aug 16, 2015 | 01:51 PM
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Car: 92 Lingenfelter Z28 articwhite
Engine: Aluminum 615BBC
Transmission: Th400wbrake/curri entps9" locker
Axle/Gears: 4.11/4.30/4.56
Re: SSBC A181 Dual-piston caliper upgrade

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Wilwood makes a single piston or if you got to have them 2 piston direct bolt-on billet aluminum caliper set. You can get them in black red or polished finishes shipped to your door for under $380.. This is a direct Bolton her all non 1le Camaros in the third gen.. they also dropped about 6 pounds off your brakes.

Last edited by articwhiteZ; Aug 16, 2015 at 01:56 PM.
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Old Aug 16, 2015 | 02:52 PM
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25thannivZ28's Avatar
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From: Wisconsin
Car: 1992 Z28 Camaro w/70k
Engine: 427 w/4" Mufflex Exhaust
Transmission: 700R4 3500 stall
Axle/Gears: 4.10:1
Re: SSBC A181 Dual-piston caliper upgrade

That's a nice looking set up! What happened in my case with the SSBC kit for some reason or another the pedal was very hard. I had my phone resting nicely on the passenger seat, I couldn't even make it go flying off the front into the leg-room as I slammed the brakes on! If I can make my cigarette lighter fly out of its socket to the back seat from a launch, my braking has got to get better.

Booster/vacuum checked out good. Again, not saying anything negative about the calipers, they may be great if given all the right components to work with! But I just don't have the $$ to make it reach its full potential. Oh well. I'll keep the drilled/slotted rotors and add new factory single-piston calipers & pads for now.
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Old Nov 12, 2015 | 07:26 PM
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Car: 1983 Pontiac Trans Am Daytona 500
Engine: Crossfire 305ci V8
Transmission: Jasper 700R4 4 speed Automatic
Axle/Gears: 3.23 limited slip/posi
Re: SSBC A181 Dual-piston caliper upgrade

Originally Posted by 25thannivZ28
That's a nice looking set up! What happened in my case with the SSBC kit for some reason or another the pedal was very hard. I had my phone resting nicely on the passenger seat, I couldn't even make it go flying off the front into the leg-room as I slammed the brakes on! If I can make my cigarette lighter fly out of its socket to the back seat from a launch, my braking has got to get better.

Booster/vacuum checked out good. Again, not saying anything negative about the calipers, they may be great if given all the right components to work with! But I just don't have the $$ to make it reach its full potential. Oh well. I'll keep the drilled/slotted rotors and add new factory single-piston calipers & pads for now.
What was wrong with the ssbc calipers?
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Old Nov 12, 2015 | 09:57 PM
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Re: SSBC A181 Dual-piston caliper upgrade

Originally Posted by 25thannivZ28
I bought this from Jegs, assuming it would magically make my brakes better. I was wrong, I wouldn't even put my car on the street with it.

You cannot put these on without an addition of a $600 or better Master cylinder. Factory Master Cylinder not compatible, even if it's in perfect working order. I found this out after contacting both Jegs & SSBC Tech support lines.

Now I'm not saying anything negative about this caliper assembly, what I'm saying is if you want to use its full potential you need more than just this $400 assembly & drilled/slotted rotors like I bought to make it work. Installing only these calipers, pads & rotors will be far worse than the factory brakes.
This is a good example of Pascal's Principle. The SSBC caliper probably has different surface area than the stock single piston caliper.

The piston sizes in the master cylinder and caliper are sized to work together to provide the clamping force necessary to slow the weight of the car.

http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/Win...principle.html
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Old Nov 13, 2015 | 12:44 PM
  #6  
25thannivZ28's Avatar
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From: Wisconsin
Car: 1992 Z28 Camaro w/70k
Engine: 427 w/4" Mufflex Exhaust
Transmission: 700R4 3500 stall
Axle/Gears: 4.10:1
Re: SSBC A181 Dual-piston caliper upgrade

Originally Posted by KITT1983
What was wrong with the ssbc calipers?
Nothing wrong with it, just not compatible to my application.
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Old Dec 20, 2015 | 02:52 PM
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Car: 1983 Pontiac Trans Am Daytona 500
Engine: Crossfire 305ci V8
Transmission: Jasper 700R4 4 speed Automatic
Axle/Gears: 3.23 limited slip/posi
Re: SSBC A181 Dual-piston caliper upgrade

Originally Posted by 25thannivZ28
Nothing wrong with it, just not compatible to my application.
did they say what applications is it good for ?
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Old Jan 2, 2016 | 05:41 PM
  #8  
25thannivZ28's Avatar
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Joined: Nov 2005
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From: Wisconsin
Car: 1992 Z28 Camaro w/70k
Engine: 427 w/4" Mufflex Exhaust
Transmission: 700R4 3500 stall
Axle/Gears: 4.10:1
Re: SSBC A181 Dual-piston caliper upgrade

Originally Posted by KITT1983
did they say what applications is it good for ?
Sorry for the delayed response, but no he didn't tell me. They just said in addition to the calipers & Rotors that I bought, you'd have to buy the Master Cylinder which was not in my budget. So essentially, a 3rd gen with that Master Cylinder he speaks of I would assume is the right application.
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