R6cowboy

Been searching around to upgrade the stock brakes on my C5. The C6 Z06 upgrade seems to be popular and an great set-up but of course 18" front wheels are required. I have stock size wheels, 17" front / 18" rear. Looking for some good recommendations on either of rotors/pads/calipers for street use, I do not track the car. What brake upgrades do you like/prefer that will fit stock size wheels?

Also, correct me if I'm wrong. Are 13" rotors (for front) the largest diameter that can be used with 17" wheels? Or will 14" rotors fit as well?

dougbfresh

It's how the caliper bolts on that will limit what you can but on. What's the matter with the stock setup for street driving?

MJs1fastSS

even it up and run 18's from and rear on c6z brakes...i play on running 18x10.5 alcoas from and rear with these brakes

R6cowboy

Nothing really. But I'm eventually going to need to replace the brakes, what's wrong with replacing them with something better? I'm interested in looking into possibly increasing the braking performance of my Corvette. If you want to know why, it's just a personal preference on my part. Kind of the same reason why I increased the motor's output to 500hp, if that makes sense. Thanks.

dougbfresh

Plenty of threads on this subject, especially pads. Try Advanced Search. I used ceramic pads from Napa on my last change, painted the rotor hats and calipers while it was apart. Works fine and looks great. I'm guessing that 500hp is pretty wasted on the street anyway.

R6cowboy

I spent plenty of time using the Advanced Search function on this subject over the past couple days. Then I created this thread in hopes to further expand on the subject.

How do you like the ceramic pads compaired to the stock ones? I don't know what kind the stock pads are. Organic I assume?

Boo383

The only difference between C5 and C5 ZO6 brakes are the pads and some red paint. Just put the ZO6 pads on and you've upgraded to C5 ZO6 brakes. The calipers are actually the same. They're just painted red on the ZO6. This is what I did with my coupe. Hope this helps.

CHJ In Virginia

I used the LG Motorsports G-Stop Wilwood 6 piston kit on my Z06. Superior performance on street and track over the stock system especially when using the Wilwood H Pads. They fit fine under the stock Z06 17" wheels and use stock size rotors. Great bang for the buck !!!

chaase

Stickier tires and Z06 pads, which I believe are just hawk pads, are the simplest upgrades. If your tires cannot grip w/o skidding extra clamping force is useless.

Big_George_S

I bought a set of painted callipers and rails and added ceramic pads. I track the car on a road course about every other month. I've also upgraded to an STS twin turbo system. Along with the stock callipers, I upgraded to the dimpled rotors and ceramic pads system work great for me. The stock parts were designed for the car and the speeds it is capable of producing. I agree with Chaase the rest of the equation is the tires you are running . If I were you I'd go with pads and tires.

ysb02

I just put on new rotors, Hawk pads, and SS lines. Feels a lot better. I wouldn't shell out the $$$ for new calipers unless you've really running it hard on the road course.

R6cowboy

Thanks for the info. I didn't know there was any difference between base C5 and C5 Z06 brakes.

First time I've heard of the G stop Wilwood kit. These look like an awesome set up for some serious braking.

Agreed. Tires were the very first upgrade on my car and should be the first IMO. So tires are covered. Yokohama ADVAN sport.

Thanks for the replies

0Anthony @ LGMotorsports

The G-Stop kit has been around for a long time, and had been very very popular with weekend track C5 customers for years.

Unlike the normal Wilwood kits we built ours using a wide body SL6 so you can run a full 20mm thick pad for increased life, wear, and heat protection to the caliper and fluids. Not only that but you have a fixed caliper now, with increased clamp loads, and one that will not spread like a factory caliper under heavy loads.

Bolts right on to the car with factory, or factory replacement rotors so wear items are easy and cheap to replace.


Shown here with a DBA rotor
GStop Package

TPSMak

The G Stop Kit is a excellent kit and IMO the best brake upgrade for a person that wants to keep their 17" wheels and not break the bank. We have special deals on these kits with upgraded rotors also

http://www.tpsmotorsports.com/catalo...anufacturer=12

OR if that is beyond your budget we have our Stage 2 brake upgrade for less money than the LG G Stop but it's a very good improvement over stock. The LG is obviously better because of the caliper upgrade but our stage 2 kit is good also for $529.99

http://www.tpsmotorsports.com/catalo...turer=40&cat=3

racetchr

One note on the ceramic pads, I ran these for quite a while and definitely worked great with superior stopping power. The downside is they "ate" up the rotors. I had to replace the fronts due to excessive wear. Just my experience and $.02 worth.

R6cowboy

Thanks for posting your past experience. Good info

Arttysvette

I not sure if you guys know this, but c5 and c6 brakes are interchangeable. Specially if you want to upgrade your c5 with Z06 brake calipers front and back. I am doing this next month
You get the best of both worlds, great looks and better stopping power.

_zebra

but he said in the beginning that he wanted to keep his front 17s

_zebra

just curious... with that Wilwood front conversion, it says Y2K wheels need a 1/4" spacer. what if i'm running the factory 18x9.5 rears up front? will those clear?
also, would the factory front calipers be a good upgrade for the rears in conjunction with this kit?

R6cowboy

Just to clarify, you mean you're upgrading to C6 Z06 calipers and rotors correct?