Hey Guys....

Curiosity for y'all.....Looking for opinions. I could live with it, but in comparison, I'm irked....

Yesterday I drove my 91 TA Vert because it was just the perfect "drop top" day......that was after having driven my 94 TA Vert and my DD 15 Silverado Crew back to back to back......and in comparison, the 91 does not appear to have the same braking power using a proportional comparison of brake pedal application.

I realize that I may be comparing apples and pineapples. (As you know, the 91 has front disc and rear drum, with single piston calipers up front, and the other 2 vehicles have disc brakes at all 4 corners) but I'm under the impression that the fronts are 80 to 90% of the braking power.
I have records on the car from Day 1, but I have not checked to see when the brakes were last replaced or there was a fluid flush, and I'm not convinced that a fluid flush would make a difference anyway. I also don't remember if the brake lines are rubber or braided stainless, either, since it's been a while since I removed the wheels.

I see it pointless to change the rear drum brakes, but would like an improvement in the front. I have Powerstop on many of my vehicles.....so what would you think about the Powerstop K1482-26 kit just on the fronts, for perhaps an improvement? I really don't want to get carried away with replacing calipers or anything like that......

Thanks!

 

I wouldn't spend a dollar on factory brakes. I would at the minimum buy a 4th gen front brake kit from big brake upgrade.com. The stock brakes are garbage.

 

Also, since you'll be upgrading the front brakes and flushing in some new fluid, replace all the rubber hoses with braided stainless. That will also help pedal feel.

 

I would just start by getting decent front pads that provide good "bite". Get good pads. The other stuff is good PM and should always be current, but good pads will make a huge diff.

 

you said it best, comparing apples to pineapples..

what i would start off with, is what is different between the 3 vehicles that you like on them, but not on the TA?
big brakes are great for going into a turn at 100 mph and not having brake fade...
but for most everything else the stock brakes do their job.
Have you tried a 'panic' stop and moving about 35 mph jammed hard on the brake pedal and see if they all lock up?
It could be your 35 year old brakes need an overhaul. -new fluid, new masters, new brake lines, properly adjusted rear drums etc...

 

Man this is such a subjective subject. I don’t want to offend anyone and I’m not disagreeing with anyone, I just want to give you my opinions and hopefully you can get to your honest goal here with everyone’s advice.

So I’ve done a ton of brake upgrades to thirdgens, no less than 10 but probably more like 20 over the years, anyway a thing that I just can’t put my finger on is for some reason some thirdgens with stock components stop really good, like comparing two cars with the same brake setup one feels way better like more driver confidence, some even stopped better with drum rears than ones I’ve upgraded, obviously there are many variables like tires, weight, pad material etc.

I say all this because first you need to know what you expectations are for this car, are you looking to just stop or make it feel a little better than it is now? Then maybe just start with replacing the old with new maybe even upgrade to better pad material, personally I like EBC yellows, or are you trying/want to make it stop like a modern sports car?

So now onto what people probably won’t agree with me on. This is just my experience with these cars but just about all of the cars that I upgraded and just for the record I’m a technician so these are just customers of friends that came to me for installation, If asked I might give a recommendation for what works in my mind but rarely do they listen and just buy what they want, anyway just about all the thirdgens with stock rear disc any brake kit that was done to the front only, this includes but not always and all items but masters cylinder, proportioning valve, line etc. shows little improvement but once the rears are upgraded big difference, I’m even willing to say if they had just started with rears they probably wouldn’t have needed front, I should also mention that these are not race cars, with rear drum cars it was hit or miss, some stopped better with changing to disc and some not, actually two customers had ford nine rear axles with large drums I’m not sure what size but not stock, both cars had the stock front cast single piston caliper and stopped extremely well, like for comparison I did a Camaro with a Baer big brake kit front and rear with master everything and it stopped good obviously but to me one of those big drum brake cars stopped just as good or at least felt like, like I had plenty of confidence going fast and stopping.

hopefully I’ve added some info for thought that will help you make a decision that best fits your budget and goal.

 

You're willing to overpay for what are realistically stock replacement parts with Upgraded Marketing and be disappointed.

The 10.5 disc / drum setups are easy to improve upon. Even 11" front discs from a 2nd gen are an improvement. 11" fronts from a 2nd gen S-Blazer. 98-02 F fronts. All of these have larger pads and more rotor heat sink ability to take kinetic energy and make it heat. (I have done those on different vehicles.)

If I was being frugal and trying to be compatible with a lot of wheels, the LS1 F fronts are probably hard to beat. If you can fit C5 stuff, probably better. Make a list of required replacement parts and conversion parts.

Related to your truck, the 07-18 fronts are easy to convert to 19-up Silverado (21-up Tahoe) fronts. I daily drive a 4 wheel disc truck with that upgrade. Even cheap dusty pads and rotors plus new GM calipers ran me < $500 and it makes a 5000+lb vehicle safer. Stock calipers are 2 piston sliding. The upgrade are 4 piston fixed.

However, the third gens need proper bias re-established. Probably best done with an adjustable valve. When the fronts are stout and the rears are stock, you can lock things up and go for quite a spin. Since the later 90s, a lot of vehicles with 4 channel ABS address this automatically. So your truck would be spacers, calipers, pads, rotors, and go.

Just milk your stock stuff until it's time and do the right thing for safety.