If you already have j55 c4 (13"), going to heavier c5 rotors isnt going to net you a thing.

do it right, put the c6z, stoptech, brembo, or wilwood hardware.

If you are after better braking, go with hawk hps or hp+ (if you dont mind squeaks when cold).

Hawk brake pad technoogy is not bs. Its real and thats what a lot of us are using.

also need to consider what size rims you have or are going to have in the future when speccing brakes.

13.5" aftermarket rotors are the biggest you can squeze under stock 17" rims. Will need to upgrade to 18" rims or more for truly better brakes.

 

J55's are fine for stock HP level C4's with proper pads/brake fluid/and maybe some air to them. You might get caliper spread over time and need to replace the calipers more often under hard use compared to a stiffer C5 and up caliper. However, to get that on a STOCK HP level C4 you would have to do a lot of hard braking in a on-track environment.

If your running more than stock HP and tracking the car then the better C5/C6/Wilwood's make sense.

You guys willing to spend thousands of dollars for bigger brakes for the bling factor crack me up. To each his own, I guess.
On the street those big brakes won't really stop you any faster from 70MPH than the stock J55's or even the 12" base C4 brakes.

The bigger brakes can absorb and throw off more heat than the smaller thinner ones. Ditto bigger calipers, they resist spreading better and dissipate and absorb more heat. More heat=bigger heat sink (big brakes)=No fade, lap after hard lap.

You simply don't need big heat sinks for a street car. The brakes never get that hot. Don't even get me started about the unsrpung mass your adding, not to mention the rotational mass of the larger heavier rotor.......

Thanks to Kubs, 1991Z07,etc... for good info for actual use of bigger brakes in the correct environment.

 

Listen to this man. He "gets it".

 

Can we talk more about retaining a parking brake and upgrading the rear brakes?

I will be going with a willwood kit and need to upgrade the rear but would like to retain a parking brake if possible.

 

My point was c5 brake technology was yesterdays news (and really no better than c4 j55).

If you are going to go in there and do it, do it right with c6z, stoptech,wilwood,or brembo hardware

 

That's easy to say when you're spending other people's money. The C5's brake tech might be "yesterday's tech", but the C4's brakes are two weeks ago tech...so an upgrade is definitely worth it if you track your car and have a budget.

The kits recommended earlier cost 10 to 15 TIMES more than I paid for my C5 upgrade. Are the 10-15 times better? For a very select few, maybe. For most, no.

And yes, the C5 brakes are better than C4 brakes. They're bigger, they have more mass, which gives them more capacity. Would I change if I had J55's? Probably not. Would I buy J55's over C5 if I had base C4 brakes? No way.

 

Dependent upon your stock rear brakes. The "drum in disc" stock set allows for the full big brake experience, whereas the stock. dual purpose or 'combo' caliper does not. The 88-96 guys seem to get the short end of that deal.

Earlier cars with drum in disc have the full line of rear kits with four pot calipers etc.

But even with the combo caliper in use you still have the option of obtaining matching 2pc rear rotors to accompany the front kit.

For "needing" such things and all....that's in the eye of the buyer. But for all you get- under $2000- it's pretty hard to argue against it from a value standpoint.

 

thanks for the info.

Im not sure why a parking brake seems to be such an unreachable concept for the brake manufacturers.

With a 6spd car, a parking brake is a requirement.

My 93's rear stock brakes dont have any kind of drum in disk design, or any other complicated gymnastics in their design.

The parking brake just clamps the pad to the disk. And its quite effective.

Having to have the expense/complexity/unsprung weight of a separate drum system for parking brakes is an example of technology moving backwards and not forwards.

The 88 thru 96 parking brake system works great.

 

I completely agree....but the concept won't work with a fixed caliper. It works b/c the stock caliper is floating.

 

Ahhh. Thanks tom!

Sometimes i have to duck out of a discussion with my tail between my legs....

 

I'm thinking you're seeing the light on this.

Parking brakes are not unreachable at all. There are two types- drum in disc and hydro-mechanical. You have the latter and sadly the poorest design for aftermarket. It's a dual action caliper- take it off and install a four pot caliper and the p-brake is forever done.

From the other side of things in fact the drum in disc is superior in many ways. For us in the aftermarket it's the only way to go allowing consumers to have their cake and eat it too. Yes they are heavier as the hat is not aluminum but iron. But mated to the big rotor and paired with the four pot caliper it's the better braking system you're looking for.

On a car with out this feature (yours) you remain stuck with a single piston, dual action, sliding caliper. Of course it works well- it was intended to do exactly what it does. But removing it and fitting a larger disc is out of the question. *Unless someone has fabricated a Caliper Relocation bracket to pair with the larger mounting needed for a bigger rotor.

Two totally different designs. Both effective. But only one allowing the fit of a big brake kit.

LATE CAR:



EARLY CAR:



ALL C5/C6:



Unless the rear uprights can be swapped out to the early design drum/disc set ups I don't know of a way around this.

 

So my 85 wwill be fine with the stock p-brake and the 4piston wilwood kit? If so I am sold on the whole kit.

 

The original question I asked was does any body know of a front setup for a 96 C4 front spindle using the C6 rotor.I don't have any brakes at the moment as I am building a resto mod, and looking for ideas.I could use the C6 Z06 6 piston caliper, however I like the idea of the wilwood radial mount design.Wheels will be 18'' and I am using C6 rear suspension.Any ideas? Does someone make the radial mount caliper bracket to suit the Wilwood 6 piston caliper/C6 rotor combo?It is not going to be a track car, just looking for a good brake setup and something to fill the 18'' wheels.

 

With an '85 you should have a drum in disc now as shown in the second image. You an easily verify that by checking that the parking brake cable goes to the small drum at the center and not to the caliper.

From there is simply a matter of picking a kit you're happy with and spending a few hours installing it.

 

While I'm more of the Wilwood expert than a Corvette expert I've never seen or heard of one. My guess is that you might be able to fit the rotor however the caliper is not going to mount to your spindle. The holes being different will prevent that.

While I would be "your guy" to make you such a bracket to do all that..I'm not sure it's money well spent. With a six pot caliper kit for such an application running about $11-1200 plus the rotors, engineering time and hassle of shipping a front spindle...you'll have...what $14-1500 in it? What I if you just spent that money on a complete (pre fit) kit make for the car?? No fuss, no muss.

*And if you're truly interested I'll pair it with a C4 rear kit to your needs making it a combo deal of sorts.

All in all I think it's going to be a better value for time and money.

 

Your question was answered in post number 6. C5 and 6 rotors are dimensionally the same. C5, the cooling fins are directional and have the right direction for each wheel. C6 they are directional, but the right side is the wrong direction. C6 is "drilled" (cast holes).

C6Z is an entirely different and requires it's own bigger rotor, and different mounting adapter.

 

I just did a 12" to 13" swap this week. I used these calipers with Hawk HPS pads





and like the look. My car is a cruiser and will not see much, if any, track time. Here is the installed pic.



These are thicker than the J55 calipers and are exactly like the GS calipers without the Corvette or powdercoating.

I have an extra set if anyone is interested

 

Seems simple enough. Even a guy like me picked up some info. I'd have sworn the mount holes from the 4 to the 5/6 were not interchangeable- good note to self. If the price is right it may be a fairly straight forward deal. And it would appear that the cross fit will only allow for 13" but not 14" fit, right?

I'd still say $1500 or so spent on a full kit would be a better deal but I'll admit I'm biased there also.

 

You are correct, the mount holes are not the same. An extra set of adapter plates are required to interface between the C4 spindles and the C5 brackets. That + the requirement to use larger wheels drove the cost up too high for me. I just used the setup I posted above and am happy.

 

Ahh...Thank you. There just seemed to be something amiss here on this cross fit idea. Not having one of each at hand I was going on some old history of doing a custom deal on some C4 spindles as well as there being no cross fit in parts from the Wilwood factory kits.