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I need to replace my front brake pads and was shopping on line at a well known GM parts supplier. Their microfiche did not show any pads for my car. I contacted them and they said there were two designs for the C5. Design One was no longer available. They were not sure if Design Two would fit (!) as it was not shown for my VIN. Apparently the pads part numbers are different starting at VIN 35128924. Anybody else encounter this? Will Design Two fit the earlier calipers?
What kind of driving do you do? Stock pads and stock blank rotors are plenty good enough for most driving people will do in a C5. If you want to hit it a bit harder, probably the HPS 5.0 or similar pads; make sure to put anti-squeal on the back.
As far as I knew the pad shape for all C5s is identical. I also thought it was also the same pad shape for the C6 base and Z51 cars as well. The only differences were the C5 Z06 calipers were painted red and C6 calipers were stiffened to reduce pad tapering.
What kind of driving do you do? Stock pads and stock blank rotors are plenty good enough for most driving people will do in a C5. If you want to hit it a bit harder, probably the HPS 5.0 or similar pads; make sure to put anti-squeal on the back.
Some touring, nothing very high speed, just fun stuff. When I chatted with the sales person, he couldn't find any pads except the Version Two and he was not sure they would fit my car.
As far as I knew the pad shape for all C5s is identical. I also thought it was also the same pad shape for the C6 base and Z51 cars as well. The only differences were the C5 Z06 calipers were painted red and C6 calipers were stiffened to reduce pad tapering.
Some touring, nothing very high speed, just fun stuff. When I chatted with the sales person, he couldn't find any pads except the Version Two and he was not sure they would fit my car.
I think the stock pads will be fine; just want to make sure they will fit especially after the conversation with the sales person.
ALL C5 CARS HAVE THE SAME PAD SHAPE. THE ZO6 HAD A MORE AGRESIIVE PAD COMPOUND.
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Who is this person? People who should KNOW say there is only one version. Are you sure he is not talking about the material in the pad?
I was searching online at a GM parts supplier in Michigan that I had used before and found the rotors for my car without a problem but the pads were not listed. So I used the chat box to talk with a rep from the company. I asked him why the pads weren't listed and that's when he said that a change occurred after vin number 35128924 and he referred to them as "Version One" and "Version Two". He could not guarantee that the pads he found would fit my car. That's when I consulted the forum. Still can't locate front pads at GMPartsNow or GMPartsDirect.
Yes, you're correct. Got it wrong. Odd that I could not find the pads on either GMparts Direct or GMPArtsNow. They seem to use the same parts diagrams but different prices.
Thanks.
Originally Posted by voda1
The terminology is wrong for version 1 or 2, should be 1st design or 2nd design.
There are ton's of great pads that offer better stopping power and less dust than stock. I have had great luck with the EBC Red (street) Yellow (Track), and Stoptech street/track pads.
There are ton's of great pads that offer better stopping power and less dust than stock. I have had great luck with the EBC Red (street) Yellow (Track), and Stoptech street/track pads.
Some touring, nothing very high speed, just fun stuff.
Stopping power for a pad almost does not matter for a street car unless it is so horrible that it's worthless.
Assuming your brake system is properly operation - you have a working master cylinder, hydraulic lines, power brakes, non-leaking calipers and lines, etc --
Any pad you get, unless it's made out of tin foil and prayers, is going to work well enough with your rotor and your caliper to lock up your street tires.
The stock pads? They will lock up your tires.
EBC Reds? They will lock up your tires. Yellows? Yep. Stoptechs? Yep. Hawk HPS 5.0? Yep. Hawk track pads? Yep.
So if a brake pad is capable of locking up your tires and activating ABS, you don't need more stopping power. You have enough to stop the car as fast as it physically can stop, given your speed, the friction coefficient of your tires, and your ABS system working properly (or you threshold braking perfectly).
If you drive on the street in a manner that will cause the stock pads to fade or the recommended fluid to heat up and lose effectiveness, you're driving like a maniac and you should get off the road and away from me and other humans.
Discussions of stopping power are only useful in the context of track use, and stopping power versus heat -- in other words, repeated deceleration from high speeds.
On the street, it's much more useful to consider cost, longevity (a different part of cost), dusting, and noise. The pad will stop you just fine.
This is why the first thing I asked OP was what kind of driving they were doing as it is by far the most relevant question. They said street, nothing too fast. So beyond just stock or stock-equivalent hardware, I recommended a basic all-around pad that I think (check, don't quote me on this) is cheaper than stock, offers good manners as far as noise goes (use brake quiet on the back as you're supposed to), though it does dust, but offers confidence that you won't ever fade it on the street if you decide to drive a little more spiritedly. That, or an equivalent pad, is by far the fanciest stuff that makes sense to put on a street car.
We would like to take the car on Route 66 end-to-end so are trying to get it ready. Don't want to have to look for brakes in Seligman, AZ!
We don't take it on track days or anything like that.
Originally Posted by gimp
Stopping power for a pad almost does not matter for a street car unless it is so horrible that it's worthless.
Assuming your brake system is properly operation - you have a working master cylinder, hydraulic lines, power brakes, non-leaking calipers and lines, etc --
Any pad you get, unless it's made out of tin foil and prayers, is going to work well enough with your rotor and your caliper to lock up your street tires.
The stock pads? They will lock up your tires.
EBC Reds? They will lock up your tires. Yellows? Yep. Stoptechs? Yep. Hawk HPS 5.0? Yep. Hawk track pads? Yep.
So if a brake pad is capable of locking up your tires and activating ABS, you don't need more stopping power. You have enough to stop the car as fast as it physically can stop, given your speed, the friction coefficient of your tires, and your ABS system working properly (or you threshold braking perfectly).
If you drive on the street in a manner that will cause the stock pads to fade or the recommended fluid to heat up and lose effectiveness, you're driving like a maniac and you should get off the road and away from me and other humans.
Discussions of stopping power are only useful in the context of track use, and stopping power versus heat -- in other words, repeated deceleration from high speeds.
On the street, it's much more useful to consider cost, longevity (a different part of cost), dusting, and noise. The pad will stop you just fine.
This is why the first thing I asked OP was what kind of driving they were doing as it is by far the most relevant question. They said street, nothing too fast. So beyond just stock or stock-equivalent hardware, I recommended a basic all-around pad that I think (check, don't quote me on this) is cheaper than stock, offers good manners as far as noise goes (use brake quiet on the back as you're supposed to), though it does dust, but offers confidence that you won't ever fade it on the street if you decide to drive a little more spiritedly. That, or an equivalent pad, is by far the fanciest stuff that makes sense to put on a street car.
If you want cheap, there are some ebay/amazon kits floating out there, where you get a full set - four blank rotors, eight pads - for like $170. It's so cheap as to be suspicious, but multiple forum members report no issues with them after a few years, and they've been for sale for a number of years at this point.
If you want to "keep it simple," a stock pad and stock blank rotor will be appropriate for you.
If you want to have some "room for activities," there are a number of street pads that will be okay. A bunch were already mentioned here.
You really can't go wrong as long as you don't try to spend a bunch of money on features you don't need. Then you will end up annoying yourself with a bunch of squealing and dusting
03-19-2019, 03:38 PM
2003 C5 Front Brake Pads
