2010 Chevy Camaro Gets Mysterious Brake Weights

Forumites at Camaro5 have been collectively scratching their heads for a couple days, wondering why there appear to be two layers of lead wheel weights stuck onto their brake calipers. It's a mystery Charlie Brown!

The confusion started when a poster uploaded an image of his new Camaro's Brembo calipers, on which were riding two rows of lead weights, normally affixed to the inside of a wheel rim to balance the tire. This led everyone with a Camaro to run outside to see it their mullet machine's also had the weights, which they do, at least on among the folks on the forum. GM has not answered to the confusion yet, but the leading theory is they were place on the caliper as a quick and dirty fix to alleviate brake squeal. From a physics perspective, this explanation is plausible, as resonant frequency is in large part determined by mass, and by changing the vibrating mass of the caliper with the weights, a troublesome squeal would be eliminated for a particular driving condition.

The trouble is if they're using normal brake weights, the heat cycling of the caliper will eventually cause the adhesive to fail and, if things get too serious on the track, the lead could actually melt. Though it's an odd issue and not really a big deal, we'll be keeping you in on the loop during Camaro brake-gate, though we recommend Camaro owners visit their local dealer and have their muffler bearings, blinker fluid, and piston-return springs checked out, just in case. Click here for the high-resolution image. Thanks for the tip Ethan! [Camaro5]

Send an email to Ben, the author of this post, at ben@jalopnik.com.

publish on Facebook

Upload an image | Add an image URL ×

Image URL: ×

Youtube URL: ×

Choose a file to upload:

×

Dsmvwl  Admin  Promote to frontpage Approve user Ban user ×

Loading comments ...

Earlier discussions | Other discussions | Show all discussions | Show featured discussions only | Expand all threads Collapse all threads
Start a new discussion