For 2011 brakes where not my only issue, I had been relying on the tires the car had on it when I bought it. I had replaced one that would not hold air with a used tire, but I had pushed my luck with them as far as I could.
So to prevent any un-repairable body damage I decided it was time for new tires.
When it comes to tires it is one of those items I prefer to buy American when I can. Sadly there are very few companies American owned anymore. Goodyear/Kelly Springfield and Cooper Tires are the only ones left for street use.
The factory size for a 1983 was 205/70-14, The rim size on the car is a 15". To keep close to the original tire diameter I elected to go with a 215/60-15 Kelly Charger. I did consider a 225/60-15 like the later Fox body cars used but that size was not available in a "sport" tire by Goodyear or Kelly.
With new rubber on the ground it was time to deal with the brakes.
As you can see here the front rotors on the RS where beyond saving and needed to be replaced. In these pictures you can see 2 major cracks on just the outer side, this is the brake that caught fire.
Since I was going to need to replace both rotors I was lucky that I still had the original 4 lug rotors from my 87. While I never planned on major mods on the RS this would be an upgrade from the 10" to 11" brakes.
Since I already had 15" wheels and never planned on going back to 14" this would work out fine. The only thing is I would need the new spindles. Because I had converted my 87 LX over to the SN-95 spindles I still had the old spindles as well.
One other extra to make this a really worthwhile conversion upgrade was a set of 73mm calipers.
The rear brakes where in bad shape as well. The drums where ok but I did find a few broken springs and the automatic adjuster cam on one wheel was broken too.
I replaced the broken parts and some new pads made it good.
While I was playing with the front I noticed the steering rack had a lot of play in it. Because the 87 LX wasn't going anywhere for a while I pulled the good rack out of it and installed it on the RS.
Now all that was left was a trip down to the alignment shop to get everything straight.
Now a little parting video of a test run up to about 100 mph. "But officer my speedometer said I was only doing 85!"