I'm upgrading my brakes to 12 " ones from a B- body and the dust shields that came off it were bent to hell. Do I relly need these? It is a driver but Its not like I'm going to put more than a couple of thousand miles a year on it.

Please help.
Whittaker

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

Yup, keeps rocks and other small debris out of between pads/shoes and disks/drums. Sudden, unplanned stops aren't fun.

This may sound silly (and be totally bogus) but I keep them due to not wanting cold water splashing directly on a hot rotor.

------------------
Wes. Vann
Technical Reference section
Gold Member #5

I've beeen running without for 4yrs wet or dry no problems.
Wes in the mountains in the west the log trucks hauling 2 45' trailers have water sraying on the brakes comming down hill...FRED

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

Whit, Just remember that engineers designed your system with safty in mind,don't find out the hard way.Brakes ARE the most important part of the car!

I don't think water would be an issue, since some big trucks actually spray water on the brakes like Fred said. And the brake pads are only a few thousandths away from the rotor, so I don't think rocks would get in there.

My new Baer front and rear disc do not have dust shields either.

------------------
JeffK ACES #01510
Team Chevelle Gold #72
496 EFI/Richmond 6-Speed
JeffK@chevelles.com
Jeff's Chevelle Page (http://www.72chevelle.com)

Do you just think, or do you know for certain?? I have had small rocks get processed through the pad/disk grinder, and lost the brakes in a 24 hour race, on a track, away from everyday small rocks. I know, I don't just "think", it does happen.

Sorry for expressing MY OPINION

------------------
JeffK ACES #01510
Team Chevelle Gold #72
496 EFI/Richmond 6-Speed
JeffK@chevelles.com
Jeff's Chevelle Page (http://www.72chevelle.com)

Nascar rigs don't have shields, Nor do INDY or CART's . Why do race cars NOT have them? Even Willwood street set-ups exclude them. I can't think of a high-tech high performance motorcyle having them either. I'm not disagreeing or fueling an argument. Just asking in hopes of a DISCUSSION.

------------------
Triple Black 69 SS 396

The type of racing Iman is talking about is stuff like the 24 hours of Le Mans where they are running practicly on public roads, debris from the road, the side of the road, fans and other cars gets everywhere.

The reason why the big high stop power brakes don't have sheilds is that a lot of dust get generated when you trry to take an IMSA/SCCA Trans-Am car from well over 100 to say 30 going around the deep bends at places Laguna Seca or Sears Point. This dust would choke the brakes after a few laps leading to a bad scene. Another major point is heat build up. If the sheilds were there then a lot of heated ait would be trapped in with the brakes cause them to never cool off. Deleting the shields allows more air to circulate helping to better cool the brakes.

------------------
Francis Taracido Gold# 201
sniper0666@aol.com
History shows again and again how nature points out the folly of man.
Oh No! You Know She's Got To Go!
Go Go Quadzilla! <oo=+=oo>
http://members.aol.com/sniper0666/page/intro.html

I found new dust brake shields from GM for the B-body 12" brake set up that I'm going with. For like $14 each GM # 344023 left, 344024 right. I hope this helps any one in the future.

Thanks for all of your input on this as well.
Whittaker

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