Granada
Granada |
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Granada BrakesThe Granada brake & spindle swap has many fans. It IS a cost-effective way to upgrade to disc brakes for the early Mustang - especially cars used in non-performance applications. However, in a performance-oriented application, there are some drawbacks that have not been well-publicized. You can read "Our Story" to hear about the problems we experienced. If you have a street car with stock control arms, and do not plan on significant lowering, or wide, sticky tires, the Granada setup is better than drum brakes. If you have "extreme handling" aspirations, I would be concerned about the geometry problems... I am WELL aware that many people claim to have "no issues" with the Granada brakes on their cars. Yet, not a single person has EVER gotten back to me with their bumpsteer measurements. Saying it's "fine" and actually quantifying it are two different things. Heck, we all have "10-second cars" until we actually MEASURE that! In the past several years, we have heard from several dozen people experiencing some of the same problems. I know that people claim "they measure the same", but if the Granada geometry WAS exactly the same of the early Mustang, then why does the car ALWAYS end up "toed-in" after the spindles are installed??? I know many people who have "no problems" after the installation, but most of those application do not involve lowering, 225+ section-width tires, or non-stock control arms. I guarantee that toe changes are there if they would just take the time to measure them. I think most would be VERY surprised when they find that their toe setting is varying but up to 1 FULL INCH thru-out the suspension travel range. This does affect handling in a performance application! Someone has taken the time to document some of the difference. Much thanks to Dave Robbins for providing the following photographs as he tried to sort thru ill-handling on his Granada-equipped car. While the picture is from a 69 Mustang spindle, all 67-up Mustang and Granada spindles will be the same in this view. In addition, some applications even have a different steering arm angle when viewed from the top as well. You'll note that in the following picture, the early Mustang steering arm is approximately 2" down from a line perpendicular to the lower ball joint hole, while the Granada spindle is only about 1/2" down. There have also been additional measurements taken using more accurate equipment that shows the tierod point on the Granada spindles being ~1/2" higher, 1/2" inboard, and 1/2" closer to the spindle center. While not as dramatic of a change as these photos show, it's still plenty to cause you problems when you have modified the suspension geometry.
What this means is that when the lower arm measures level, the tie rod assembly will already be well on it's upward arc. As the suspension compresses, the tie rod and lower arm are traveling in different arcs, leading to changes in the length of each part as compared to the vehicle centerline. This means that your toe will change during vertical suspension movement, which is the very definition of bumpsteer! |
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