tenfifteen

Hi guys... intro'd myself a few months back when I was still in the market for a used Z. Ultimately, I went with a car that was a little cheaper ('06 BMW M3 w/Competition Package), but a Vette's still in the cards, having been a fan for some 30 years. In other words, don't hate me... I'm not your stereotypical Bimmer snob. BicketyBam from these forums will vouch for me (and I've driven his Z).

Anyhow, at a BMW forum Bick and I frequent, there's been a lot of smack talk about the Z06's relative quality and track-worthiness. A lot of it is typical BMW-owner snobbery (sure, Blaine... your '94 325i is a much better car than a C6Z ), but two posters have brought up "systemic brake failure" in C6 Z06s when tracked, and I just hadn't heard of that.

For a non-owner, I consider myself fairly knowledgeable about the Z, and from what I'd understood previously, the Z's brakes held up incredibly well under HPDE (High Performance Driver Education) school situations, track days, etc. Christ, 14" front rotors with 6-pot calipers, right?

Anyhow... both posters have mentioned that the standard C6's brakes perform better. Sounds like total crap to me, figured I'd check with the experts though.

Any thoughts? Thanks in advance!

BEZ06

The brakes on the C6 Z06 are great.

Before tracking the car for auto-xing and HPDE's the only thing you probably really need to do is to change the fluid to some with a higher boiling point.

I got rid of the rotors with holes in them for some solid/slotted rotors, put in Motul RBF 600, and although the stock pads will do for light duty on the track, I changed to Hawk HP+ (still a compromise street/track pad) and that setup works very well. So far I've just been running on my OE tires.

Of course, you'll be able to go a lot deeper with some real track pads and stickier tires.

Bob

John Shiels

like anything else how hard are you going to run it? Can I make the brakes fail on track sure I can but I can tear up a BWM easily too. They are not race cars period.

allanlaw

Total crap. As John says, if you drive any street car hard enough, you need to upgrade some or all of the brakes, but with the Z you have a lot more room to go before you get to that point.

gonzalezfj

I flog my C6Z as hard as anybody and have NEVER had a brake problem with the stock calipers. The winning recipe:

1) Hawk DTC-70 pads
2) Good DOT-4 fluid (I use AP600, but there are many other good ones)
3) Cooling ducts to the front brakes (from Phoenix Performance)

You can beat on these brakes HARD all weekend, and I do. No problems.

Your Bimmer friends are just envious of the C6Z performance and come up with BS ideas to convince themselves their car is somehow better---> NOT!!

Frank Gonzalez

Painrace

Frank knows!

Jim

Everett Ogilvie

I agree with Allan, John, Jim, Frank and the other posters above, and I know that they all know from firsthand experience. I can tell you after spending a weekend at the track and having the opportunity to ride with Frank on numerous occasions - he BEATS on his car! The braking power blew me away! Whenever I see threads about how poor the stock brakes are I think of Frank, and smile.

GrampZ

Many HPDE's - each two days of 4 or 5 20-30 minute sessions.

I use Raybestos ST-43 pads, ATE Super Blue fluid, and SS lines. No problems with brake function, except this year my front rotors started developing cracks from the holes. So I bought a pair of el cheapos from LGM.

Like another poster said, it depends on how hard you are going to push the car, but in general you can HPDE them all you want and probably won't need anything more than pads and fluid.

AND BTW, except for one exceptional M3 with R tires and a cage, I smoke all the BMW's that come to the track.

fire_n_ice

Which rotors exactly did you buy? Are they blank? Slotted?
My 2nd set of stock rotors are starting to develop cracks after only 2 track events and I will probably need to replace them soon. I'm using Carbotech pads.

1.8t

BMW snobs are the only group of people that I have ever seen continually diss on other cars while always being the slowest at the track. A defense mechanism at its finest.

CarbotechDanny

fire n ice,

DBA makes a great OEM replacement rotor. They might be a little pricey but you get what you pay for. Those little heat cracks you get on the surface of rotors and/or pads is completly normal and it's nothing to worry about. If you can stick a dime in one of those cracks, then you should worry.

manicheus

In over 20 track days with OEM brakes and rotors I have never had a brake "failure" on the track. However, last week I came into the paddock after a hard session at Summit Point and the break pedal went straight to the floor. I was running Motul 600 fluid, Cobalt XR2 pads, OEM rotors, OEM tires and OEM cooling. Usually I run in competition mode but this particular session I inadvertly left on all the traction and stability management controls. That may have been why the brakes heated up more than usual. After the brakes cooled I ran a couple more sessions in competition mode without any further brake issues.

Andi

Where are y'all getting these better rotors without holes?

I'm on my third set of rotors at 10K miles. Every time I even drive by a race track, mine warp or crack.

Andi

davidfarmer

dBA, Stoptech, or Racingbrake offer good replacement rotors. There is even a guy on ebay selling crappy repros for $130 a set (who know how long they would last).

When one of your BMW friends shows up with a car that will hit 170 at VIR, we can test who's brakes hold up the best. Until BMW makes such a car.....stick to this forum.

robvuk

That's exactly the same thing I tell them. They would be lucky to do 140 with R compounds.

jamsvet

I tried upgrading the fluid and brake cooling ducts on my Z. The great thrill of hitting the brakes and having nothing there after my upgrades convinced me that I wanted something better. I decided to go with a complete 4 wheel Stop Tech system, calipers, rotors etc. I don't do a lot of HPDEs but when I do, I've decided that I don't want any more stopgap measures. I only get to go to the track about every third month so I'm not going to waste a weekend with a car that scares the hell out of me.

Haven't made it out to the track with the new brakes but cooler weather is just around the corner. I don't want to do Willow Springs in August.

0Anthony @ LGMotorsports

At absolute minimum if you are going to to track the car you should have braided lines, good fluid, and a track suited pad if you want them to last.

Serious track guys with sticky tires are going to after market kits for longer caliper life, pad life, and a lighter over all setup.

fire_n_ice

Thanks, Danny, I will check out the DBA product. Right now the cracks are only the fronts, very tiny (say 1-2 mm in length) and I can barely feel them with my fingernail. Also, they are only on the center row of drilled holes (in terms of diameter).

fire_n_ice

This is the second time I've read about this. Does full systems on really heat up the rotors that much? If so, then it must be applying brake very subtly from what I can tell. i.e. usually you can feel when the systems come in, but I guess they are working more than that, even if you don't notice it.

66L72

any insight on this question??

i just finished a track day and took a set of porterfield pads down to bare metal. then discovered that my car, very early production model has no ducts to run from bumper to direct air flow to rotors.
i drive with full nanny as well and usually end up with 1/4 inch of brake dust on the front wheels.
maybe the full controls plus no duct has contributed to my extremely fast consumption of brake pads???