How much better are the C5 brakes than the '96 J55 setup? I'd hate to waste a lot of money doing the conversion for a minimal improvement.

 

I had the J55s and found the C5s to be a noticeable improvement. I never was happy with the factory brakes. I had ceramic pads and comparable rotors on both set-ups, the only other upgrade done at conversion time was SS lines. I also have the bias spring but that was installed in advance of the conversion. It did make a difference.

 

I also had J55's before I converted. In terms of outright stopping power, there really isn't any difference. However, the pedal feel and linearity are much improved IMHO. Some of that is due to the SS lines, but the C5 parts are quite a bit stiffer than the C4 stuff and that definitely contributes as well.

My main reason for converting was the cost of rotors since I'm planning on doing several schools next year.

 

Do you have a specific application you are thinking of? Autox? Road Course? Performance street?

I can't help with your exact question, but I can say, if you have not experimented with different pads, there is a -HUGE- variation in stopping power.

If you are looking at performance street, you'll want to run a pad that doesn't spray black dust everywhere, so with those limitations, you may desire to upgrade to a better braking system.

However, if you are going to do autox or road course and use competition rims and tires, running a pad like the HP Plus, or an even more aggressive pad, will stop you quite fast, but the rims get black in a heartbeat.

My basically stock heavy pig WS6 firebird with HP plus pads on the front only, will outstop my 96 vette with J55 brakes and generic pads without a problem. I can easily engage the ABS on dry pavement.

I gave a friend a ride to show him and I ran up to about 50 mph, hit the brakes, and he hit the seat belt so hard that when he looked over at me, his eyes were about the size of 50 cent pieces!

I only mention it cause on several vehicles I looked at what brake upgrades were available, but once I started playing with pad types, I found I could get adequate stopping power with a little experimentation.

Of course, anything can be improved, it depends on how far you wanna take it. »keith

 

There's a difference. I've made panic stops with both and trust me there's a difference. Of that no one will convince me otherwise.

 

I plan on going with J55's so I can keep my stock sawblades. Even the stock 12" with good pads aren't that bad.

 

Hi,

I went with the GS calipers to stay class legal. From what I have read here and other places, the GS calipers are the stiffest C4 caliper.

As someone else said here pads make a huge difference. I run PFC 01s and 97s (on the track).

Steven

 

You made panic stops with brand new J55 calipers/pads/rotors and also with brand new C5 calipers/pads/rotors?

 

[QUOTE=steve9899]You made panic stops with brand new J55 calipers/pads/rotors and also with brand new C5 calipers/pads/rotors?[/QUOTE NO! I made a panic stop with original 12" rotors and found them insufficent. I thought that maybe the J55 with good pads would be better without having to buy new rims. Correct me if I'm wrong.

 

All rotors and pads in both cases purchased new by me and in very good condition at the times. All calipers in perfect operating condition, not purchased new by me. So what's your point?

 

You'll find the 13" to be an improvement over the 12".

 

I'm pretty sure you know what my point is.

 

Are you implying he went out and abused the brakes without bedding them in first?

I would assume he bedded them in properly after the install, but maybe not.

[Edit] BTW, my interest here is is getting good information. I'm still debating the J55 vs. C5 brake upgrade. I'm about to do it but haven't bought the parts yet. I do want the best brakes (to go with my sawblades ).

I think I have the answer but the responses here are interesting. Let's keep them real. [/Edit]

 

Corvette Kid,

You live in NC, have you been on the Dragon with your J55 or C5 upgrade? I found my stock 12" with Hawk HPS pads to be good enough on Route 28 and the Cherohola. Even good enough for a medium run on the Dragon. But on a serious run on the Dragon my pedal was down and soft about 5 minutes in. That's the first time on a public road I was able to abuse the brakes beyond the level of a race track. And my stock 12 inchers failed the test.

 

No, I gave up mind reading, I wasn't very good at it. And if I'm not sure, I doubt that many readers of this thread are either. I tried to point out that except for the addition of SS lines during the C5 conversion that my J55 and C5 brakes are quite comparable for the comparison I made re/ emergency situations. The one time that I've had to stand on the C5 brakes, I am as sure as is humanly possible that my original brakes would not have gotten me stopped in time, it was that close to disaster in this situation. Having also experienced panic stops with the original brakes a couple of times, I have a base for my comparison. Granted, not totally scientific but coming from my experience and car feel gained from 35 years of driving, high performance driving and some racing as well as what I believe is a well above average feel for what a given vehicle can do and what it's and my limits are.

 

See - I was right you did know what my point was.

Besides the fact that you seem to be a smart guy, I also figured you have read the many other threads we've had on this topic, so you'd know that exactly zero people have done back to back tests of new J55 and C5 brakes with same compound pads.

 

My point was that nobody has made a valid back to back comparison of the two systems. When people upgrade to the C5 calipers, they are usually replacing old C4 calipers with new or slightly used C5 calipers, and replacing old pads with new ones, and then they report a SOP improvement. SOP isn't worth diddly, especially when someone has just invested a lot of time and money in the thing they are testing.

I expect there may be a few guys who race these cars who have done a back to back comparison with same-compound pads and may be able to tell us about the difference in raw stopping ability, but in 3+ years here I haven't seen any such report.

The reason given by people who race for upgrading to the C5 calipers is better fade resistance. Fade resistance is largely irrelevant for the street, where what matters is how short it will stop the first time.

All this has been said many times before, but the search is useless around here, so I guess somebody has to repeat it...

 

OK, then, the valid comparison here would be Corvette Kid's experience after using each after a few K miles. He did use ceramic pads on both.

That's why I also asked about his experience on the Dragon, because you can quickly get fade there. There's no avoiding hard repeated brake use there.

Many of the road race junkies choose C5 brakes for the cheaper rotors and pads that they replace weekly. That's not really relevant to the decision for most of us with C4s.

 

You're right. I forgot about that part.

 

The C4 brake upgrade, J55 vs. C5 would be a good subject for a Corvette magazine comparison. They could do some objective tests to settle it once and for all.

Who wants to write to Corvette Fever?