Rob31

My experiance with ceramics is they are hard on rotors, least grip .

dizwiz24

Ok. It took me awhile to find this thread.

The c5 stuff imho isn't better than the j55. Rotors are same diameter and thicker, heavier..more unsprung rotating weight.

The c6z stuff and aftermarket stuff is great stuff.

When I first did my brake conversion (to j55), I stupidly used ebc greenstuff pads. The pads couldn't handle a single 80 to 0 stop wo fade.

Now that I put hawk hp+ pads on, its night and day.

So pad choice is still critical. Hawk is the best.

I also used baer eradispeed 2 piece rotors to keep down rotor weight

Don't forget the obvios other brake mods. Drm brake bias spring, earls braided ss hoses and bleedyour brakes regularly.

Wet fluid boiling pt (water condensation in the systm) is typically a hundred degrees less then dry boiling pt.

Get that water out of there!

pcolt94

I change mine back somewhere around 06 and never looked back. It definitely helped my braking and that was what I was looking for.

I only drive on the street and was having some braking issues that I was not comfortable with. The conversion was easy and did not have to change any wheels. I got improved performance and is what I was looking for and the price tag was about $450 used for calipers, rotors, brackets and pads.

GM thought they were better when they made it standard on the 95 & 96.

GREGGPENN

If they wear out rotors faster, seems hard to believe they wouldn't have good grip. It takes friction to wear something out.

dizwiz24

I'm suspicious of the ceramic pads.

If they don't make tons of nasty black dust, then are they stopping as good?

Maybe they are, but ill take the nasty black dust as evidence my hawk pads are working

Alan777

Thats kind of an outdated way of thinking. Ceramics work awesome.

dizwiz24

ceramic rotors (and the correct pads for them), yes work awesome. No fade.

Ceramic pads on iron rotors. Im not 100% sure of for all-out performance.

Ill agree, they may be quieter, less dust, and all for your avg. c4 vette driver they will prob. be the better choice.

but for max effort, I just flat dont know and am suspicious.

Why doesn Hawk list ceramic pads under their race pads?

http://www.hawkperformance.com/motorsports/compounds/

Yet, my dusty, noisy, great-stopping, fade-resistant Hawk HP+ pads are on this list (im sure an entry level - racing pad, but a racing pad none-the-less).

Honestly, I really dont know the answer. Maybe a call to Hawk Tech Support with 'hey whats better STOPPING with iron rotors: Hawk HP + or Hawk Ceramic' will give you the correct answer.

Rob31

Im with Dizwiz24 on this one
Ceramic pads tore the hell out of my fronts at ACC in 2010...they were free ,less dust. Might be a great street pad but not for me .
More time on the brakes = more heat
I did not do a C5 brake kit because that would cost me a point with Midwestern Council
J55s are lighter too
Pad material is the most important thing here
Just put a set of LTS Hawk pads on my Dakota BTW

Very impressed:thumbs

pcolt94

For what it's worth, my J55s came with Ceramic pads. When the pads wore down so did the rotors and I do not drive it hard. So new rotors and Brembo brake pads and so far the rotors seem to have normal wear. Pads still look good and not ready for pads yet. But we will see where we are when I have to put pads in. Probably going to be a while though.

GREGGPENN

I don't want a noisy, dusty pad. It's too hard on my ears, psyche, and chrome wheels. FWIW, I thought NAPA had said the 89 had come with stock ceramics -- when I went to replace the OEMs 30k miles ago. I called BS on their $100+ price tag for replacements -- especially when semi-metallics had served my prior vehicles so well. At 1/4th the price, I tried them--with new rotors. They lasted about the same as stock.

Then, I noticed RockAuto's desciptions all say OEM was semi-metallic. Hmmmm....I don't know. I do know that my local auto parts store lists ceramics as the best. And, they are on a lot of upper-end newer cars. Normally, was used is well received.

As for any particular company, they normally choose to carry what's cost effective to manufacture.

Do a search on (C4) ceramic brakes...tell me how many negative threads you find.

BTW...I didn't know there were ceramic rotors. Didn't see them listed on any website (unless advanced technology or other misleading BS was their description.)

I bought Wagner and Bendix because those brands have always served me well. No noise...no squeaks. Much better than the economy pads/rotors.

rrt898

Does anyone the parts numbers for the J55 or the C5 conversion?? I have a 1986 coupe.

thanks.

JoeIVZ51

I have an 85 and I just want to run the bigger rotors up front. My calipers are fine for now. Does anyone make a caliper bracket that clears the 13in rotors?

And hands down I have always used the hawk pads. They are the best performing for the price.

ch@0s

For 2 years I have been looking for a deal.
I finally foun this i have $320 invested. If you keep an eye out maybe you could find something similar.

milsurpman

Just a added note, J55 brakes were also standard on all 89 and 90 z51 equiped cars. Heres the build sheet from my 89.

GREGGPENN

Since we can't wait more than 45 days to post feedback, this is it. I'm very happy with the Bendix pads I bought. Haven't seen dust yet and stopping seems even better than the semi-metallic's I was running before.

The Wagner rotors were straight out of the box (which isn't always the case with some rotors.

And,
I'm finally certain that brake dust is as hard, if not harder on chrome wheels than rain/snow.

My car is rarely driven in bad weather (never snow) and the pitting inside the front wheels is horrible. Especially on the one side where a caliper might have been slightly dragging.

IF YOU HAVE CHROME WHEELS, KEEP THAT BRAKE DUST CLEANED OFF! DO THE INSIDES EVERY NOW AND THEN TOO!!!!

IBVETN2

I just put J55's on the front of my 86. I designed and built my own custom brackets for the calipers. I was able to change the mounting points enough that I can run any 16" factory wheels. I have 3 different sets of factory wheels. There is the 9.5 wide Enkei wheels made in Japan, 9.5 Modern wheels made in USA and 8.5 wheels that don't say where they are made. There is quite a difference in the backside of the Enkei and Modern wheels.

The j55 is definitely worth the effort. I am running hawk blue pads all the way around. This car is used for autocross and track only. It stops on a dime and gives change but the dust is horrendous. I also installed the DRM bias spring.

I have used ceramic pads on other vehicles with great results. No loss of stopping power and very low dusting.
There aren't many choices for pads for early c4's. I am running Porterfield carbon kevlar pads on the front of my 85. They won't take prolonged track running but they are ok for the street. And they dust very little which is why I chose them.

Cliff Harris

I have the J55 brakes on my '86. GM rotors and Raybestos ceramic pads. I have no problem getting the ABS to kick in with this combination, so the pads are definitely grabbing those rotors. ...And very little brake dust.

trackbird

Brake pads have two modes of operation, abrasive and adherent. A quick search turned up a tech paper that explains it far better than I had time to.

See if this helps.

http://www.stoptech.com/technical-su...ake-pad-bed-in

mako41

I would have to disagree, J55 brakes are an improvement over OEM 12" C4 brakes and C5 front brakes are a definate improvement over J55's. I can speak from experience as my '89 came from the factory with base 12" brakes, upgraded to J55's... better, and than to C5... even better still!

The rotors are almost the same diameter but are much thicker with the ability to absord and dissipate more heat under heavy braking. The C5 calipers are larger & stronger with bigger pistons. They will not deflect under heavy braking like the OEM J55's tend to do under heavy use.

The C5 pads are significantly larger, covering more sweep area on a larger rotor giving much better braking performance than an OEM J55 setup. The C5 front brake setup is also cheaper when it come to replacement rotor and pads as the J55 stuff is harder to find and getting more expensive everyday.

http://www.superchevyperformance.com...c/c4c5pads.jpg

http://www.superchevyperformance.com...c/c4c5rot.html

88BlackZ-51

Hence why ppl do the J55 to C5 upgrade.....