Mattie Num Nums

Hey everyone so I have been searching and searching on the right brakes and rotors to pick up. I have C5 Coupe with 635RWHP (18" SSR Comp Type CH Wheels) and I Road Race primarily and don't care if they squeak to all hell (my car already sounds like a sewing machine and steroids.) I would like some killer brakes without having to spends thousands of dollars. I've asked and received too many varying answers so here I am, asking the pro's.

Am I better off getting a BBK on the front only or is their another tried and true combination that will get me the stopping power I'd like without have a pedal that feels like pudding.

Thanks for the help everyone!

StreetSpeed

What do you mean by "thousands of dollars"? Killer brakes cost thousands of dollars and are worth every penny. I'm using the AP Racing sprint kit and am very satisfied with its performance for $2600 or so.

C6psi

ROAD RACE + 635 RWHP = Thousands of dollars on killer brakes, and cooling. Confidence every time you go to the pedal is worth every penny.

Mattie Num Nums

I've been looking at Hawk HPS+ and Rotors all around. I've been reading that the HPS+ are good and some say they aren't good at high speed. The track I run at I can regularly hit 150+ on the straights. My tuner recommended HPS+ and Bosch Rotors. Ill spend $2000-$2500 installed.

What about running BBK's up front only?

FASTFATBOY

$2000 for rotors and pads? Wahhhhaaaaaat?????

With that much power the stock caliper will spread eventually.

This is the best hybrid bit, stock style rotors and good calipers.

http://www.lgmotorsports.com/product...oducts_id=1882

You have 18 inch wheels so your possibilities are endless, if you track the car the BBK will pay for itself over time as the pads are thicker and cheaper than stock C6 style pad shapes.

You only need a BBK on the front, there is also a kit that you can mount your stock front stuff on the rear(I think).

FuriousDonuts

What are your goals? Looking for the optimal track setup, or do you just want to have better brakes for the occasional event while maintaining streetability? Running sticky tires?

At those speeds, I think you'll find that HPS+ just aren't up to the task. However, full race pads (e.g. Hawk DTC-70) are hard on rotors and don't stop very well until they get up to temp-- making them less than optimal for the street. Some guys will swap pads before and after events.

The oem system is actually pretty darn good - has plenty of brake torque to lock up the tires. The primary benefit of a bbk is that it will help your system better absorb heat and stay consistent longer.

If your main goal is to get better stopping power, focus on brake pads, cooling ducts (to help reduce pad fade), and tires.

If your goal is to get a better pedal feel, make sure you aren't boiling fluid or dealing with pad knockback - focus on brake fluid (something like RBF600 or better), install stainless steel brake lines, brake ducts (to help reduce heat to the fluid), and upgrade your wheel hubs to SKFs.

If after doing all of the above and you're still dealing with a mushy pedal, pad fade, or easily cracked rotors, then it's time to get serious about a BBK. $$$ is pretty unavoidable, but when it comes to stopping from 150mph, are you sure you want to go with the cheap stuff?? Something to think about.

Just my $.02, so take it for what it's worth!

Bill Dearborn

HPS are street pads. If you mean HP+ they are more track oriented but are probably not the best for you. One thing you will still get plenty of pad tapering from the stock calipers. A lot of what you do depends on how often you will track the car. The lowest cost front BBK you can invest in is the LG G Stop kit. It will fit under the stock C5Z 17 inch front wheel. I ran this kit on my C5Z for 4 years and it saw a lot of track duty. It has the 7420 pad which is thick. The Wilwood H compound 7420 pads run about $200 a set and will last about 10 track days. If you want you can run the stock C5 rotors but under hard use you will only get 3 or 4 track days out of a stock or stock replacement rotor. I haven't been especially impressed with the lifetime of 2 piece rotors since the cost analysis shows it is more cost effective to go with the cheap rotors and replace them twice as often.

This set up will meet a large part of your needs but will still leave you with the small rear brakes but meets the requirements you stated in your first post. If you want to upgrade the rear brakes I wouldn't move the front stock calipers to the rear as you will lose the parking brake. The next step up from the LG kit is the Wilwood W6A/W4A caliper and rotor set. Both calipers use the 6617 pad which isn't quite as thick as the 7420 but will allow you to use the same pad shape front and rear.

Bill

Mattie Num Nums

My goals are to go to the track 6-8 times a year. I would like an aggressive track setup that will still allow me to drive around on the streets. After the last track day my brakes felt horrid. After maybe 3 laps I found myself needing to brake earlier and earlier and earlier with the pedal feeling super mushy. I am due for new brakes anyways so I figured maybe do something nice.

http://www.lgmotorsports.com/product...oducts_id=1882

Those look interesting!

The wheels I have are 18" are they were on a C5 Z06. I don't plan on running stickies but who knows!

taken19

A mushy pedal lends itself to brake fluid overheating and about ready to boil. Be sure to change fluid as well. ATE is good but RBF 600 is much better. SRF is the best of the best. Buy what your wallet can afford but don't go cheap on fluid either!

JRitt@essex

FuriousDonuts is on the track for the typical C5. You would do race pads for the track (not HPS, or even HP+ for that matter), good fluid, stainless steel lines, and brake ducts. That would cover many individuals new to the track. Given the power of your car however, I don't think that's going to cut it for very long, unless you are running tracks that are very easy on brakes. What tracks will you be visiting?

Also, everyone says they will stick on street tires...they don't! Everyone wants to go faster, and loves the grip of R compounds. My advice would be to resist that urge for a while and stick on the street tires for your first year. You'll learn more about the car and likely be safer. That said, I'd plan my brakes to involve stickies though.

Due to the massive horsepower, your car is going to reach silly speeds at the end of any substantial straights, almost regardless of how it exits corners. That means you'll be pouring huge energy into the brakes.

If it were my car, I'd skip straight to a 14" big brake kit on the front, leave the rear alone, and be done with it. Based on the oodles of vettes I've set up with brakes over the past 10 years, that's the product range I see with the best fit for your power level.

We (essex) offer a couple of options.

Finally, here is an article I wrote on big brake kit benefits you may not have considered. Ultimately, after buying a big brake kit, almost all of my customers tell me they wish they had done it sooner.
What happens with many people is they buy the race pads, lines, fluid, spare oem-sized discs, ducts, etc., which ends up costing $1,000. Then they quickly realize that it's not enough. Then they have to go out and buy a BBK on top of that. The kit has a substantial upfront cost, but you save money on consumables because the components don't wear nearly as quickly as the OEM equipment. They also give you far more consistent performance, boost confidence, and eliminate many of the headaches that creep into the average day at the track with stock brakes (fade, bleeding, lost track time, etc.). If you plan to track the car for a few years, you recoup the costs, and eliminate a lot of headaches in the process.

Hopefully that helps. You can feel free to contact me anytime to discuss the particulars of your situation. Good luck, and have fun.

TheKomoman

Jeff giving you great advice there. Cooling is so often overlooked and most folks don't even realize the "big" brake kits are big because it spreads the heat! Most just think big = more stopping force and it does, but it's not about clamping force, it's about heat dissipation. To my mind brake ducts are required hardware for the amount of on track use you intend. 6-8 times on track a year is not just a little bit of track time, invest in the safety of good brakes.

Adam@Amp'dAutosport.com

At 635 RWHP you need cooling and I would only run SRF fluid. Your going to need it. As far as pads what tires are you using?

FASTFATBOY

As stated above stay on a street tire for the first 10 events. 200 tread wear or harder tires. They last longer, cheaper and give you warning that you are making mistakes. Street tires REALLY teach you how to drive on a slick or R Comp tire. I don't even hear my NT-05 street tires anymore...I FEEL what the car is doing....you can feel when it first starts to slip which is all you will get on a R Comp tire and you better be able to identify it.

Also stated above, if you are without a doubt going to track the car buy a big brake kit now, dont skimp ....buy it. It will pay for itself over time, C6 pad shapes are $250 for a race set of pads(fronts only), the 7420 pad shape for a BBK are less than $200 for a race set and are .200 or .250 thicker which equals more pad life for less money.

My C6 setup was around $800 for my Camaro, with the pads it has eaten I could have damn near bought a BBK by now and it would have been paid for.

Mattie Num Nums

I have Falkens I forgot which ones, it is the model below the Azenis.

So it is possible to BBK up front only? Id do the rears at some point. When I race now I don't hear the tires or anything. I fancy myself a pretty good driver (nannies off) but I know for a fact I need something with these brakes.

Thanks for all the great advice everyone. I like those LG's. I was hoping to spend 1500-2500 installed and those look like they are going to fit the bill.

FASTFATBOY

The best part of the LG GStop kit is you can run stock C6 rotors with it, $45 each for a Brembo blank is very appealing to me. But I have 17 inch wheels and want to keep them.

You have 18 inch wheels, with that much power I would move to a 14 inch rotor setup.

Mattie Num Nums

I am probably going to get these:
http://www.lgmotorsports.com/product...oducts_id=1882
with the slotted rotors.

Reason being I would like to pick up a light pair of 17's I can put Falken Azenis on.

FASTFATBOY

Use blank rotors, no need for the car show slots, dimples or drilled.

Mattie Num Nums

So basically buy the Gstops without rotors and then pick up some blanks? The rotors are a $250 option with the Gstop kit.

Charley Hoyt

Doesn't the Gstop kit use Wilwoods calipers? When I was shopping for my BBK many people (including LG) said that the Wilwoods were a decent intermediate step but highly recommended going to a BBK set up. I ended up going with Stoptechs for the front and back and really like them. I understand that because the Stoptech kits are designed to match the balance of the stock brakes there is no problem using them just in the front. I considered the AP set up also, but didn't want the noise of full floating rotors for a dual use car.

Bill Dearborn

The G Stops did just fine for me running 15 to 20 days per year in the advanced and instructor run groups. Stock/NAPA/Cheap rotors would crack in 3 to 4 days front or rear. I had DRM ducts and LG spindle ducts. Never boiled the fluid on the C5Z. I would typically run H compound pads front and rear as well. Maybe if I had been racing wheel to wheel I might have wished for something better but the G Stop kit ended my long pedal due to tapered pads, gave me consistent braking and cheaper costs.

Bill