What are the brake component selections everyone has made and how do you drive them?
An example is I have the stock HD brakes on my 1990 L98 and I plan to use the car for traveling and spirited driving from time to time.

I'm looking to see what everyone else is running and how you like it. On all my prior cars Brakes are the first major upgrade and I want to keep the trend.

 

It all depends on what you intend to do with the car. If spirited street driving is what's planned, and you have the HD brakes (13" rotors) - a good set of HP pads should put you in pretty good shape.

The C4 brakes are not as good as the C5 and C6 brakes - but the HD brakes aren't that bad either!!! Many of the people who take their cars to road race courses encounter brake issues - but that is dramatically harder use than any street only driven car will ever see. (the real issue is heat capacity and heat dissipation - and typically those aren't issues with street driven cars). A set of Hawk / Performance Friction / EBC / Carbotech High Performance pads will run you less than $200 and should be enough for any likely street use (unless you consider the Silver State Challenge "street use").

You can fit C5 brakes to the C4, and that typically requires bigger wheels for caliper clearance. There are kits that allow you to run Alcon / Wilwood or AP racing calipers as well. Bigger rotors can also be fitted - but before you go that route - understand that it will be expensive, and there will be compromises that need to be made (for example - racing calipers don't have dust seals ...)

My $0.02 - put a good set of pads in your calipers, either surface or replace the rotors, do a brake fluid flush and see how you think the system performs. I'd only recommend upgrading calipers / rotors if you find that the brakes are starting to fade after aggressive use, or if caliper deflection under hard braking is bothering you...

 

The worst this car will see is autocross once a month until I can add a C5 to the collection and that will be my track oriented car. At the moment I have done a fluid flush to get pedal feel back( it was really bad) and will need pads in the near future thanks to rusted rotors.

 

The stock 13" HD J55 brakes are PLENTY for a stock or even lightly modified C4. Keep in mind the 3500lb 405hp ZR1 used them just fine.

I track and auto-x my C4 heavily. Stock J55's with Ferodo DS2500 pads up front, Hawk HPS in rear, Centric Rotors-Stock Blanks, Titanium Shims for the front pads, Wilwood 570 brake fluid. Never had an issue. I doubt you driver harder than I do.

 

As far as brake pads take a look at the Carbotech 1521 pads and pear them with some good rotors and you will have plenty of braking for your needs.

The Carbotech Bobcat 1521™ is our high performance street compound that is our most successful compound. The Bobcat compound is known for its awesome release and modulation, along with unmatched rotor friendliness. Like our AX™ & XP™ line of compounds, Bobcat 1521™ is a Ceramic based friction material offering minimal rotor damage and non-corrosive dust. Bobcat 1521™ offers outstanding performance, even when cold, low dusting and low noise with an excellent initial bite. This compound’s virtually perfect linear torque production provides incredible braking force without ABS intervention. Bobcat 1521™ operating range starts out at ambient and goes up to 900°F. Bobcat 1521™ is suitable for ALL street cars, perfect for your tow vehicle, police cruiser. The Bobcat 1521™ compound has been found to last two-three times longer than OE pads you can purchase at a dealership or national retailer. That’s one of the beauties of Carbotech Ceramic brake compounds. Bobcat 1521™ is NOT recommended for any track use.

F: CT412 $134.90

R: CT413 $120.65

 

If you decide to go with the C5 brakes, your stock '90 wheels will fit.

The '91-'96 sawblades do not clear the front calipers. The vanes bend inward and contact the calipers on the front wheels. Although you can grind the ribs off the caliper and clearance grind the back of the wheels, I did not want to modify them and can't recommend doing that.

Good luck with your choice.

 

Ruby and Purple have both given you excellent advice. The bottom line is that if you can still lock your tires under braking (or in our cases, invoke ABS), then you don't need more braking force/power. You've already done step 1, which was to flush the hydraulics. Careful pad selection will ensure that your brakes work well for your purposes. The one other thing you might consider would be an upgrade to braided steel brake lines to improve linearity and pedal feel. Everything will just be eye candy and not actually improve your stopping distances.

 

Thanks all, I feel like the consensus us pointing me to just pads and rotors. For now I will run what is on there but I do know because of the rust and age of these pads they will need to be changed pretty soon.

 

I have a 1988 Coupe which I like to drive hard at times. My car came with the 12" rotors which seemed a bit strange considering the number of options on this car. Finding the parts for the 12" rotor cars seemed harder than if I had the 13" rotors.

The first thing I did was put on some good rotors and a set of quality re-built calipers. Then I flushed out the old brake fluid and tried using a silicone based fluid... bad idea on my car. I now use a brake fluid that has a very high boiling point and my pedal feel is awesome again. If you plan on driving hard use the best brake fluid you can buy with the highest boiling point. Boiling your brake fluid is not hard to do.

This summer I bought four new drilled and slotted rotors from ROCKAUTO and put on a set of the Hawk Brake Pads., This combination works very well for me on my stock Corvette. It didn't break my budget either.

Good Luck and remember, do not compromise when it comes to brake parts!