1990 grand am brakes

[MaxswellSpy]

Hey all, quick question... i am about to do the front 1990 grand am rotor and caliper upgrade on my fiero-ari and the parts dude is asking me if the grand am has the performance package?? Anyone have any info on this?

[Fierofool]

I think the Grand Am upgrade consists of vented rotors and calipers.  Anything beyond that would require more modifications, I would think, and would be separate of the actual Grand Am brake upgrade that most Fiero people speak of.  You can look at the kit on The Fiero Store's website and see that there's nothing beyond what bolts onto the spindle.

[TopNotch]

I'm not 100% sure, but I think you need the Grand Am performance rotors.

[MaxswellSpy]

Cant seem to find much info on it. Apparently there's 2 different calipers, the plain old grand am calipers and the performance grand am calipers...

[Fierofool]

Call an auto parts store and ask for a caliper rebuild kit for that year Grand Am.  They will probably ask you about which brakes it had, if there is a standard and performance package.  Probably will be a difference in piston bore or number of pistons.  Brake shoes would probably be different, too. 

[MaxswellSpy]

There are two types.. the regular and the performance.  I am trying to find info on which type, reg or performance is used for the swap.

[Fierofool]

Looking at The Fiero Store's information on the upgrade, it says that the calipers have 5mm larger pistons.  I'm not sure if that's 5mm larger than the Fiero or 5mm larger than standard Grand Am pistons.  The only club member I know of that's done the upgrade was Aerodonamic but he passed away in March. 

If you register on Pennocks Fiero Forum and ask the question in the Technical Discussions section there, I'm sure you'll get a quick answer.  If you do, post the answer here so we will know, too. 

[TopNotch]

I did the upgrade on my red SE (now sold), but I bought the kit from the Fiero Store, so I didn't need to know the particulars of the calipers. When I replaced the rotors later, I bought some from Ebay for an "88 Grand Am", and didn't specify  any particulars other than the year, and they were the right size.
I used the same kind of rotors on the back, with 85 Cadillac rear calipers and the adapters sold by a Pennocks member (can't remember who right now).
My brother (who bought the SE) had driven two other 84-87 Fieros before buying mine, and didn't like the brakes on either. He liked  my brakes though.