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C6 Corvette ZR1 & Z06General info about GM’s Corvette Supercar, LS9 Corvette Technical Info, Performance Upgrades, Suspension Setup for Street or Track
Finding the right combination of brake pads for track and street can be challenging for high horse power cars like our Z06. Recently I switched from factory ceramic rotors to RB steel rotors with endless ME20 brake pads and they were great on the track and it was good to have brake modulation again. Endless make very good brake pads, they are easy on the rotors and last a long time. The draw back is that it's very expensive - twice the price as other brand and noisy on the street.
Warren at RB performance brakes told me about the positive feedback of their XR70 compound with various high power race cars and I decided to give it a try. My past experience when it comes to brakes include Porsche GT3 RS, GT3 Cup, E46 M3, civic challenge racer and Z06 - this include both factory ceramic rotors for Porsche and Z06 and various steel rotors. Brake pads range from OEM to pagid racing compounds (pretty much tried them all!), Hawks, performance friction, Brembo (similar to pagid) and few other misc brands. I am very family with both ICE mode and brake fades and hope not to experience them often
The RB XR70 brake pads are fronts only for the CCB rotor spec and I use endless ME20 on the rear.
RB XR70 back plate was 6.60 mm and the brake pad total thickness was 17.71 mm which means the actual pad material thickness was 11.11 mm
The backing fit perfectly and swap was super easy. The rotor marks on picture below was left by endless ME20 brakes pads after both street and track use. The inner pad width is slightly less than OEM with backing plate design that follow the inner rotor diameter.
How does the brake pad feel? Fantastic! It was noticeable right away while bedding the brake pads. It is not noisy and without the shrieking squeals of endless ME20 brake pads. Track test at Thunderhill demonstrated excellent brake modulation and fantastic braking power on par with the best Pagid, Hawk and endless pads without ANY fades. There were other corvette at the track running under the same condition - one C7 vette experience significant fade with OEM rotor and aftermarket pads. From the look of the C7 pads it demonstrated signs of over heating and better cooling should improve his brake performance. Another modified C6 Z06 with 590+ hp at the wheel running stoptech trophy brakes with racing compound that was chasing my Z06 shown in video below also experience brake fade. The combination of RB rotors, XR70 pads with OEM cooling duct and Motul RBF600 brake fluid was sufficient to produce fade free braking lap after lap. I found myself braking way too early and would have gotten more comfortable with the brake pads with more laps under the belt
Track test video - testing was cut short after a M3's untimely stop at T4 at end of video
Brake pad dust on wheel was less than endless ME20 and after three fast pace session with more frequent brake use due to heavy traffic the brake pad thickness was reduced by 0.65 mm. Consider starting thickness of 11.11 mm these brake pads should last 6+ track events running 5 sessions with my car setup and track condition
when new
after three sessions
rotor wear pattern was even
Overall I am very happy with the RB XR70 test results
Thank you for the review, any and all input like this is very helpful. One thing I learned at my first HPDE is how important really good brakes are to going fast.
Do you have a link from where you bought them and a price??
Thank you for the review, any and all input like this is very helpful. One thing I learned at my first HPDE is how important really good brakes are to going fast.
Do you have a link from where you bought them and a price??
Man....I found a front set (meaning 2) of DBA 5000 2 piece (billet hat) rotors for the ZO6 for $292...are these really THAT much better? To the tune of 4 grand?
Man....I found a front set (meaning 2) of DBA 5000 2 piece (billet hat) rotors for the ZO6 for $292...are these really THAT much better? To the tune of 4 grand?
Depends on what you use it for. You can use just about anything for DD but for fast lap after lap on the track hammering on the brakes it's the best to have rotors that hold up. Here is a "cheap" rotor that burst after few laps - and it's not that cheap
I get it, but some questions come up there. What rotor is that because it doesn't look like a DBA? What car is that on? What pads? How many track days/events? Did they do cool down laps? How many street miles? Etc...
Many rotors break...to just put up a pic of a busted rotor doesn't really argue the case well. DBA's are used on numerous platforms and in numerous applications, just like Brembo, AP Racing, etc. I know guys that have run them (DBA's) 5 and 6 track days on Vipers, and GTR's with street miles in between all within standard wear. No life ending cracks.
I'm by no means saying they're the be all, end all rotor. But hell, I could buy 13 sets of the DBA's (or around 8 complete F/R sets) for the price of 1 set of the others. Can you say that one set of rotors will out last 8 sets of the others?
Last edited by Pb82 Ronin; 05-27-2014 at 12:15 PM.
I get it, but some questions come up there. What rotor is that because it doesn't look like a DBA? What car is that on? What pads? How many track days/events? Did they do cool down laps? How many street miles? Etc...
Many rotors break...to just put up a pic of a busted rotor doesn't really argue the case well. DBA's are used on numerous platforms and in numerous applications, just like Brembo, AP Racing, etc. I know guys that have run them (DBA's) 5 and 6 track days on Vipers, and GTR's with street miles in between all within standard wear. No life ending cracks.
I'm by no means saying they're the be all, end all rotor. But hell, I could buy 13 sets of the DBA's (or around 8 complete F/R sets) for the price of 1 set of the others. Can you say that one set of rotors will out last 8 sets of the others?
no worry, just a general example of what may happen to rotors when driven hard - they are not made equal as you have mentioned. Spend your money where you like to suit your performance need
had a chance to test the brakes this past weekend and added XR 70 brake pads on the rear - I ran XR70 front and endless ME20 rear before and now it's XR 70 front and back. The car can stop on a dime and modulation was very good and I notice I use much less brake force to stop the car. Track surface was super slippery so no heroic lap time. Had a blast hangout with my Porsche buddies and Gordon's yellow bee
it's a custom "mikymu Z06R" plastic splitter that cost $90
After destroying two CF splitter by going off track I got tired of paying CF tax and decided to make my own. Took a while to make all the supports but bolt right on to OEM Z06 splitter and hold up to over 140 mph straight line speed without breaking. I like plastic splitter like the one found on my GT3 Cup. You can kick it, smack it, slide it around and not shatter like CF
I made plastic side apron extension too. Still has some work to do to make it just right
Damn, I just can't seem to get that right with my size 14/15 XXX wide feet. I see an autoblip in my future.
there is good and bad with autoblipper. Mechanical blipper can cause damage to your car since it does not rev match according to engine speed. Organic autoblipper is better - you can gauge amount of blipper by your speed on the track. 15 size shoes are fine - this means you have less travel from brake pedal to tap the throttle
I've tried. My foot is too long to turn it sideways. going width doesn't seem to work either. I'll keep trying to get that right, but not much luck so far.
I've tried. My foot is too long to turn it sideways. going width doesn't seem to work either. I'll keep trying to get that right, but not much luck so far.
don't give up. I know some "big foot" racer and they do well heel toe
05-03-2014, 06:31 PM
RB XR70 brake pads test review
