Originally Posted by 986_C6

Btw, I love this forum because I didn't hear about the pins coming loose before.

BEZ06 and BILL: Do you guys tighten the pins once in a while or is there nothing we can do about them coming loose?

Originally Posted by MILLER TIME

No biggy on Ti shields and or pads if Dirty Howie is interested. I dont even have my calipers yet and would not need these parts for some time. So do whach ya gotta do. Thanks!

Originally Posted by Bill Dearborn

All of mine had been frozen into the calipers long before the one came out. I checked all of the pins a couple of days before the one came out of my caliper. I couldn't move them either way. The only thing I can think of is they tend to loosen when hot and tighten again when cold.

Since the outside of the calipers don't get too hot the best thing to do may be to put some aluminum faced duct tape over the pins to keep them from coming out. I use it over my wheel weights so it might hold up on the sides of the calipers.

Bill

Originally Posted by BEZ06

I always swap padlets by removing the calipers - the pins are always too difficult to remove.

Bob

Originally Posted by Bill Dearborn

By the time I got to where I am now I had spent a lot of money on the stock setup and still ended up getting a BBK. For the money I have into it now I could have had StopTech calipers and rotors front and rear. From my experience with the W6A it looks like it is a strong competitor to the Stop Techs but at a lower price.

Bill

Originally Posted by BEZ06

Here's a picture of one of my pins that backed out a couple weeks ago and allowed a padlet to go slinging out of the caliper (a one-piece pad wouldn't have gone flying out like that!):



With the padlet missing, when I applied the brakes that one piston just pushed all the way down on to the rotor and put a nice gouge on it, not to mention the damage it did to the piston!

This happened toward the end of a 30 minute session (2nd session on the morning of the 3rd day of the event). I had been checking the pins a couple times per day and they always seemed nice and tight when checking them.

I always swap padlets by removing the calipers - the pins are always too difficult to remove.

Like Bill says, you could put some taped across them - that's probably what I'll do in the future. I'm not sure that Loctite would do the trick or not - maybe red would.

Bob

Originally Posted by BEZ06

Here's a picture of one of my pins that backed out a couple weeks ago and allowed a padlet to go slinging out of the caliper (a one-piece pad wouldn't have gone flying out like that!):



With the padlet missing, when I applied the brakes that one piston just pushed all the way down on to the rotor and put a nice gouge on it, not to mention the damage it did to the piston!

This happened toward the end of a 30 minute session (2nd session on the morning of the 3rd day of the event). I had been checking the pins a couple times per day and they always seemed nice and tight when checking them.

I always swap padlets by removing the calipers - the pins are always too difficult to remove.

Like Bill says, you could put some taped across them - that's probably what I'll do in the future. I'm not sure that Loctite would do the trick or not - maybe red would.

Bob

Originally Posted by jlutherva

Another upgrade worth considering is the addition of Ti shims that fit between the pads and the pistons in the caliper. The Ti material has relatively low thermal conduction and blocks some of the heat transfer from the pads to the pistons.

I have a used set for sale if you are interested.


Jim

Originally Posted by Craig3Q

Where can one buy a set of these (assuming yours are already sold by now)?

Originally Posted by jlutherva

Hard Brakes - Titanium Brake Backing Plate Heat Shield Shims from ...
hardbrakes.com/

Jim

Originally Posted by Bill Dearborn

I will give you my experience. I started out using the stock calipers with my C6Z and went back and forth between padlets and single piece pads. I instruct and do about 20 track days per year. I have been running street tires most of the time and using Cobalt CSR single piece pads I got from LG, Hawk HP+ padlets, Carbotech XP10/XP8 single piece pads, AFX/Coleman two piece rotors, a spindle duct kit and LGs replacement Z06 duct. The CSR pads are great for a street tire application but do wear down fast and a full set for front and rear is going to cost ~ $700+, HP+ padlets are much cheaper but not quite as good as the CSR, under repeated hard braking from triple digit speeds they tend to overheat, Carbotechs were great and about the same as the CSRs but the XP10s only lasted one day and they weren't cheap either. The seals didn't burn off the calipers until I used the XP10s. Stock brake rotors would last about 3 days before cracking. With close to two seasons using the calipers with the various setups I hadn't changed the caliper padlet guide pins. On my second set of CSR pads I started having issues with the brake fluid boiling and losing my brakes. It turned out the outside pad in the left front caliper was sticking on the pins and not releasing from the brake. This caused it to wear pretty fast and was overheating the brake fluid in that caliper. The pins were pretty grungy and couldn't be cleaned effectively so needed to be replaced. They are about $12/ea and you need 8 per front caliper and 6 per rear caliper and they do need to be changed at some sort of an interval. Not sure how often but GM includes a set in their stock pad kit.

Pad wear rates: CSR front pads last about 6 days, HP+ pads last about 4 days if you swap padlets around to minimize tapering. Can also swap padlets from rear to front. One guy I know recommended buying 3 boxes of rear padlets for the car since it was cheaper than buying one front and one rear from the supplier he was using. The Carbotech XP10 pads only lasted one day so even though they work well they are very expensive to use. Brake rotors: stock front and rear ones last about 3 days and the Coleman fronts last about 5. I didn't crack the rear Colemans in those 5 days and they look like they have more days left in them.

Add up all of the consumable costs plus the cost of buying the calipers used from a forum member and then compare that to buying a Wilwood SL6 (wide that uses the 7420 pad style) or the Wilwood W6A with a larger surface area but thinner pad than the 7420 pad, add to that the replacement costs of pads (H pad is great and cost effective or you can get them from other suppliers) and I think you will find the Z06 caliper though capable isn't cost effective. It may have more swept area than some of those other calipers but I had the SL6s on my C5Z for 4 seasons and they were much cheaper to own than the stock calipers and performed as well as or better than the stock calipers. I gave up the fight and switched over to a set of W6As setup to fit over the stock C6Z front rotor and was immediately happier. Pad costs are lower, they last longer and they are easier to change. Almost forgot, the C6Z caliper is a PIA when it comes to pad changes. The pad guide pins freeze into the caliper when cold and you need to pull the caliper to swap pads which means fitting them over the guide pins with single piece pads are fitting padlets between the guide pins. The padlets tend to fall out when you are trying to put the caliper back over the rotor. With the W6As I just unsnap two snap rings and pull out two retaining pins pull the pads out of the caliper and insert the new pads. The SL6 calipers were even simpler. There is another nasty secret about those guide pins though. When hot they loosen and tend to release themselves. If the pin is toward the inside of the car it will fall out along with at least one but more than likely two padlets (a good reason to use the more expensive single piece pads) or if one on the outside of the caliper decides to unscrew itself it will hit the back side of the wheel spokes and that can ruin a perfectly fine expensive wheel. Both of these situations have happened to forum members who are regular participants of the forums. The pin almost ruined one of my LG World Challenge Wheels but I found a reputable shop that was able to fix it.

Bill