1Day

I was wondering C6Z06 brakes are big brakes them selves, what makes aftermarket ones so much better that it costs 3x ad much?

Also is there a way to get same or about same performance from stock brakes? Do you need to upgrade pads or rotors too?

Thanks

0Randy@DRM

The stock system works great on the street. No pad noise, no cold smearing on the rotor. But once you get to the track all of the OEM short comings come out. The pads last about 3/4 of a day. Rotors can have a short life also, some have been getting long life out of them. The calipers are a total pain to change the pads and over time will weaken. Weaken to the point of caliper flex. For the hard core racer, a big brake package on the front is a no brainer, but the full package is popular because of the look.

Average guy taking his new z to the track will not find the short comings if stock calipers, have good fluid, some air, race pads, and maybe rotors.

We have been selling products for the stock brake systems for a long time, plus big brake kits from AP and Brembo.

I hope this helped
Randy
www.dougrippie.com

OKsweetrides

The stock C6Z system is perfectly adequate for street use; make no bones about that one.

However, when tracking the car, there remains much to be desired.

The OEM rotors are rather portly, and not of the best design. The OEM calipers are thin and are easier to deflect than an aftermarket BBK. The OEM pad(lets) are not a great design and have poor characteristics.

These factors, coupled with replacement cost tends to lend that it's not a great solution for track braking. However, going to a conventional pad is a great step, as are changing to a more thermally and weight efficient rotor. These two swaps coupled with new fluid and stainless brake lines can go a long way in maximizing the performance of the stock calipers.

At some level, you might decide that the cost of consumables and performance garnered might warrant exploring an aftermarket BBK; and at that point there are many offerings that can suit your particular need.

Gary_C

No matter how high performance a car is out of the box, it is still intended for street use within the legal limits of the road. The car is also designed to fill a very broad demographic of drivers, driving styles, and driving conditions. The owner may just as easily be a 70 year old woman in Minnesota, as it could be an 18 year old guy in California. The criteria set by the auto manufacturer focuses much more on a universal comfort and feel of the system, as well as longevity and reduced cost, than it can simply for performance driving and potential track use.

The Brembo systems that are available for the Corvette models are more focused on the performance driving aspect and can address all the short comings of the OEM system.

- Better quality caliper offering superior stiffness, with the control, modulation and feel that is expected in a performance product.
- Better pad shape with increased surface area and volume for increased longevity, and even pad wear.
- Short annulus pad design for larger effective radius resulting in increased brake torque with less pedal effort.
- MUCH higher quality discs, larger and lighter than OEM, with attention made to superior heat capacity as well as improved cooling all adding to the longevity of the components as well as adding performance and safety.
- 2pc. fully floating discs to allow for proper expansion and contraction of the discs through the various temperature ranges associated with high performance and track driving with the possibility of disc deformation.
- Stainless steel braided lines for improved pedal feel and control.

There are more benefits than the ones listed above, but those are the most obvious and easiest to explain. Keep in mind that Brembo is not just an aftermarket manufacturer, but also an OEM supplier to the worlds top Supercars and nearly every high performance auto manufacturer. Along with the added benefit of performance, you get the same quality, longevity, and safety that Brembo has always been know for. The system is designed to offer the most performance possible with the least maintenance and long term replacement costs.

1Day

Wow thanks, thats a ton of info.

Now having gathered that. If you are new @ tracking and are just going to upgrade you brakes, do you recommend getting a C6Z06 brake system @ first since for beginners that would work, then following year upgrade the pads and/or rotors and then follow onto a BBK or just dive into the BBK to begin with?

Gary_C

That's pretty much a decision you'll want to make on your own.
There's 2 ways that I would look at that question.

I personally only recommend upgrades as a solution to a problem. If you are exceeding the capabilities of the OEM parts then you obviously need to take a step forward. Sometimes that's as easy as upgraded pads, fluid and lines. Other times that has already been attempted and the next step is the aftermarket BBK.

1) If you do it in the three steps that you described above it is the most expensive route, but at the same time, it can be a great learning experience to realize what exactly does what in terms of improving performance along the way.

2) There are zero negative side effects that I can think of to the BBK, and you can achieve all that you need and more with one step rather than the 3. If you think you will eventually get to that point anyway, why waste the money experimenting along the way?

95jersey

I have stated this in the past, it really comes down to economics. If you are going to do enough track days, the BBK will pay for itself in about 3 years in pad savings alone. Instead of going through a set of pads every 3 days, they will last almost a season. With pad sets at approx $500 for paddlets, that will add up quickly when you go through a set every 2-3 track days.

0Vector Vette

Do you have a C5 and are considering going to the C6 Z06 brake system? If so, there is more to consider, like you must have 18" front wheels to clear the C6Z06 front calipers. If you are just getting started, just upgrade pads and get some seat time. When you get fast enough that you are breaking rotors, upgrade them. There are more factors that you have to consider when going to a big brake kit. You will most likely need new wheels. Many have a second set of wheels and some sticky tires for the track, but then you have to consider how you are going to get those to the track. It can add up fast.

We carry Cobalt Friction brake pads for the C5/C6 and the new single piece pad for the C6Z06 in stock. They are the best pad out there. Incredible stopping power, no brake fade, last far longer then the competition, and are not hard on the rotors. Give us a call if interested at 630-844-0089.
Robert Finlayson
Performance AFX Motorsports

wmk32

Spend your money on consumables and seat time. BBK is completely unnecessary if you're just starting out and many would argue that unless you're doing really competitive or enduro events it is a waste regardless. I'm not sure about the z06 but with the c6 you'll also get the added expense of having to buy bigger wheels to accomodate a BBK.

blkz

I agree with the above. Get some seat time first ,you may not even like tracking your carbut get some experience first.My first mod after driver has been brakes, lines and fluid. I see so many drivers with mega horsepower and little to no suspension work. I have always felt you can't have too much brake.

Jaraxle_LS6

I started doing road-racing 3 years ago with an $^&(*cough(*import&*cough... Excuse me....The brakes had to be upgraded from stock as a safety issue. The single piston tiny rotors couldn't handle the speeds the car was capable of. I installed wilwood 4-piston calipers that allowed the pads to be removed from the top. Tremendous braking and thermal capacity, and ease of use. It was necessary. Loved em.

With that said. The C5 stock brakes are fantastic due to two things. 1- the rotors are a decent size 2 - cheap. I ran hawk hp+ pads, and was not happy. There was some fading. However, switching to carbotech panther-plus (xp-8) was all the C5 needed on stock tires. Braking at the end of the back straight at watkins glen, the TIRES will be the limiting factor (if running supercars or equivalent). So with just a fresh set of cheapo NAPA rotors and carbotech pads, you will exceed the braking capabilities of street tires ! Thermal seemed fine with the carbotech's, but I did have fade with the hawk pads... I'm trying stickier tires next year, and if the brakes start to have an issue, the next best thing I believe would be to complete the ducting to the front brakes.

I'm not going to lie and say that six piston red calipers that say CORVETTE on them aren't as cool as hell

Timz06

I think the poster said he has a C5 z06. If that is the case, those brakes can take you a long way. There are tons of pads available, and the stock system is used for T1 racing. I drove my C5 z06 for over 5 years and thousand of miles on track using the stock system with great results.

Tim

ghoffman

If he has the C5 brakes, then leave them on and just get pads, fluid, SS lines. Many T1 competitors run them every weekend.
Do not "upgrade" to the C6ZO6 calipers, there is no worse caliper available anywhere. In no particular order: the pins seize into the casting then you round out the hex drive, the pads are thin and taper in 2 axes and are expensive, the powdercoating flakes off, the seals blow out, the caliper flexes, it is heavy, it is a lug mount so you have to run a 14 inch rotor. For 14 inch rotors, you can run the left hand only OE rotor that weighs 25+ pounds or aftermarket rotors.
In addition, I had a marketing guy from PBR (who makes both the slide rail C6/C6 calipers and the C6ZO6 calipers) threaten me with a slander suit because I said these things on this forum! I say bring it on, then I will own part of PBR and then they will have 1 good mechanical engineer. Other than that they are great.

1Day

Sorry for the confusion, I own a C6 which i am in a process of upgrading or rather in the process of researching how to upgrade. Having said that the C6Z06 brakes with SS lines are around 2k and Wilwoods(14" & 13") are 3.7k

Considering this, are wilwood any good? also if you pick the C6Z06 brake kits for the c6 and instead of buying stock pads, get some beefier aftermarket pads, would it be any better? I know someone mentioned that doing this upgrade in 3 stages would be expensive, but would doing this keep me under check while i am still learning. I mean I would be doing 5-6 may be slightly more events next year, if this is the case, would it take more than few years for me to get upto speed to actually make use of the arket BBKs?

Thanks

95jersey

If you own a standard C6, what about the LG wilwood kit? $1400..they are better than the C5/6 PBR caliper, much eaiser too work on, the pads last forever and are definately up to the task for that car. I would personally go with that kit and you will notice a huge improvement and save lots of money.

Don't buy the Z06 brakes, they are EXACTLY what Garry states them in every way. You will be crying and wishing you didn't touch them 2 years from now..trust me, ask me how I know

Dreamin

Well said

KILR-RYD

I was also looking for that info, thanks

so that $1500 LG kit comes without rotors then?

95jersey

I don't remember the exact pricing, but yes without rotors. I had this on my C5 with stock rotors and it worked excellent and I didn't have to replace expensive rotor rings, and used the $25 (at the time) NAPA's without issue.

Definately the performance/cost bargain for a C5/6.

I hate my C6Z06 brakes to death and couldn't honestly recommend them to anyone with a good conscious. It's not so much the performance, but the cost, maintenance reqiuired to keep[ them running. If I knew for sure I was keeping my car, it would be my first priority to change them out.

With the wilwoods I had on my C5, it took me longer to jack the car and get the wheel off, then to change the brake pads themselves. Pure joy. Now just about every bolt in my C6Z calipers are seized or stripped and I have to remove the entire caliper and pull a balancing act to get all 6 paddlets back on the rotor without one falling out.

If this caliper were designed with removalbe bridge, it would be an awesome caliper.

ghoffman

And thicker pads, and more stiffness, radial mount so that you can run various rotors and change them easily, and better cooling, and less mass, and so on. I just don't know what they were thinking

1Day

wow that bad haah!!