I got a good deal on a used set of C6 Z06 brakes (calipers, rotors) from a member here and used some of my time off during the holidays to rebuild and upgrade them. These will be going on my C5 after I order new wheels to be able accommodate big brakes.

Special thanks to neutron82 for fielding my questions about his C6Z brake project prior to tackling this - very helpful!

Here's what they looked like before I started the rebuild - pretty nasty.






I had a local brake shop do a minimal clean-up on the rotors just to remove the corrosion on the fire paths as they had never been machined before so there was plenty of meat left. Next came the fun part - hour upon hour of wire brushing and sanding to get all the rust and corrosion off these. This part truly sucked. Afterward, I cleaned them off and masked them in prep for high temp VHT paint.


Pre and post-mask front rotor


Masked rear rotor


High temp VHT primer


Three coats high-temp satin black VHT paint and two coats of high-temp satin clear VHT paint I also painted the cross tubes metallic silver at the same time (not shown)


I tore the calipers apart, discarded the worn components and had them blasted and powder coated with satin black paint by a local PC shop. The dust boots were completely shot, some of them melted from extreme heat, and both the calipers and rotors were loaded with dirt and corrosion. A few of the pistons were sticky and required some manhandling to effect removal. I was not as careful as I normally would be since I'd ordered a set of both front and rear SS pistons to replace the AL stockers. I also ordered new pad retaining pins, seals, dust boots and fittings. Really, the only pieces I kept were the caliper castings and cross tubes and the rotors.

Here's the set of front pad retaining pins I ordered. These are obscenely expensive from most of the sites I checked at. I got a great price for these and a rear set here on the CF store.


After powder coating and with new SS pistons, seals and dust boots installed.


I stripped the masking from the rotors and did the final reassembly of the pins, cross tubes and fittings on the calipers.


Front caliper




Rear caliper


Front rotor


Rear rotor


Overall, took some elbow grease and was a bit messy but the set is like new and will be a direct bolt-on. I've spent less than half what a new set would run and I upgraded the pistons and customized it to the look I really wanted.

 

You bring Type A to a way higher level !!!! Sweet !!!

 

everything came out great as always... looking forward to seeing them mounted on the car and the contrast between the red with black calipers

 

WOW!!..a lot of hard work there for you Patches...but the end result is amazing....Kudos to you...

 

Very nice. I would like to do this to my car. I would powder coat the calipers black too. Can't wait to see how they look.

 

Excellent job Patches and thanks for the write-up with pics. Those will look great on your car.

 

Those are nothing you should see pic's of Patches MN6 transmission! Greetings, Rob

 

Nice work Patches! Impressive as always!

 

You do all of this beautiful work as we all expect, but

Are all the labels facing forward on your spice rack and in your fridge and cupboard?

 

I love little refinishing projects like this

I'm no good mechanically but I try to make up for it in other ways

Have you tested the performance yet?

I know the C5 brakes aren't that big but I have to admit they stop pretty damn good as-is

 

As usual, doing an outstanding job. Probably better then new. Wish I had your patience.

P.S. Just spent about 8 to 10 hours on my front license plate cover. Your brakes came out much nicer.

 

Nice work. Pictures needed after the Install.

 

Excellent work, and a great write up, as usual. I am sure they will look great on your C5. I got mine new, but at a good price, but I doubt as good as you did by doing the rebuild yourself. The next decision is, one piece pads or padlets? I went the one piece route, more expensive but easier, at least with my limited skills, to install. Again, great job Patches.

 

and his alt. and brackets !!!!! or the whole darn car !!!!!

 

Nice work.

 

Honest question here. Why not just sand / media blast, and paint them prior to having the machined surfaces cleaned up?

I have been toying with this idea and know a powder coater that has a heat conduction helping powder that might be beneficial on rotors as well. I think it might make sense to have them blasted, plated then surfaced, but if there is something wrong with that plan, I'm all ears.

The end product looks great, just thinking of ways to make that worst part, not so bad.

 

Awesome work Patches........Beautiful

 

Ed, attention to detail?????
I noticed the rotors look as if they were fly cut on a lathe .. but I think ( knowing you as I do ) you would not have them fly cut just to remove surface rust ( I could be wrong... but it would be the first time in my life I was ever wrong ) the thing I did notice however, is what appears to be the very steady hand of a very OCD person using a 90 degree grinder with an #80 grit sanding pad with attention to the sanding pattern.
They do look machined, but knowing you, you did these by hand. and they look perfect.

 

Good question and few reasons why I didn't want to go that route.

First, this was a job I was trying to keep costs to a minimum to make it worthwhile. I did, in fact, get a quote for PC'ing the rotors and figured I'd rather do it myself - besides, I am on vacation and this is half the "fun". I added up all the costs on PC'ing everything and buying components and it was starting to make more sense just buying a new set when I considered all the labor this was going to take anyway. By not PC'ing the rotors and finding great deals on components, I saved several hundred $'s making the project worthwhile. And, to be honest, I had no idea it was going to take THAT long to clean the rust/corrosion off them. Live and learn . . .

Second, I was concerned that the 400 deg. paint the PC shop applies would not stand up long term to the heat the rotors see, regardless of the process. The calipers I am less worried about as I've never seen a problem with paint on those. When I talked to the PC guy, he told one method they use to correct flaws in PC'ed parts is to reheat them to refow the paint and that gave me pause thinking about the temps the rotors see. Anyway, I used 900 F deg. VHT paint and that should hold up a while.

Third, Since I have now had the rotors cut once, their life expectancy is somewhat limited and I will not be resurfacing these again. Next time, I will be buying new rotors to replace these so I didn't want to put too much into these considering they are quasi-disposable.

Finally, the machine shop would probably end up scratching the paint on the rotors and I'd end up having to touch them up - no big deal but it's one of my pet peeves when someone else works on my stuff. Even the calipers had a couple of handling scratches on them the PC shop put in and they were nicely wrapped when I picked them up.

Flawed or not, that was my thinking.

 

seems like any time I let someone else do work for me (very rare) I was disappointed !!