Drum to RS rear disc conversion

[Stew]

Dose anyone have an idea of the weight difference between the original drums and the new rear discs ?

I wish I would've thought to weigh the drum vs disc parts. Honestly I can't imagine any difference being more than about a pound either way, it's got to be pretty inconsequential.

The parts you take off that have any meaningful weight are the drums and backing plates, but then you put on the discs and calipers, it's got to be a wash.

 

[nickalltogether]

Just bought a whole rear axle with brakes from a wrecked RS. Probably going to just roll the whole axle under rather than going piece by piece...

Excited to have discs all the way around! This plus the encore rotors up front should be a nice subtle aesthetic upgrade for me.

 

[Stew]

Good find on the axle, post up some pics of the swap when you get to it!

 

[nickalltogether]

Will do. Should be about 2 weeks from now I'm guessing.

For anyone looking for the parts, try using car-part.com and search for 2014 Sonic axle beam. From there you can choose RS. There seemed to be a decent number out there, complete, ranging from $350-500.

 

[MaD]

I've been using car-part for a very long time... they are awsome for parts... [emoji106]

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[nickalltogether]

Alright guys. I am a huge proponent of buying a whole axle. The rear hub assembly bolts on with 4 bolts. I literally was able to unbolt both disc brake assemblies as a whole from the axle in less than a minute with a 3/8" impact. Removing the drum assemblies from the car took a little longer, but they came off the same way. Brake lines and ABS sensor were easy; the hardest part of the whole install was the e-brake cables.

Is the performance worth the cost? Not sure, but it sure as hell looks better, and it's one more thing for the ole mod list. Thumbs up Stew for blazing the trail on this one.

 

[Stew]

That does sound easier than how I did it! And yeah, getting the parking brake cable through that passenger side hole was probably the biggest pain in the butt.

 

[nickalltogether]

So true. My rear seat was also a huge PITA to get out and now I can't manage to click it back in... haven't spent much time trying to, but normally they come out and in way easier than this one has.

 

[Stew]

UPDATE: Check those brake lines

So while rotating my tires I noticed the rear brake lines had been rubbing on a couple of things as the suspension moves up and down. This is not good! It had been wearing into the rubber line and I had to sleeve it with a larger diameter rubber line to stop the wear until I could replace them.

This is the original rear brake line from when I did the conversion, you can see on the plastic shock splash-guard where the wear points are:

The fix is to replace the brake line and simply give it a loop to keep everything tucked in nicely:

This looks like it should clear everything by a good margin and I wish I would've anticipated this in the first place. I'll check on it in a few thousand miles but I think it'll be fine from here on out.

This could've been very bad had that rubber line worn all the way through so make sure to check on your work, especially when changing things from the factory setup.

=====

Edit: No, I won't tell you where I got my special edition copper rear discs!

 

[Stew]

Giving an update to the newer way of installing the rear flexible brake hose. After several months the brake hoses have not moved around at all, still lots of clearance around everything, looks good!

 

[Stew]

Ok boys and girls, after experiencing a moment with a pucker factor of 10, I have made a further revision on securing the flexible rear brake hose. See, apparently in warm summer weather the hose can become flexible enough to unwind itself under pressure and stand at attention like an 18 year old male judging a wet t-shirt contest.

This is bad because this makes the brake hose rub itself all over that wheel until it bursts making it all wet with fluid. We need to keep that thing tied down with the fluid INSIDE.

Here's what can happen:

And here's how we're going to do that. Grab three zip ties, one around each hose and one connecting them together:

 

[NDarkling]

So I pulled the trigger on all the parts. Total cost for all new components minus the caliper bracket mounting bolts (4), which can be reused from the drum setup (according to the info found in this thread) came to $596.58. Add in the cost of the G2 Epoxy Paint I plan on treating the calipers and brackets with and it came up a bit.

I just wanted to update this thread since I found something incorrect. Not incorrect actually, just an update.

The ebrake cable is indeed one part number for both sides joined at the yoke.
The new GM part number is: 95301025

Perhaps the OP would like to update the first post.

Secondly.... and I may have not read this correctly, or I'm just confused, but the flexible brake lines... are those a one piece line? I'm seeing info online mentioning an upper and lower line. I opted to go with Centric brand units that stated it's for both sides, part number: 15062471

Hopefully I'm not wrong with those brake lines ;p

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[Stew]

Done and done. Yep, that flexible rear brake line is just a one piece item. Now that you mention it, there was a revised part number for the rear brake line when I recently ordered that replacement, perhaps the old part number now references something different? Thanks for the heads up!

 

[skurtov]

So I pulled the trigger on all the parts. Total cost for all new components minus the caliper bracket mounting bolts (4), which can be reused from the drum setup (according to the info found in this thread) came to $596.58. Add in the cost of the G2 Epoxy Paint I plan on treating the calipers and brackets with and it came up a bit.

I just wanted to update this thread since I found something incorrect. Not incorrect actually, just an update.

The ebrake cable is indeed one part number for both sides joined at the yoke.
The new GM part number is: 95301025

Perhaps the OP would like to update the first post.

Secondly.... and I may have not read this correctly, or I'm just confused, but the flexible brake lines... are those a one piece line? I'm seeing info online mentioning an upper and lower line. I opted to go with Centric brand units that stated it's for both sides, part number: 15062471

Hopefully I'm not wrong with those brake lines ;p

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Geez 596? You didn't pull any parts from junkyards or anything?

 

[NDarkling]

Geez 596? You didn't pull any parts from junkyards or anything?

Just gotta shop around.

-R1 concepts geomet slotted (not drilled) rotors and ceramic pads - $92.02 on ebay

-Calipers (left and right) - $167.24 on amazon

-Mounting Plates (left and right) - $47.64 on amazon

-Caliper Pins (2 sets) - $31.04 on amazon

-Caliper pin bolts (4) - $38.08 on rockauto

-Hydraulic hoses (2) - $12.45 on rockauto

-Splash Shield (2) - $29.35 on Ebay

-Caliper bracket (2) - $126.24 gmoemparts.com

-E Bbrake cable - $28.77 on carid

-Hardware kit - $11.21 - Ebay

EXTRAS
G2 epoxy paint black and red - $91.00 on ebay



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[OssiansFolly]

Damn, $92 for the pair? That is a hell of a deal!

 

[NDarkling]

Damn, $92 for the pair? That is a hell of a deal!

With the pads. I've also order a matching set for my front disc setup. I lost my **** with them over the phone with they tried telling me all fbody GM's came with a 5x118 pattern. "Sir we've sold thousands of these" that may be true, and technically they'll fit... but that's not the correct bolt pattern. Idiots... I would've sent them back were it nor for me planning on redrilling them for 5x105 anyway.

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[NDarkling]

After G2

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[OssiansFolly]

With the pads. I've also order a matching set for my front disc setup. I lost my **** with them over the phone with they tried telling me all fbody GM's came with a 5x118 pattern. "Sir we've sold thousands of these" that may be true, and technically they'll fit... but that's not the correct bolt pattern. Idiots... I would've sent them back were it nor for me planning on redrilling them for 5x105 anyway.

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Yea, that is a great deal for the pair. I was looking yesterday and the best I saw was $185.

 

[NDarkling]

Yea, that is a great deal for the pair. I was looking yesterday and the best I saw was $185.

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.com/ulk/itm/351674009606

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