# Better Brakes/heated mirrors?



## sciphi (Aug 26, 2011)

Try adjusting the drum brakes before condemning them to the recycling pile. The drums on my Eco were way out of adjustment from the factory. The drums will need to be taken off to adjust the star adjuster wheel.


----------



## H3LLON3ARTH (Dec 16, 2011)

In my reserch all tou would need to do is take the rotors off a ltz and mount them on a hub that is if the outside of the hub us the sae on both models and gmpartsdirect.com has everything but one very important part the caliper braket

Sent from my R800x using AutoGuide.com App


----------



## albow77 (Feb 18, 2012)

I also would like to add heated mirrors to the car. Does anyone know if the mirror wires for the ECO could be used with heated mirrors??? I thinks I seen a set on AM-autoparts.com for something like $120. Just wondering if the wires are there?


----------



## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

I think the rear drums on the Cruze are perfectly sufficient. Keep in mind, your rear front brakes do about 75-85% of your braking. Sure, drums can heat up and brakes can fade over time with repeated emergency stops, but if you have to make several repeated emergency stops one after another, you have a problem that's bigger than your brakes.


----------



## H3LLON3ARTH (Dec 16, 2011)

No drums barley fo 40% of your stopping 

Sent from my R800x using AutoGuide.com App


----------



## sam_advance (Feb 10, 2012)

Mhm the brake distribution is definitely not 75% rear. Usually closer to 20%. I'm not sure where H3LLON3ARTH got his number from but that doesn't sound too unreasonable either. 

Regardless, Discs are more efficient and effective. I'd swap them out anyways. I hate drum brakes, so I'm thankful for the 2LT rear discs with Manual Transmission! (otherwise I would have possibly been considering the eco, or Mazda).


----------



## 72oly300 (Apr 9, 2011)

There was a large thread on this a while back. The "simple" stuff is swapping the hardware on the rear axle. How are you going to get the the correct "disc" software that drives the ABS and Stabilitrak systems? Your vehicle was calibrated with the drum brakes in the "system". 
If properly adjusted, the rear drums are fine - unless you are going to be autocrossing or going to track days. If autocrossing or trackdays are a priority for you......... then perhaps a Cobalt SS with the Brembo package should have been purchased....... Sorry, my 2 cents. Optimizing only a single element in the "system" is probably not going to help, overall.


----------



## albow77 (Feb 18, 2012)

anybody on the heated mirrors on the eco????


----------



## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

sam_advance said:


> Mhm the brake distribution is definitely not 75% rear. Usually closer to 20%. I'm not sure where H3LLON3ARTH got his number from but that doesn't sound too unreasonable either.
> 
> Regardless, Discs are more efficient and effective. I'd swap them out anyways. I hate drum brakes, so I'm thankful for the 2LT rear discs with Manual Transmission! (otherwise I would have possibly been considering the eco, or Mazda).


I said rear when I meant to say front. Complete brain fart moment, lol. Thanks for catching that. 

I may end up swapping on rear discs when the drums wear out and need to be serviced. Seems like a waste otherwise. 

Discs are more effective, but when you only need them for 15-25% of your braking, the difference will be minimal. I'd do it mostly for appearance purposes, as you're unlikely to feel a difference.

One thing I'm curious about is the unsprung weight of the drum brakes vs. the disc brakes...


----------



## H3LLON3ARTH (Dec 16, 2011)

Well thats just off the top of my head but yeas 20% us more like it u will changeuour front pads almost 3 times before you need to change shoes snd the weight difference would be hard to determine but im pretty sure the disc setup should be lighter and that just depends on how much the caliper weights but im going with disc assembly just cant get responses from brimbo or willwood im looking fof caliper brakets but it looks like dealer only item 

Sent from my R800x using AutoGuide.com App


----------



## limited360 (May 6, 2011)

Drums have no drag when setup properly... (like from the factory, not adjusted afterwards tho) Discs always have a lot of drag... That is the sole reason for this on the Cruze... Fuel Economy. 

There has been a huge push over the past 5 years to decrease rolling resistance of the entire drive train on vehicles.

Brake bias on this car is 70% front 30% rear.




Sent from my Autoguide iPhone app


----------



## limited360 (May 6, 2011)

H3LLON3ARTH said:


> Well thats just off the top of my head but yeas 20% us more like it u will changeuour front pads almost 3 times before you need to change shoes snd the weight difference would be hard to determine but im pretty sure the disc setup should be lighter and that just depends on how much the caliper weights but im going with disc assembly just cant get responses from brimbo or willwood im looking fof caliper brakets but it looks like dealer only item
> 
> Sent from my R800x using AutoGuide.com App


Wortec out of the UK is selling a brake upgrade kit for the Cruze... All the bigs required...


Sent from my Autoguide iPhone app


----------



## H3LLON3ARTH (Dec 16, 2011)

limited360 said:


> Wortec out of the UK is selling a brake upgrade kit for the Cruze... All the bigs required...
> 
> 
> Sent from my Autoguide iPhone app


Sweet thanks man

Sent from my R800x using AutoGuide.com App


----------



## 70AARCUDA (Nov 14, 2010)

sciphi said:


> Try adjusting the drum brakes before condemning them to the recycling pile. The drums on my Eco were *way out of adjustment from the factory*. The drums will need to be taken off to adjust the star adjuster wheel.


...again, _another_ GM dealership not doing *their* job!!! Brake check(s) is something done during the "new car inspection" _prior_ to delivery to the customer.


----------



## limited360 (May 6, 2011)

70AARCUDA said:


> ...again, _another_ GM dealership not doing *their* job!!! Brake check(s) is something done during the "new car inspection" _prior_ to delivery to the customer.


I do not think the release intent from GM was for the drums to be engaged at all until braking. They used drums to minimize rolling resistance. 

Adjusting them so there catching with no brake actuation defeats the design intent of using drums.


----------



## H3LLON3ARTH (Dec 16, 2011)

limited360 said:


> Wortec out of the UK is selling a brake upgrade kit for the Cruze... All the bigs required...
> 
> 
> Sent from my Autoguide iPhone app


I cant find anything will you send me a link

Sent from my R800x using AutoGuide.com App


----------



## limited360 (May 6, 2011)

H3LLON3ARTH said:


> I cant find anything will you send me a link
> 
> Sent from my R800x using AutoGuide.com App


On their facebook page...


----------



## H3LLON3ARTH (Dec 16, 2011)

limited360 said:


> On their facebook page...


Oh haha I dont use facebook 

Sent from my R800x using AutoGuide.com App


----------



## limited360 (May 6, 2011)

Yeah.. Nothing on their website...


----------



## H3LLON3ARTH (Dec 16, 2011)

Will someone contact them for me and help me out here please

Sent from my R800x using AutoGuide.com App


----------



## limited360 (May 6, 2011)

There is a gentlemen on this forum whom is planning on being a vendor I believe...


----------



## H3LLON3ARTH (Dec 16, 2011)

Yea I thought I saw something on google if im not mistaken his name is tom cruze but I could be wronf

Sent from my R800x using AutoGuide.com App


----------



## Mick (Dec 31, 2011)

If you have patience we should be seeing wortec products here soon. 
Maybe even group buys!!!


----------



## H3LLON3ARTH (Dec 16, 2011)

I can wait till april haha

Sent from my R800x using AutoGuide.com App


----------



## SlvrECObullet (Feb 21, 2012)

Guess no one know about the heated mirrors??? was just a thread about Brakes. haha... I dont know about heated mirrors, does anyone know???


----------



## Pat2020 (Mar 1, 2012)

mmm! Doesnt the Eco come with defrosting mirrors already???


----------



## H3LLON3ARTH (Dec 16, 2011)

Not mine

Sent from my R800x using AutoGuide.com App


----------



## JediSamReye (Jun 27, 2012)

I would also love to know about the mirrors for my lt


----------



## Chevy Customer Care (Oct 29, 2011)

JediSamReye said:


> I would also love to know about the mirrors for my lt


JediSamReye,
For the 2012 Cruze LS, 1LT, 2LT and the ECO they have the following outside mirrors:
Mirrors, outside, power-adjustable, manual-folding
The LTZ models have:
Mirrors, outside heated, power-adjustable, body-color, manual-folding
I hope this helps! If you have any other questions please feel free to contact me anytime.
Thank you,
Stacy Chevrolet Customer Service


----------



## NBrehm (Jun 27, 2011)

I don;t think you would see any real improvement by changing to rear discs versus properly adjusted drums.


----------



## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

Drums have one advantage over disc breaks. They don't take as long to grab when wet.


----------



## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

NBrehm said:


> I don;t think you would see any real improvement by changing to rear discs versus properly adjusted drums.


I agree with this. The drums on the Cruze are also very large compared to other cars. 

Sent from my myTouch_4G_Slide using AutoGuide.Com Free App


----------



## Blue Angel (Feb 18, 2011)

NBrehm said:


> I don;t think you would *see* any real improvement by changing to rear discs versus properly adjusted drums.


_Emphasis mine.
_
Funny you should word it that way, as most people who would like to upgrade from drums to discs feel that way simply because they would like to "see" a disc and a caliper than a drum! BTW, your statement is right on.

This is a cut'n paste from another thread on upgrading an Eco to the Z-Link... the topic quickly turned to brakes, so I offered some input that's relative here:

_"Just because a disc brake setup looks more impressive than a drum, don't assume that it offers more braking torque per line pressure. The calipers used on rear disc brake setups have very small diameter pistons, and this diameter is determined by the desired front to rear brake balance. OEMs do everything in their power to eliminate the possibility of oversteer (rear loosing traction before the front) in any situation, and this includes braking. To accomplish this, the front to rear braking bias is set up so that the front brakes will lock up way before the rears will in just about any concievable situation.
_
_OEMs also do everything they can to commonize parts between models, so it would make sense that they would design the rear disc and drum setups with the same braking torque as it lets them keep the rest of the braking system common on all models. I'll gladly be proven wrong if someone would like to do a part number breakdown of the front brakes with their local GM parts counter.
_
_What rear discs offer that is significant over drums comes in three parts… one being fade resistance under repeated hard stops, two being improved pedal feel with shorter take-up, and three being cosmetic appeal along with the "perception" of higher performance. If an LTZ with rear disc brakes stops 60-0 any shorter than an LS with drums, the difference is tires and suspension, not braking power.
_
_If you drive on the street chances are you'll never benefit from rear discs over drums. If you put a high priority on pedal feel and cosmetics, or are planning to lap your car at a racetrack, then by all means go for rear discs. I would love rear discs on my Eco, but I will admit that my reasoning for that would be 60% cosmetics and 40% brake pedal feel, with a whopping 0% for improved braking performance as this is a daily driver that will never see the need for improved rear brake fade resistance."_


----------



## H3LLON3ARTH (Dec 16, 2011)

Blue Angel said:


> _Emphasis mine.
> _
> Funny you should word it that way, as most people who would like to upgrade from drums to discs feel that way simply because they would like to "see" a disc and a caliper than a drum! BTW, your statement is right on.
> 
> ...


Yea it would be cosmetics mainly for me but I also auto-x and take it to the track

Sent from my Droid using AutoGuide.Com Free App


----------

