el es tu

okay so Im at a point of having to choose wheel and tire setup to clear brakes:

The requirements are as follows:
1. Cost
2. factory size tires only: either the 245/285 or 275/325 setup
3. fixed calipers front and rear (piston config either 6/4 4/4 4/2 - dont really care)
4. prefer small factory rotors (c5/c6) but will go with 14" z06
5. 2 piece rotors not an option due to cost but not ruled out for future upgrade
6: pads: dtc30 front hp+ rear (no heatup time required so they still work immediately on the street)

Current options:
1.
Front: AP CP8350 or 8352 front 4 piston calipers
20 mil pads in common shape
stainless pistons
anti knockback springs
stiffest designed calipers
no boots to melt
Rear: AP 2 piston or 4 piston calipers (not sure which model to go with yet - possibly the CP5317)

2.
Front: C6 Z06 calipers 6 piston
stainless pistons swapped in
titanium shields added in as well
single piece pads - delete extra weight of center pins and allow heat evacuation
Rear: C6 Z06 calipers 4 piston
factory aluminum pistons
titanium shields added
single piece pads - delete extra weight of center pins and allow heat evacuation

3.
Front: Wilwood WA6 on z06 rotor setup
stainless pistons
no rubber boots to melt
works with z06 rotors
Rear: Wilwood sl4 on custom mount for rear z06 rotors

4.
Front: LG Wilwood SL6 setup (base rotors)
stainless pistons
wider pads
Rear: Wilwood sl4 on custom mount for rear base rotors

5. Willwood SL6/SL4 kit - Front and rear (approx 3200 for everything)
comes with 2 piece rotors lines pads etc
not sure about pad size or piston makeup


Has anyone cleared these setups behind the base c6 5 spoke early wheels -
and what size spacer did you use?

did the wheels stick out too far?

did you use arp studs or was there some other brand worth considering?

This is not for a full on road race car, but a street car with racecar like performance while still looking relatively stock. The majority of driving will be time trail:autox and hillclimb along with hpde. Considering this, I dont need 1inch pads and the fanciest setup (although it would be nice) - just some decent fixed calipers that wont give that loose feel (coming down from high speed) that you get from the stock setup.

I need to purchase tires soon (current ones are shot) and would like to maintain my stock wheels and 245/285 setup so that I can focus the rest of my budget on getting the studs spacers and lugnuts then move on to the brakes.



Thanks!

Bill Dearborn

I would avoid the Z06 calipers. No sense spending money for a set of calipers that have short pad life, expensive pads, required to remove caliper to check pad wear due to tapering that doesn't show up at the top of the caliper and can't be seen at the bottom, tendency to overheat quicker than other calipers, guide pin freezing in and also falling out issues.

I have the WA6 calipers that are made to run with the stock rotors and like them. If you choose Option 3 don't go with the SL4 in the rear. If you need a Custom bracket you might as well get it for the WA4 and then you can use the same pads front and rear. That is a big benefit to be able to use the same pads front and rear and is the only good thing about the C6Z calipers using the padlets. Using the padlets you can swap them all over the place to counter taper and wear issues.

If you go with the other SL6/SL4 Wilwood options make sure you are getting calipers that use the 7420 pad since it is really thick and will give you plenty of pad life and is lower cost to boot. The LG kit uses the 7420 while the standard Wilwood option uses the thinner 7416.

Bill

TGiuliante

i second the notion regarding the stock C6Z calipers - I would not use them. I can contest for the AP Calipers. I run the 5470's in the front and I forget the model no for rear and I can say that they clearly do their job. i cannot confirm your clearance question but I can say hat they have never overheated (like my stock ones did at the glen at 125mph while going into a hard lefthander with armco right in front of me!). And yes I was running SRF fluid, braided lines and cooling ducts, carbotech pads etc... I clearly do not go through consumables like I did with the stock calipers. I ran through rotors and pads like crazy. if you are going to run the car often and keep it for a while then you will break even and then some and come ahead in the end while staying safe.

naschmitz

Even with a half inch spacer, the stock C6 wheels won't clear the AP8350s. The wheel spokes near the hub have very little clearance to the stock caliper, and when you put a caliper piston and 20mm pad out there, there just isn't room for that.

Would be interested if you find a caliper that can run 7420 pads for the rear. My stock rear calipers are fatigued.

0Anthony @ LGMotorsports

Welcome to the wonderful world of trying to fit 10# of #$%@ in a 5# bag. The narrow body C6 did not lend itself very well for giving us any kind of room to fit a bigger brake caliper behind the wheel because there just isn't any room there.

From what I have seen it takes 1/2" to 9/16" spacer to get close to moving the wheel out. Given a stock wheel you should be ok, but make sure it has good studs and a good spacer to do it.

I have had a few C6 cars that use our G-Stop kit and have done so with very good results.

Now the difference between our kit and the Wilwood kit is the caliper, pad thickness, and also rotors. Our kit was designed to be used with the stock rotors, and we use a wider caliper to allow a 20mm thick pad not a 15mm pad like the Wilwood kit.

el es tu

The z06 calipers' big downfall is that pin issue. I was hoping to stay factory or factorish, but its looking like that may not be a good option
The AP calipers would be perfect if the cost is alright - big issue there is the lack of a price guide - ive seen some ridiculous up charging going on with some companies selling racing brake kits

Weird - I remember seeing an image of the 5 spoke wheels ( I think the wheels were painted gloss black) on Gary's (Hardbar USA) thread about the AP T1 kit. Unfortunately the image no longer exists... no idea what happened to it.

Do you have the AP T1 Kit? If so, what did you do to fit the calipers?

According to the wilwood site There are superlite 4 calipers that fit the 7420. Although if youre going with ap up front, Id probably stay wit h the same brand for the rear just for consistency.

you mentioned 1/2 to 9/16 - do you happen to know how far the 9/16 sticks out (or have a photo)? apparently anything over 1/2" uses an adapter so I wouldnt be having to get longer studs which would make the install much easier, but Im not so sure about how far I can go without hitting or sticking outside of the fenders...

Can you guys do a matching sl4 rear (that works with the base rear rotors) as well and what would be the cost?

Ultimately Im looking at a 2500 to 3000 range for lines brackets calipers and pads. If I can use more of what Ive got now it will make life easier since all I will have to do is get the tires I need rather than having to waste money on new wheels





If no one really has a definite answer on the spacing, I may have to buy some cheap auto parts store spacers and test how far the wheel can go (without driving on it)

http://www.autozone.com/autozone/acc...er=977268_0_0_



Thanks for the replies everyone - I really appreciate the responses!

naschmitz

I have the AP kit on the front and I LOVE IT. Hardbar/Essex/AP doesn't have anything for the rear that is set up to work with the stock master cylinder. Although they have been threatening to do so for a while.

The black wheels in that thread were mine (http://forums.corvetteforum.com/1574806547-post78.html) Those wheels are CCW Corsair C14s.

A different thread had the stock C6 wheels on my car with the 3D model http://forums.corvetteforum.com/1573393650-post148.html. It looked feasible that a spacer would work in this mock up. A half inch spacer was needed when I fitted the real caliper, but then the studs were too short. The Pfadt spacers I had bought were junk too -- they weren't hub centric and were made so poorly that we had to lathe them to make the center holes round. I didn't pursue that approach any further and sold all my stock wheels.

I already mentioned the CCWs for the track. For the street I am running the Ace Slick wheels which are also sold by Corvette Garage: http://www.corvettegarage.com/catego...ls_c6-z07.html

el es tu

YES - Thats the image I was looking for! So they would have worked, but you just didnt want to go with longer studs?

Great price on the wheels - are the z07 the same as the ace slick?


thanks!

PushinTheLimit

Isn't it a bad to use big spacers for racing? I know with my car, I use 1/4" spacers on the fronts to clear my Wilwood SL6 calipers with my CCW Classics and that puts the wheel on the outer edge of the hub. I first had a 1/2" spacer on the fronts but that put the wheel off the hub and all the weight was on my wheel studs. Just seems like that wouldn't be a good idea.

I have another set of CCW Classics that I can use just an 1/8" spacer on the fronts and clears the brakes. I use them for my races and the other wheels for practice only.

el es tu

spacers with appropriate hardware, or adapters are fine. they have been (and still are) successfully used in all types of racing. Porsche even used to put adapters on the turbo 911s.
Id rather run new wheels, but money is an issue, I need tires now, and have a storage shed full of sets of wheels and tires from various vehicles Ive owned which pushes me to not want to add to the collection

also the factory 5 spoke speedlines look pretty good! (aside from the chrome)

Image of spacer/adapter on porsche

0Anthony @ LGMotorsports

As long as it is a good spacer and stud combo...no there is not a problem doing so. We ran spacers on the challenge cars to meet the max of the rules as far as track width goes on the cars.

PushinTheLimit

Good to know.

One set of spacers I use came from LG and I use ARP bolts with SKF hubs.

el es tu

Update:

checked fitment with above spacers. 5/16" looks almost perfect (it could still go out a few mm though). stacking 2 5/16" spacers seemed like too much though - these wheels are a real limiting factor.

I have a similar thread going in c6 technical and apparently wilwoods work alright with this setup (likely will have to be thin pad)

0Anthony @ LGMotorsports

Yes and no...

I have done it, but it uses the front rotors. By doing so you kill the parking brake so it doesn't work much for a street car.

John Shields has that on the back of his car.

Anthony