Grinding Brake Calipers To Fit 16" Rims?

jesse1378 · October 28, 2010

i use to have a ford lightning and people would grind the calipers to fit 15" rims for skinnies and slick for the track. there were no issues with grinding them down, the safety and functionallity were the same, just less material on the outside. i was just wondering if anyone has tried this on the 07+ body style. Or if there is even enough material that it can be ground down and still work properly. I am a fan of the old school smal,l wide rims with round tires. i dont want to jack the truck up sky to have enough room to do that and with 17s i dont see it giving me enough sidewall.

OR

what if the "classic" body style rotor and caliper were put on, would that be enough brake to safely stop the new body style truck? what about if the rotors were performance, and the pads ceramic? you guys can fit 16s on that body style right?

just thinking out loud. its time to start deciding what i'm doing to the truck and of course rims and rubber popped up right after lifting.(2" RC leveling kit first, MAYBE 3" BL)

Thanks in advance for your input, Jesse

cerbomark · October 28, 2010

I was wondering the same thing... would a 16 inch rim fit on a GMT900 or will it hit the calipers for sure?

kawtoy_77 · October 28, 2010

I was wondering the same thing... would a 16 inch rim fit on a GMT900 or will it hit the calipers for sure?

It will hit the calipers FOR SURE. I looked into this when I was tire shopping. Found a set of (4) chrome 16" OEM steelies (from a gmt800) with Cooper Discoverers for $200! We tried, but it was no good.

I Didn't feel like compromising the integrity of my brake calipers...... If you changed all of the calipers and rotors maybe it would work.....

Edited October 28, 2010 by kawtoy_77

Matt_ · October 28, 2010

brakes are THE most important safety feature....

Zembonez · October 28, 2010

You'd have to grind off quite a bit of the caliper to make them fit. I sure wouldn't do it. I'm a little too attached to my brakes to go removing metal from the calipers myself..

L76PWRD · October 28, 2010

Tried adding some 16s on my 2006 Silverado, the 16s will fit the rear drums. But the front calipers won't clear the rims.

jesse1378 · October 28, 2010

with the lightnings there was no safety issues. no degrigation in the caliper. it was still solid metal after being ground down. have the new body styles started showing up in junk yards yet? maybe i can pic up a caliper from there and just start grining on it and see what happens

Zembonez · October 28, 2010

with the lightnings there was no safety issues. no degrigation in the caliper. it was still solid metal after being ground down. have the new body styles started showing up in junk yards yet? maybe i can pic up a caliper from there and just start grining on it and see what happens

A lot would depend on how much needed to be removed.

I guess I'm just not understanding why the switch to 16s in a need?

Matt_ · October 28, 2010

with the lightnings there was no safety issues. no degrigation in the caliper. it was still solid metal after being ground down.

How did you verify there weren't any safety issues? Just because someone didn't have one fail? There's a fine line between "no issues" and "lucky".

Did someone run analysis to see what the new fatigue life of those calipers are? Cut one in half to measure the actual wall thickness and do some pressure vessel calcs to determine the stresses?

You're screwing with the single MOST IMPORTANT safety feature on the vehicle. Keep in mind that with high material costs and efforts to reduce weight, I highly doubt there's a lot of excess material there that wasn't deemed necessary by extensive analysis.

Show me some FEA and calc's and we'll talk. But if all you got is "some back yard mechanics did it and didn't have a problem"... then I'd advise you to think a little bit more and consider the consequences.

dlstewart01 · October 28, 2010

Not something I would ever do...

vettelovralexand · October 28, 2010

Does anyone know if a smaller wheel will fit on the rear of the GMT-900 with the drum brakes? I mean, if a 15 would fit that would make finding a set of wheels and slicks much easier for a night at the track.

txab · October 28, 2010

Not one of the smarter things to do.......

brent1234 · October 28, 2010

i agree 100% with Matt your brakes are the most important thing on your truck. Its not you that is going to pay the price of this its going to be the person you rear end!!

jesse1378 · October 28, 2010

they have been running them on 600+HP street trucks since 99 with no failure issues. one of the top guys did have some type of data on it, but i am no longer a member of the forum and i have been away from that for a couple years so i dont even know where to begin to look.

what about the "classic" style brake and rotors. those will allow 16s correct? can they be fitted on the newer body style?

i dont have a need for 16s i just want to try something different.

dlstewart01 · October 28, 2010

they have been running them on 600+HP street trucks since 99 with no failure issues. one of the top guys did have some type of data on it, but i am no longer a member of the forum and i have been away from that for a couple years so i dont even know where to begin to look.

what about the "classic" style brake and rotors. those will allow 16s correct? can they be fitted on the newer body style?

i dont have a need for 16s i just want to try something different.

GM went to the larger rotors and improved calipers in 2005. Putting on 04 and eariler would be a step backwards..