kennethC

Looking to equip myself with a pre-owned C6 Z06 vette in the next 12 months.

Been tracking (road courses, HPDE, Lapping etc.) my BMW 335i for the last 5 years, time to switch to the real thing and would like some advice on which Z06 to get, from those of you who regularly track their vettes:

Would you get one with the magnetic suspension?

Would you spend the extra money for the Ultimate Performance package worth it (carbon rotors etc.), or is it overkill?

What to be aware of when shoppping for a used Z06?

Thanks

K

MudZ06

You will need to bullet-proof the heads... or at least get the valves and guides inspected.

onargaroberts

I own a 2011 Z06/Z07. With regard to the carbon ceramic brakes: on the street you'll rarely know you have them; on the track you'll never regret buying them. They will stop a freight train - repeatedly. With regard to cylinder heads and valve guides; My car is completely stock and I'm waiting until I see some change in oil consumption before I go looking for problems.

LanceFitzgiben

How much track time per year as opposed to street use, and primarily what track?
For a primarily street driven car the magnetic suspension might be nice, otherwise I'd skip that complication and go with a Pfadt setup. The steel brakes work incredibly well and yea, cc's would be sweet, but the added cost of replacement rotors and pads would be enough to drastically cut into my HPDE budget.

Dirty Howie

You will be in awe of the tremendous performance differential to what you were driving if you just leave the Z06 in stock trim.

All you really need is:
1. Dot 4 brake fluid
2. Good track pads
3. Make sure you get a Z06 with 10.5qt or more oil capacitity. If you get an earlier model (06-08) add the LPE tank.
4. Heads should be upgraded to SS valves, bronze guides, dual springs and a competition valve job. Or if your car will be in waranty be sure you have an excellent relationship with your dealer and that they know you track the car.


DH

AzDave47

The '09 and newer cars have a 10 1/2 qt dry sump system vs 8 and 8 1/2 earlier. The larger capacity is mandatory for road course work with any long left hand high-G turns. An earlier model can have the tank supplemented for <$500. The MH suspension is nice until you have to pay $1700 to replace one shock. Most here just get the DRM Bilsteins for $475 per set of 4, or you can spend $2-4K for coilover. You can enjoy the car with just stock suspension and the Bilsteins.

I've heard the CC brake rotors are $7K for the front pair, but they work on the track well.

You will want to go to at least a Motul 600* brake fluid as those in the 520* range will boil with track pads.

If the car is in warranty, do not worry about valve guides unless you get symtoms and then have the dealer deal with it. Out of warranty, get the guides replaced ASAP.

I came from an 03 M3 and the difference is amazing. The z06 will not plow after 3-4 hot laps, the brakes are strong and the engine is way over the top with power, but gives good feedback and control. You will learn throttle patience launching out of corners. The chassis is very well balanced. Where you saw 130 on the straights in the 335 you will see 150 in the Z.

Dre01SS

I'm in the same boat as OP and was unaware of this difference between the model years. Good to know

95jersey

I personally would get a used one without the carbon upgrades and suspension. That stuff will cost 10X the amount to replace if you plan on doing lots of days. Iron rotors are cheap and work just great. Also, you can slap on some coil-overs, not sure if you can do that with the magnito stuff.

I just don't see the carbon stuff being worth the extra budget when there are such great Iron BBK kits and coil-overs available for fairly inexpensive.

I think an 09 is a good year with bigger tank.

kennethC

Wow! Some really helpful responses here, so a big Thank You to each of you for sharing your knowledge!

I was pretty sure the iron rotors were more than adequate (as my 3600 lbs car had no fading with the stock single piston calipers, PFC 08 pads, SS brake lines, Motul RBF 600/660) but just checking in case anyone had a different perspective.

So much the better, less costly

Car's purpose will be mostly for track, and summer driving occasionally, winter garage queen.

If you think of anything else....

onargaroberts

The bigger oil sump is important. I've replaced a couple sets of carbon ceramic pads and if you shop you can do all 4 wheels for $900. I Haven't replaced rotors yet but have shopped for them. A front rotor can be had for about $1300. Life is a function of the tracks you drive and how hard you push the car. I'm using a set of pads per summer 4 - 6 track days per year. Rotors haven't shown much loss of weight yet. I don't know if the wear rate will be linear or if they will suddenly "fall off the cliff". These brakes are an expense you have to build into your budget. It is not insignificant. Same with tires. I like this suspension with the magnetorheological shocks very much. You turn the dial to "sport" and drive onto the track. I haven't out driven it.

jwmgr8

if your racing go with 10 or later i think thats when the engine oil capacity was increased to 10plus qts.
don't know about brakes- CFC rotors are about $1k each, so if they need to be replaced often ??? only you can judge that
Have fun nothing like Z06

wolf8218

Pricing these items out as we speak. Still under third party warranty so really don't know what to do about the heads other than pay for a GM dealership to check tolerances?

66L72

Kenneth

Lots of Canadian Z06 trackers here on the forum.
Where do you live?
Be glad to help however I can, but not including selling you my Z.




Complete your user profile and you will get lots more input I imagine.......also might want to visit the Canadian section under events and regional.

z51vett

Don't buy one with a tune and keep warranty by not tuning. If you can buy extended warranty do so.
z51vett

50 4Ever

I ran PFC pads on my C5, just be aware that PFC does not make pads for the stock calipers. If you go deep and brake hard the stock Z06 calipers will flex. I put a Stoptech Big Brake Kit on my C6Z and these brakes are great, and cheaper than the carbon setup.

Lethal427

Again, excellent feedback!! I have many friend who do the HPDE's, most racing modified Porsches and BMWw M's!!also, group of SRT8's, anyway, being that my Z is in really pristine condition, what can I do to protect the paint, or, does the runout weight the damage??? I'm thinking just run it!!!

wolf8218

Have another question.

I could save around 1000 dollars by changing the front rotors to two piece and hawk HP+ pads, or I could go all in and do the wilwood SL6R kit.

60/40 Street/track use.

Recommendations?

AzDave47

09's were the first Z06's to have the 10.5 quart oil system.

AzDave47

HP + are street pads and will not be good enough for Z06 track use. You will need both street pads and track pads.

I'm using Performance AFX 2 piece front rotors and have also installed ducting from the sides of the front grill area feeding directly into the (modified) factory ducts and also use the Quantum cooling kit from the outlet of the factory duct right out to the rotors.

The Wilwood setup will be an improvement over the factory brakes, but more $.

Bill Dearborn

Get one with the carbon brakes. If you are worried about rotor costs you can replace the rotors with iron versions through a vendor on this forum. The regular C6Z brakes aren't worth the effort trying to use them. I didn't listen to this advise when I first bought my 08 and I have spent more on brakes than if I had just spent the $6K to upgrade to Stop Techs right then. I can provide a year and half long tale of woe as I went through the brake issues. It is easier to downgrade than upgrade.

One area where the Carbon Brakes will cause a problem is in getting track tires. The Carbon Brakes require a 19/20 wheel combination and that severely limits track tire choices. If you go with a standard Z06 with Stop Tech brakes front and rear and then purchase CCW 18x11 wheels for the front and 18x13 wheels for the rear you will fall right into the area where there are a lot of tires available.

I am one of the ones that had a valve drop in the engine. GM replaced the engine with one produced in May of 2011. It is an issue you might want to be concerned about.

As with BMWs a lot of people replace the stock seats with Sparco's or some other race seat. I used Ultrashield seats with a Sharkbar harness bar.

UP through 09 you couldn't get a power passenger seat in the Z06. In 10 and later it was included in the 3LZ option package.

Bill