I'm thinking about taking the dust shields off of the brakes because they're making a lot of noise on turn in.

Any reasons why I shouldn't do this?

thanks

yes because you will get road debris in the brakes and because your brakes will overheat faster because the air isn't being channeled to the rotors.

Phil

------------------
GTDude
25 years GM experience

quote Originally posted by GTDude: yes because you will get road debris in the brakes and because your brakes will overheat faster because the air isn't being channeled to the rotors. Phil

And I thought it was to reduce warped rotors from water hitting hot rotors...

yeah.......and that too

Phil

------------------
GTDude
25 years GM experience

quote Originally posted by GTDude: yes because you will get road debris in the brakes and because your brakes will overheat faster because the air isn't being channeled to the rotors. Phil

BAH!

No, actually those are good points.

The scratching sound comes from the dust shield rubbing up against the rear rotors when the wheel assembly experiences minor deflections when cornering. The dust shield is easily deformed by debris or a misplaced hydraulic jack or jack stands. I had the same problem months ago and ended up taking them off for straightening. The mounting surface for both of them should have been flat but in fact, were bent. After tapping on them with a light hammer on a flat metal surface for a couple of minutes, I was able to straighten them out. This fixed the problem.

Farknocker

If the shields are making noise when turning, they are bent or the wheel bearings are sloppy. Likely they are just bent some. Usually it's the rears.

------------------
11-Sept-01, The day the world as we knew it ended.

Thanks for the feedback. . .I guess I won't leave them off. Yes the rears are bent. It probably happened during the engine swap. I bent them back and it's not so bad.

However the noise that is concerning to me is coming from the front. I think it's due to the GA brake conversion.

I'll have to take a closer at the design, ubt I don't see how taking the sheild off will cause overheating. There still should be plenty of air hitting it. Also wouldn't the rotors also get wet from the outside. That doesn't cause warping.

ogre, I don't think the bearings are sloppy. Rockcrawl retorqued them for me.

I just bought an '88 GT and it has what I thought was a brake dust cover on the back. I posted a question to this forum and got the impression that this was not factory original and that they could cause excess heat and possibly warp the rotors. The dust covers on my car are black and have slots for cooling and cover the entire rotor. Are these what is being discussed in this thread? Are what I am describing the same and are they original? Should they also be on the front? Can someone post pictures of what is being discussed? Thanks for the help.

been to solo events, probly 100 1/4mile runs (no not all legal) 2 mtn runs and a few "it's the weekend rail on the car just cause" and my brakes are just fine... i pulled the sheilds off in sept of 00...

------------------
www.1fst2m6.com

quote Originally posted by mrcarnut: I just bought an '88 GT and it has what I thought was a brake dust cover on the back. I posted a question to this forum and got the impression that this was not factory original and that they could cause excess heat and possibly warp the rotors. The dust covers on my car are black and have slots for cooling and cover the entire rotor. Are these what is being discussed in this thread? Are what I am describing the same and are they original? Should they also be on the front? Can someone post pictures of what is being discussed? Thanks for the help.

No it is the shield behind the rotors that is being discussed. I have noticed that the rears tend to rub when people do the GA conversion or install new hubs. It's probably tolerance stack-ups. I had my rears rub slightly after I replaced the hubs. I just pushed the shield back so I had an even gap of about 1/8" and they have been fine since. The fronts can sometimes rub due to them being bent or corroded. My original fronts were very thin due to corrosion. I got another set and powder-coated them.

------------------

Happiness isn't around the corner...
Happiness IS the corner.

Go ahead and take them off and don't worry about it.

The brakes aren't exposed to anything on the back that they're not already exposed to on the front.

As for the shields channeling air to the rotors, uh, you're kidding, right? It looks to me like the rotors will cool better without the shields.

I've removed the shields from my rally car and after racing in dirt and mud and abusing the brakes I have had no problems.

On the fronts, I would recommend leaving the center section that covers the hub. This might help keep junk out of the bearing. See http://www.ipass.net/~fieroman/terranexus/fieroman/brakes/topview2.jpg .

------------------
Doug Chase
Duvall, WA
'88 Fiero Formula 5-spd (autocrosser)
'88 Fiero GT 5-spd (daily driver)
'85 Fiero GT 4-spd (rally car)
'86 Fiero GT 5-spd (organ doner for rally car)
'86 Fiero GT 4-spd (fixer-upper, 4 sale soon)

Thanks for all the replies but, I got the answer I wanted to hear so they're gonna come off.

I figure 1fst2m6 and doug drive their cars harder than anyone else on the forum and their cars are still ok.

Plus, I'm putting on lebarron or c4 rotors and new calipers soon so if I crack one of the grand am ones, it won't be the end of the world.

That air thing did seem kind of far out.

Thanks for the tip on the center section.

My service van at work is a new one ton with 4 wheel disc . It has not shields on the rear . I never checked the front . Take them off if you want >>>>>>>>>

Id leave the OEM ones on, straighten if needed. Never use the aftermarket covers under custom wheels, they will warp rotors. I had to turn 4 already new ones a week after I put on a set.