Dan H.

Any tips or tricks would be appreciated. I'm guessing this community has done this more than most others.

Is it as basic as squeezing/crushing with vice grips and turn? This was what I heard in the c5 forum.

I bled it three weeks ago for Pocono. It rained all day so the system didn't see to much heat or use.. It's the passenger front caliper, so I got 3/4 bled for next weekend. I'm concerned if I damage the bleeder more I may not be able to get parts in time for next weekend. If it's easy peasy with vice grips or some other way I'll give it a go

Thank you guys, I feel like a newb asking, but I guess I still am one 😃

apex26

The z06 bleeders, as I recall, are shorter and lighter than any replacement you will find from GM. Also, as I recall, the wrench size is different by 1 mm--not track friendly. I bought a much needed bbk, which incidentally solved the issue--except the front bleeders are still a mm larger. Vice grips or an easy out will extract the old bleeder.

spdislife

Wise grips.

fatbillybob

Vise grips and heat if needed. Napa probably has the bleed screw you need. You could take the other side out and take it to NAPA or GM dealer to see if they have one. Then if yes you vise grip out the bad one. With proper wrench size rounding out should never happen. These also do not need to be gorilla tight either. You do not want to damage the caliper seat. Also if tracking hard we replaced OEM caliper because they spread annually. You will get much more life doing some HPDE and not going 10/10ths on the them. If you notice more pad taper and pad knockback and more pad drag when car is cold those calipers are ready to replace.

Dan H.

Thank you guys, the light of a new day has helped since I found this yesterday. I was using a flare nut wrench and probably tightening them somewhere near gorilla tight. I put a socket on it and it got further down on the bleeder and I was able to loosen it. I'll stop at Napa today and see what they have for replacements and grab a few extras.

I am getting some pad taper. From one end to the other I am getting a 1mm difference at about 3/4 total pad wear. 7mm vs 6mm, pads are 10mm new (carbo XP10). Not sure if thats a lot or little. I'm starting year 3 of HPDE's running between 4 and 6 multi day events a year.

I also flip the pads during my prep for every event, inboard to outboard, left to right

aaronc7

After about 4 track days, here's my pads (DTC30) on stock calipers. Not sure if something was going on with the left side or I really need to start flipping in/out/left/right.

Front Right


Front Left

Supercharged111

I rotate pads after every event.

tmtraylor

LONG Pedal is an understatement with those !

aaronc7

Oh yeah, was my first time experiencing it as well. I was super paranoid by the last day and had to skip the last session.

fatbillybob

near threshold braking is 99% in a straight line. When I see pads like that differing from left caliper to right I think of caliper issues. With the Oems we know we get caliper spreading and that effects the wear patterns like what you see. There is of course natural taper. That is why there are multi piston calipers to control that taper. Pads are best the 1st 50%. As you loose the pad you increase heat, increase stopping distance, loose pedal modulation and increase heat fade and can even loose the sweet spot of your heel toe downshift routine. Pads are so easy to change everyone should learn how to do it and carry extra pads. If you don't want to invest intend to run pads down 50% and keep a 50% pad in your go box for a spare if you need them. It is not a bad idea to bring an old front rotor too. When we raced the C5 in T1 racing on stock brakes we killed a set of pads every weekend and rotors in 3 trackdays before they cracked. The real reason for the big brake kits is not to stop shorter but to stop the same on every brake application and have durability and safety and a consistent pedal.

Supercharged111

Ya know the C5 brakes aren't bad on a gutless ABS deleted Camaro. Much more consistent pedal than I ever had on my Z06. My calipers are spread out pretty bad though, I really should replace them, but even I don't get that level of disparity from left to right. I'll run them below 50%, but I can tell when they start nosing over. That's when they get replaced and demoted to spares in case the above ever happens. FWIW I never go to the track without spares, worst way to get caught with your pants down.

aaronc7

Since those pics I took everything apart and checked it out. Didn't find any spread or anything abnormal really. No radial pad taper, so don't really think the caliper had spread. Did a full rebuild and put in SS pistons for good measure. Next time out, going to use real race pads and flip them at the end of the day and go from there. I'm thinking/hoping that maybe a pin was just sticking a bit (I replaced all of them during the rebuild) and a pad with higher heat tolerance will wear better.

We've definitely derailed this thread from the original topic, eh?

Supercharged111

Here's a fun test: remove pads and install caliper. Next, try to slide that caliper in both directions. If it doesn't float freely, it's either hardware or pad bridges. That's how I ID'd my rear pad issue. I had a bent bridge. This was the only scientific way to ID the problem.

Dan H.

This OP is cool with it! Got the bleeder challenge licked and the deviation is a welcome topic. I'm beginning to experience taper as well.

tmtraylor

"Bridges" - is that the surface on the caliper mounting bracket where the end tabs/ears of the pad slide? That bent?? wow!

I have recently moved to the AP Kit for the front but still have OEM for the rear. Keeping the caliper pins greased, replacing their dust boots and making sure the cooper anti-rattle clips were straight was all part of my OE Brake ritual.

fatbillybob

I never flip pads and I may no longer flip tires despite owning a tire machine and spin balancer. I have found that it takes too long to get good mating of the flipped brake pads wearing into the rotor and it takes too long for the tires to wear accordingly. All during that time you are slow and fighting the car. Running pads 50 to maybe 75% seems to be as much as you can expect and get the most performance. Once that sweet spot is gone the fun is over. I see why now running things with cheap consumables makes so much sense because you really never wear out the consumables but you use up the good part.

Soloontario

I too have found that flipping pads leads to a lower and softer pedal than before, but maybe I am not doing it right or maybe it takes a lot longer than I expect to get the pads to mate to the rotor.

I have also found that different pads taper to different degrees, some significantly less than others

fatbillybob

uneven wear also happens when traction control is left on a lot too. Even if you don't feel TC the pads will tell you that "it is not all you." As noted in the famous C7 video TC can make one a hero. If I see weird wear or the car is difficult to push around the paddock meaning more caliper drag it is time to rebuild calipers. Things that can also make for more frequent rebuilds is running the pads out all the way and extending the pistons more. They can even **** in the bores and cause problems. With OEM calipers I would replace them rather than rebuild them because we know there are spreading issues.

Supercharged111

There is a method to flipping. You remove both sides and put them next to each other. The trick is to reinstall so that, as they wear, they untaper. Typically, mine will taper in one direction. When I flip, they untaper and then retaper at which point I flip. Last race was pretty easy, it was a rain/snow day on Saturday so the car didn't get pushed as hard. I should have taped off the cooling ducts some, because the pads didn't really bite on Saturday. Sunday was warm and the pedal was great all day. On this last inspection, I deemed them good enough to remain in place.

JEPopp

Exact same thing happened to me. Use the next size smaller socket, stock is 10mm, get a 5/16 I think. Lightly tap it on the bleeder and use a socket wrench to remove. Then replace the rounded bleeder with a new one.