upgrading vitara brakes (swb)

[cossie1]

Forgive me if this has been covered but a seach of the forums has resulted in no result.

Anyways, can I swap over the brakes from a GV Grand Vitara into my 91 SWB Vitara? I know the Grand has vented front discs (which are slightly larger in diameter) and are vented. What about the rear drums?

[joeblow]

if you want to use brakes so you can still use a wide variety of 15inch wheels then use the brakes of an estate wagon. if you want limited wheels than use gv brakes(16 inch wheels).

[cossie1]

ok cool, so the brakes are bigger and/or vented in the estate wagon? And the rear drums are bigger as well?

what years should i look out for?

[Highway-Star]

1.6L estate wagon disks are roughly same diameter as standard Vitara and Sierra, but are vented (hence also different calliper). They are essentially bolt on. Years are roughly '92 to '98 (I think). Must be 1.6L LWB though.

I know nothing of the drums

[fe11xx]

Just do LWB front calipers and rotors. Makes a difference and it is PLENTY for the weight of the car. I rebuilt mine, have new rotors and bendix 4wd pads, works great even after playing around in the mud. It isn't expensive either, I rebuilt all of my brakes F+R for about $600 + the cost of the LWB parts. Very easy to do and it is a safety issue if running 31s IMO.