C6 Z-51 Brake life
#1
Drifting
Thread Starter
C6 Z-51 Brake life
The original factory Brakes on my daily driver 07 A6 coupe with Z-51 package just went 70,150 miles. The brake life warning indicators were just starting to squeal. This car is not exactly pampered or driven easily, (Meaning it gets flogged, Kyle Busch would be proud if you understand the referance !!)
Any way, what I found at all 4 corners were the pads had worn down evenly with about 1/16 - 3/32" of material left on them. Vertually perfect wear paterns !! The rotors, Front and backs were fairly heavily worn with the inside surfaces of all 4 rotors showing more wear than the outside surfaces.
I'm not sure they can be turned and saved, but I will find out.
I checked all four calipers for wear and movment and all four floated freely, no sticking or binding !!
So new GM Rotors and Delco Ceramic pads were installed, and even though it may not have been needed, I flushed and bleed the entire hydraulic system just for good measure (Suprising how crappy/dirty looking the original fluid looked)
When the wheels were bolted back on, the ceramic pad break in procedure was followed: Break system first checked for operability with a couple of very gentle stops to make sure all is well !! Then 6 aggressive break applications from 30 mph down to 5 mph, then 6 more repeated heavy applications from 40 mph down to 5. Yes you should be smelling the breaks getting pretty hot !! followed by a good hour of freeway crusing to let the breaks and rotors cool down properly and evenly. Then I let the car sit over night to completly cool down and finish the break in thermal cycle.
Following about 25 miles of driving today, My observations of the new breaks are as follows. The Ceramic pads stop the car very quickly, The brake peddle has a solid firm feel to it (Maybe due to bleeding and new fluid) Not much difference in peddle effort required from the original pads, No squeal (Yet) and hopefully a lot less brake dust!! (The jury is still out on than one.)
So here's to another happy 70000 miles of trouble free Corvette driving fun ...
Any way, what I found at all 4 corners were the pads had worn down evenly with about 1/16 - 3/32" of material left on them. Vertually perfect wear paterns !! The rotors, Front and backs were fairly heavily worn with the inside surfaces of all 4 rotors showing more wear than the outside surfaces.
I'm not sure they can be turned and saved, but I will find out.
I checked all four calipers for wear and movment and all four floated freely, no sticking or binding !!
So new GM Rotors and Delco Ceramic pads were installed, and even though it may not have been needed, I flushed and bleed the entire hydraulic system just for good measure (Suprising how crappy/dirty looking the original fluid looked)
When the wheels were bolted back on, the ceramic pad break in procedure was followed: Break system first checked for operability with a couple of very gentle stops to make sure all is well !! Then 6 aggressive break applications from 30 mph down to 5 mph, then 6 more repeated heavy applications from 40 mph down to 5. Yes you should be smelling the breaks getting pretty hot !! followed by a good hour of freeway crusing to let the breaks and rotors cool down properly and evenly. Then I let the car sit over night to completly cool down and finish the break in thermal cycle.
Following about 25 miles of driving today, My observations of the new breaks are as follows. The Ceramic pads stop the car very quickly, The brake peddle has a solid firm feel to it (Maybe due to bleeding and new fluid) Not much difference in peddle effort required from the original pads, No squeal (Yet) and hopefully a lot less brake dust!! (The jury is still out on than one.)
So here's to another happy 70000 miles of trouble free Corvette driving fun ...
Last edited by Rogers 07; 05-30-2011 at 12:00 AM.
#5
Race Director
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Good info, I was wondering the same thing.
I have a 08/A6/55,000 miles.
The rotors have deep grooves, but no squeal and stops really good.
Trying to decide if I want to go with the ceramic pads.
Is there any benefit other than brake dust?
I have a 08/A6/55,000 miles.
The rotors have deep grooves, but no squeal and stops really good.
Trying to decide if I want to go with the ceramic pads.
Is there any benefit other than brake dust?
#7
Drifting
Thread Starter
#8
Get Some!
#9
Drifting
Thread Starter
The ceramics are supposed to be a little easier on the rotors and provide longer life, I dont really think they will last any longer than the originals did, But, if they dont dust up the wheels as badly, then its a good thing !!
#10
Drifting
Thread Starter
I am on my third set of tires, but the fact is, the OE brake pads did last over 70000 miles of daily driving on So Cal freeways and spirited driving when the oppertunity presented itself !!! If your chewing them up at rate of every 4500 miles, I would think severe abuse or heavy track time may well be the cause. JMHO
#11
Burning Brakes
Wow you got good life out of them...I have Z51 on my 07 and was wondering how long you could go...I only have 20,000km`s on mine so I guess I should be ok for a while yet...Thanks for the info
#12
Get Some!
I am on my third set of tires, but the fact is, the OE brake pads did last over 70000 miles of daily driving on So Cal freeways and spirited driving when the oppertunity presented itself !!! If your chewing them up at rate of every 4500 miles, I would think severe abuse or heavy track time may well be the cause. JMHO
#14
Drifting
Thread Starter
First jack the car up and remove the wheels ! I started by removing the old fluid in the master cylinder using a hand held vacumn pump. Then I refilled it with clean new fluid. Starting at the right rear, I attached a piece of vacumn hose (about 1 foot long) to the bleader screw with the other end placed in a container/jar with a small amount of brake fluid in it. Open the bleader screw about 1/4 turn. Then SLOWLY push and release the brake peddle about 20 times, This will expel all the old fluid from that line (Do not let the Master Cyl run out of fluid or you will have to start all over). Close the brake bleader, fill the master cyl and repeat the process at left rear then the right front, finish the left front, the entire system now has clean fluid in it !!