Summerfun

Few questions if I may....

1) General opinion on Zo6 big brake upgrade for c3....2-piece rotors 13.06" OD fron and 12.90" OD rear with 6 piston calipers front and 4 piston calipers rear. I undestand you have to have at least 17" wheels for this to fit, which I have.

2) Quick opinion on the above vs. the D8 oe replacemet caliper setup
Bigger is better or is there more to it?

3) I use machined spacers front and rear, rear being about 2". My spacers bolt on and then have their own studs for the wheels to bolt on to. Will this influence the zo6 big brake upgrade components? It doesn't with the ss sleeved stainless setup I have currently.

4) x-amount of time down the road.....rotors need replaced. How hard will those 2-piece "z06" rotors be to obtain. Are they real z06 rotors or are they clones that need a special order number to get them? I ask because I presume that the c3 4 3/4" (I think?) bolt pattern is different than the C6. Therefore real z06 rotors won't fit....I don't believe the z06 has a 4 3/4" bolt pattern

5) How much improvement will these brake upgrades make over stock?
Stopping distances, brake fade issues etc.

I'm not a racer, but our club has the once in a blue moon autocross event.....this is on a very small scale on no more than a 1 minute track.
I have done everything else to my toy so I figured I can just as well go all out with a big brake upgrade, just need as much info as I can get my hands on.

Answer whatever you can or want to, I will be delighted to hear any tidbits

Thank You

uxojerry

I did the research you are doing now.

Options:

1. Red Devil Titanium Brakes - $9k
2. ZR1 Ceramic Brakes - $8k require 20'' wheels.
3. Baer Xtreme or Stop Tech - $7k
4. Baer Pro Plus or Wilwood 6 piston - $4K - $3900
5. Z06 kit - $3k

I decided to get the Baer Pro Plus kit. The kit has 14'' rotors all around and 6 piston calipers front and back. It is a very popular kit on pro-touring.com and lateral-g.net. You have to run 18'' wheels.

Im not able to answer some of your technical questions. Im building a custom C2 from the ground up and decided to not sweat the details. I was told by my chassis vendor that I could not use a TKO 6sp in the chassis, yet my mechanic had no problem with the install. I couldnt have done it but the mechanic had no problem. I would have the brakes done by a professional, stopping a car is important, lol. Good luck with your brake kit, it is one of the best mods you can do. You see a lot of modded Corvettes with 500hp or better. I rarely see sufficient brake kits on the cars for 500hp. You cannot have too much stopping power!

There is nothing wrong with the Z06 kit and lots of people use them. Another option is the Brembos used on the CTS-V. The Brembo kit is gaining popularity but will be harder to find. I hope the information was helpful.

Buddy1980

The C6 Z06 rotors do have the same 4.75" bolt circle pattern as the C3 and the rotors will fit the C3 with a minor machining of the front hub and rear axle stub. I made some custom caliper brackets and installed the complete C6 Z06 setup on my 80 C3. Front rotors are 14" diameter and rear are 13.4" diameter, which fit front and rear with my 17" wheels. Total cost was about $2000 and a lot of late night head scratching. If I need to replace my rotors in the future, they are available at any auto parts store for about $90. Also, if you look at the drivers side of my car, the front calipers are mounted at 3 oclock and the rear calipers are mounted at 9 oclock just like on the Z06.

69427

It's your money, but I don't understand the logic of expensive brakes for light duty usage. Also, what's the weight of these big disc units compared to the stock brakes?

Just my curiosity.

Clams Canino

I agree.
Unless you are competing in autocross - the stock 4 wheel, 4 piston, calipers meet or exceed normal driving needs.

-W

gkull

I had stock brakes with carbon metalic pads with 600 degree fluid. They worked fine until I started using slicks out laping. The other thing is HP My hp went up and I was going faster.

I went with Wilwoods gt1 13.25 front rotor 4 piston. They have more SQ inches of piston than the 6

uxojerry

Vansteel has the adapter plates you may need, if you go with a big brake kit.

TimAT

WIlwood has a sale going on their direct replacement 4 and 6 piston calipers.

gkull

yes they do, but what I forgot to say about mine is that I bought the upgraded "thermloc" pistons. You have to have titanium blocks between the pistons and pads to stop the heat x-fer

Summerfun

I knew this was coming . Being a horsepower junky, things are rarely logical.....well, down to the letter anyway.

I have big horsepower and a lot of weight up front. Just the fact of high horsepower makes me want to be somewhere within striking distance of the c5's and c6's even if the autocross is only once in a blue moon.
Also having done a lot of other things to the car over the years I've had a nice brake upgrade in the back of my mind for some time. It was never 'necessary' but always a wish list thing.

The OE replacement stuff never really tickled my fancy. This big brake kit on the other hand will make me feel good while in the driver seat....just the sake of having it....illogical yes, but smile on a carnut's face knowing he has something cool....tha's why I own the toy, so I can keep doing cool stuff to it. ( My high beams are Cesna landing lights )

Anyway, what I'm looking at is this:

These Big Brake kits require at least 17" diameter wheels.

Front kit includes parts for both front wheels:
•Drilled & Slotted, 1.25" Thick x 13.06" O.D. Rotors
•Billet Superlite 6R Calipers - Black
•Caliper Mounting Brackets
•Spindle Mounting Brackets
•BP Smart Compound Brake Pads
•Brake Hats, &
•All Hardware necessary to install the complete braking system on both front wheels

Rear kit includes parts for both rear wheels:
•Drilled & Slotted, 1.10" Thick x 12.90" O.D. Rotors
•Billet Superlite 4R Calipers - Black
•Caliper Mounting Brackets
•BP Smart Compound Brake Pads
•Brake Hats, &
•All Hardware necessary to install the complete braking system on both rear wheels

Complete kit weighs approximately 101 lbs.

It tells me the complete setup for each wheel is 25 lbs.....yes I know, fronts will be a little heavier than rear.

Oh yes blue moon or not, I have the horsepower and a lot of time and money invested into my toy over the years. I don't expect to ever take c5's or c6's down in autocross, but I'm hell bent on coming close and being competitive :-) See, I can then torture my buddies in the local club telling them Im right there, just a matter of time before I take you down.....even when I don't expect it to ever happen. Make them afraid. No one wants to be beaten by a silly c3, right ?

Right now with stock brakes I'm within 2-3 seconds on a 1 minute track of the leading C6. I want closer My brakes fade after the second turn and I have to start braking very early after that. I'm like a bat out of hell out of the turns, which doesn't help on the next turn for braking...

I appreciate the input guys

666WMD

I'm going to upgrade to 13" rotors for two reasons. First, half a second braking time can be the difference between stopping 4 feet short or 4 feet too far. And second, I can.

Summit can do a full Wilwood upgrade for $3200 -
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/WI...TE&prefilter=1
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/WIL-140-10471D/

Plus the rotors are 2 piece and bolt onto the hub piece. A bit more expensive than standard, but they are slotted and cross drilled -

http://www.summitracing.com/search/B.../?autoview=SKU

uxojerry

Nobody cracks up on a straightaway. With big brakes you can go faster longer, then slow down quickly, to go thru a turn nice and safe. Makes sense to me!

zwede

And 150hp is enough to meet or exceed any normal driving needs. Why add more power?

427Hotrod

Dang Markus....we've got you Americanized! In Europe 150 HP is exciting!!

I seriously just spent some time with a fellow from Germany telling me how fast his 220HP Ford station wagon was! I mean he was seriously excited...and he deals with racing turbo stuff!!

I'm like...uh huh........and a station wagon????

Back to original topic...it doesn't matter how great the brakes are unless the tires can hold it. It's a fine balancing act. I see mega killer giant brake kits on stuff with 18-20" wheels...but the tires are relatively hard as rock compounds that are cheaper and last longer. Then the brakes overpower the tires and the whole effort is wasted. Big brakes need sticky tires to work.

Those big rotors DO help mainly because the clamping force is that far away from the center..but they are heavy also. Heavy wheels and rotors are hard to accelerate and decelerate. I'm just sayin'........




JIM

666WMD

So you what you're trying to say is 18-20" aluminum wheels weighing 20lbs will make a car slower off the line than the stock 15-16" steel rims weighing 40lbs? And the lightweight 13-14" rotors that have been designed by a company devoted to racing will adversely affect the performance as opposed to the standard 12" rotors made from a solid block of steel?

Does anyone actually research the aftermarket options before posting against the OP's questions or is it just an ingrained stubborn desire not to change a vehicle from stock?

uxojerry

Amen!

Summerfun

Again, thank you for all the opinions. I do appreciate all the different views even when my own feelings are toward the other side of the sliding scale. illogical or not.

Why do I need a Vortech supercharged 540 ci BBC under the hood? Probably because I'm a horsepower junky and there is no real logic to describe it. All I can say is, drive a toy with power and sound like mine and you'll see what happens to logic....it gets replaced by a very big smile all over anf through you.

I just want to reduce brake fade. I believe my car will probably overpower any tires you can stick onto it.

My C3 is a driver and it is a handfull. You have to feel it, anticipate what it is going to do and drive the thing. It is a beast and I love it for the driving experience it gives me. Newer cars with newer technology does a lot of the driving for you.....traction control, adaptive dampening etc. etc. Mine has to be driven and anticipated.

With my horsepower I just wonder what will slow my toy down more effectively than other options. The brake fade I have after two braking sessions on the stock setup on autocross (taking into consideration that I did my first autocross event ever on May 26th 2012)stirred a little monster on my shoulder to life. This monster wonders about how safe the brakes really are on the street under normal driving conditions. Yes I know, stock stuff exceeds normal driving needs....yet the "illogical" thought has been stirred to life by the little monster on my shoulder. I've had a stock setup since I bought the car in 1995.

There is only one way to silence that little monster.....feed it. It's like car fever !! Once you have it you can only quell it by buying a car.

I will have the c5's and c6's continuously looking over their shoulders. They will always be better, but they will know that I'm close on their tails .....it is the fun of driving and becoming one with your toy for a while. Roaring around like a maniac on the tails of your 'superiors' is the fun....they know you're there and they can't shake it off :-))

Anf it makes for really good BBQ conversations at club socials.

But I need some tools to help me get there.....38 year old stuff just don't cut it.

uxojerry

Take a look at pro-touring.com and lateral-g.net. All of those guys track their vintage muscle cars. Sounds like your running 800hp or better. Upgrading the brakes is not a foolish effort, it is a safety must. On those two websites, you will not have to apologize for wanting a big brake kit, or running a boosted 540 big block.

Van Steel

I know there is weight savings on the Wilwood 13" front kit over stock. The front rotors use aluminum hubs plus you have the lighter weight calipers. I don't believe the hat and rotor posted below is a WWE setup. I think it's a Coleman hat and rotor which weighs more.

On there rear there is no weight saving on the rotor UNLESS you opt for the aluminum hat version but you will not be able to run parking brakes. You will need a centering ring as well.

zwede

I'm happy with my brake setup:

13x1.25" 2-piece front rotors (aluminum hats). They weigh the same as stock 11.75" iron rotors.

Rear rotors are stock.

Calipers are 4-pot Wilwood Superlites front, Dynalites rear.

Stock booster, 1" bore master cylinder from a manual brake C3.

DOT approved steel braided hoses.

17" rims, Bridgestone hi-perf tires (no hockey pucks).

Brakes feel very modern. By that I mean they have a linear feel to them and it's easy to brake just short of lock-up. I much prefer these over the stock setup.