The mechanic told me that the 73 vettes have badly designed brakes. Air leaks into the line, making the brake pedal go to the floor. Stoping is effected, not good! Is there any truth to this? He told me that I MIGHT need to get all new calibers and lines, that over time they (brakes) develop air leaks, true or not? Thanks

My vette is a '73, auto, 454 c.i..
2nd question-If the brakes are bad?, should I replace with an after market brand? Thanks

Hi
The 4 piston caliper brakes on a vette are awesum!
If you have significant rotor run out(esspecialy the
rears)you can pump air. The rear roters need to be turned
on the spindles,because the rear spindles are not
always perfectly forged.


This usually is not practical,or possible.
Your car is more than 30 years old.

Replace the master cylinder,go with stainless sleved
calipers,new hoses,hard lines were you need them,
and enjoy stopping!
Steve
PS Switch to silicone brake fluid!

The mechanic was speaking a half truth to you. The half that was true is that over time all brakes can develop air leaks, especially if regular preventative maintenance is ignored.

Checking the rotor runout is a must to insure you're not going to spend a bunch of money and still end up with air in the lines.

Best case (but most expensive) is to go with all new hardware from the master cylinder, to the brake lines and flexible hoses, all the way to the calipers. This would be the only time to consider going with silicone brake fluid.

At the time I needed to do some brake work dollars were rather short so I opted for rebuilding my calipers, replacing all the flexible hoses, and flushed the whole system with regular DOT 3 brake fluid. If I can do that project anyone can.

I was told by several folks that you should never mix regular and silicone brake fluids in a system 'cause bad things WILL happen! Also never to replace regular brake fluid with silicone fluid in an older system or a system that has rebuilt calipers. Guess the silicone stuff is a 'finer' liquid and will find places to leak out easier.

But if you're going with all new hardware silicone fluid is a better choice because it doesn't absorb moisture as easily and won't gum up the inards of the calipers as quickly.

All that being said, since rebuilding my calipers I've been flushing the whole brake system as part of my fall storage prep and spring turnout routines and I haven't had any issues with the brakes.

Good luck!

Thank you Steve and Norsky,

I will let you know how things turn out!

Silicone brake fluids are good for a show car that is driven rarely, but not for a high performance car that sees a lot of use.

Silicone displaces water which is good, but it also developes air bubbles under hard manuevering and in a performance car that is used as such, those bubbles can cause braking problems. That's why most, if not all performance cars today specify DOT 5 brake fluid not be used, but DOT 3 instead. Use DOT 3 and flush your brakes in your preventative maintenace schedule and you'll have no problems.

Thanks gunslinger,
That sounds like good advice, because I do drive on the hard side. As you already know, the cars got balls!! 0-60 in seconds!
Thanks again.

Gunslinger is right on in his comment. I replaced my entire system and filed the MC with silicone fluid but couldn't get a pedal. A buddy suggested draining the Dot 5 and using Dot 3. It worked like a charm and I got a pedal right away. The S/S lines did need to be very tight to prevent leaking, though.

Just to let anyone know who is following my issue, I went to the Chevy Dealer in my neigborhood and they looked at it. P.S.-Every mechanic in the shop came over to talk and dreul over my C-3. Anyway, everything looked good under the car, so they bleed the brakes and the pedel pressure came right back. I'm up and riding again. Thanks for your help.