I dunno, I found this dump truck in the junkyard, had brakes that do credit to a 747, think I"ll try them.....come think of it, mount the tire to the rotor and hell with the damn rim.....

GENE

 

I have owned my car 24 years and have NEVER felt that i've had a totally solid pedal for any length of time. Sure, when everything is fresh and new, you have confident feeling brakes for a few months or so. When the car is pushed and abused it goes all soft. So what works on paper or on expensive race cars in my opionion does not work for our cars.

Who cares how much clamping force you have as long as you have enough to lock up with race tires and the C4/C5 brakes have that.

Again i have heard that willwood converts have said they still have a soft pedal so you might be disappointed once you get your car together and actually run it hard.

 

You will also NOT find a "cast iron" caliper on any race car competing in a (big $$) professional series racing anywhere on this planet.... I don`t need to know "why" I just know "it is" and thats enough for me........... ...redvetracr

PS: I use them (cast iron Corvette caliper) because I am supposed to BUT believe me an Alcon or a Brembo would be my choice in a heartbeat.

 

[QUOTE=turtlevetteWho cares how much clamping force you have as long as you have enough to lock up with race tires and the C4/C5 brakes have that.[/QUOTE]


Are you serious?? The C4 brake setup? If there is ONE setup not suited for a sportscar, lacking stopping power, prone to fading and just plain dangerous when you are driving the car hard,...it's the C4 setup. those thin discs get real hot, I don't know if you have ever driven a C4 hard but do it and you will know the true meaning of brake fade, as in hardly any pedal left. Spongy brakes all the way.

 

Guys aren't we going a little overboard here. I started out saying if our brakes are basically blue printed and have help with a hydraboost they are complete fit for 99% of our driving. For a few hundred dollars and a little effort on our part they can be made far better then most of them are today.
I could take anyones brakes and by adding good cheap stainless calipers, good stainless flex lines, truing up the stock rotors and adding a hydraboost and that system would be a vast improvement over what is in that car today and it doesn;t cost thousands of dollars.
Sure for all out racer they still might be marginal remember I was responding with this post to the survey on weather their is a market for upgraded brakes that could run up to $3900 AM.
Twin turbo you want the ultimate in braking power at a high dollar but for that one emergency stop my cheap blueprinted, hydraboost, organic pad setup will give me that one stop just as quick as your mega dollar one. Might not do it again in the next minute but down the road they will cool off enought to do it again. That's mainly what good brakes are all about, that one emergency stop with lots of cool down before the next one.

I have thought about race rotors and hats along with aluminum calipers but it would only be for bragging rights and nothing more.

 

I auto-crossed with my factory brake setup. I had to replace two of the calipers with OEM type since they were leaking. But, it would be expected for a 50,000 mile car. The brakes were awesome...I didn't hit any cones after three passes, and I was really gunning it. The last turn I started into at almost 60mph and the brakes didn't lock the wheels and the car made the 180º corner effortlessly...in fact, if it wasn't for my inexperience at the sport I believe I would have done a lot better with my factory original equipment (including the 225/70 600treadwear tires), since I only beat like 4 or 5 of the regular racers out of the 30 or so that entered the SCCA event.

I think the biggest problem people have with brakes is in not knowing how to diagnose problems...manually bleeding the brake system with this Brake Bleeding Procedure is how brake systems are easily diagnosed. The analysis is simply to figure out where the leaks are coming from, or if there is no pressure at a bleeder valve. The repair is to remove and replace the defective part, like calipers, master cylinder, proportioning valve, lines, hoses, pads, etc. with OEM parts. For example, trying to rebuild the calipers themselves is

Also, once you start changing the system with different parts and 3rd party products then you are essentially re-engineering your systems. I would expect that the majority of people do not have the qulifications to re-engineer their brake systems. I believe the best solution for vette brakes is to replace any worn parts with OEM parts. The only upgrade should be to retrofit to a modern system. Personally, I think the traction control systems on the newer vettes would be sweet.

 

Amen...except for the hydraboost which I have not needed. But, on the other hand my engine only puts 200HP to the road, so it sounds like you are saying with an engine that puts well over 500HP onto the road then a hydraboost is the most that is needed to compensate. I actually, still would say that the hydraboost isn't needed even then. With four pistons in fixed calipers and 12" rotors vette brakes are more than enough for any race car in the under 150mhp range. If you are going to be going over 150mhp on a course, then perhaps larger rotors may be necessary to dissipate the heat. But, I think it's just the heat dissipation that would be a consern and not the stopping power. As Norval was saying 99% of the vettes on the forum are not driving a rigid course and get plenty of freeway or other straight non-braking roadway to cool the brakes off without the need of improving the heat dissipation.

 

I thought vette rotors were 11.75, not 12.

 

They very easily could be. I never measured accurately. I just grabbed a tape measure a few years ago and thought they were roughly 12 inches but 11 3/4 is just as good a guess.


While hydraboost is not necessary it is a big step up from the vacuum booster and takes alot less room. In fact I couldn't run any vacuum booster with my tall valve covers and I need the tall valve covers for the stud girdle.
I ran mechanical brakes for years and HATED them. They required too much pedal effort and I let others test the car and I was imbarrassed?? by how poor they were.

 

rocknroll,I only have 345real hp at the rear wheels but a circuit like phillip island(a bit over 4 miles) has several 120mph + corners and you become very very conscious of where the braking points are at that sort of corner speed and after 4 laps the brakes are fading badly,that is with hp pads and brand new hp fluid bled and properly adjusted a few days before hand....it is much worse on smaller circuits(approx 2 miles)as even though the max speed is probably only about 110 mph the corners are more numerous and slower...having participated in a number of track days about 4 hot laps is enough for most cars(particularly standard c4)the c3 brakes are better than the standard c4 even though they are considerably lighter....obviously if i was a better driver i would be able to nurse the brakes better,but i'm just the nut behind the wheel having fun...john