i got an 660rwhp 05 vert with z51 package. I want better braking ability but am not going overboard with a $5,000 brake package set up from brembo or stop tech ....ect. Have aftermarket wheels that will fit the zo6 big brake upgrade kit.
should I.....
1. Get bear zink coated rotors and hawk ceramic pads for my z51 callipers ... then have callipers powdercoated

2. buy zo6 big brake kit

3. do nothing

 

I have the 07 Z51 set up. What I did was have the brake calipers powder coated red "for looks", install stainless steel brake lines front and rear, install new GM pads front and rear, flush the system with Motul, and install new two piece slotted rotors from Performanceafx. I drive about 3,000 miles a month on my car and am very happy with the setup.

 

If you're not tracking the car, just upgrade the stock brakes (pads, lines, fluids and brake ducts). If you are tracking the car, I would steer clear of the Z06 brakes and go with something more robust. I've seen used BBKs in great condition for barely more than the Z06 calipers.
You can always just upgrade the fronts, which do most of the stopping.

San

 

ceramic pads won't give you better stopping ability, they will just keep your wheels clean and be quiet. If you want better stopping, go with HPS or C5 Z06 pads.

 

What are you doing with the car?

There are a ton of braking options out there for Corvette's to meet almost anyone's needs.

This is what I told the guys in the AutoX/Road Racing Section

Well I can say this, picking a brake kit is going to be like picking a dinner plate pattern with your wife. Everyone here has made some excellent points but you have to find what is right for you.

You are not going to go wrong with AP, Brembo, StopTech, Alcon..... You guys see them run NASCAR, F1, ALMS, Speed World Challenge....and they all compete right there with each other, so we are not talking about the difference in a Corvette to a Kia here, all of them make a great product that is going to work better than stock.

We ran StopTech's on our World Challenge cars, and actually developed the ST-60 caliper on Lou's #28 car during the season because we needed more pad, and more force. What you saw us run on our car is the EXACT same kit as what you would buy for your street car. Keep in mind the Brembo kits are not. They are the same company but the Brembo GTR caliper is not the same as the GT kits that you see for sale for your street car. Currently we have Alcon's on our GT2 car as we needed an endurance caliper that can hold a 30mm thick pad, currently StopTech does not offer such a caliper.



So where do you start to figure out what is right for you?



*PRICE* Well price is surely one thing to look at. Find a group of kits that fit in your price range, then start to weed out the ones that do not fit for you and your particular application.

*WHEELS* Everyone has a different caliper design, width and offset. This gives you a wide range of wheel fitments. Narrower calipers such as Wilwood might fit a wider range of wheels, but not have as wide of a brake pad because the caliper is narrow, or to the extreme the Alcon's may not fit any but one or two wheels on the market because the caliper is over a foot wide. Do you want to get new wheels? Sometimes you have to but if there is a kit out there that works with your wheels, then start to narrow your search a bit more.

*PADS* Thicker is always better. Find one that will take the thickest pad that you can get because you are going to get more heat protection as well as more life from one set than what you would with a thinner pads. Again see above for wheel fitment. Also look at replacement pads. Is your favorite pad made for this caliper and how much are replacements going to be? Most of these are going to use a popular shape. The StopTech ST-40 for example is a pretty basic Porsche 993TT pad shape so pads are cheaper and more easily found as where say your 30mm thick Alcon's are not, and are close to 3x the cost.

*ROTORS* Everyone loves drilled but slotted or solids are going to last you the longest. With the Corvette I would highly suggest a floating hat and rotor combo to fight the Corvette's poor wheel bearing design and 'pad knock back'. Brembo has by far the trickest floating design that is quiet for use on the street. Track cars that do not care about a little noise, most of these kits will allow for floating or fixed rotors but maybe with a little bit of noise on the side. Also, again look at replacement rotor costs and do the rotors come with new hardware if you have to replace it as well (most of the time you do). So figure this into your replacement costs. Also look at availability for rotors, and can you easily get new ones?

*ABS* Are you retaining the ABS and stock master cylinders? If so them make sure your kit will work with this. StopTech, Wilwood, and Brembo all make kits designed around this. AP, Alcon, Brembo GTR...these are more race designed kits that were setup with dual master cylinders and bias bars in mind so you can control them more finely.

*USE* Do you need a kit that will run 10hrs without a pad change? Just running 20 min sessions at a local track? While a $25,000 top of the line Alcon kit looks cool and you will be the talk of the paddock do you need something like that to run 3 20min sessions a year? If your going for different and top of the line and have it, then go for it, but on a budget you really don't need that.





For the money, our G-Stop kits will cover most weekend warriors and give you a much larger step up from stock. Past that, then we get into StopTech for those that need a two piece much larger rotor. Again for the money they are a hard setup to beat. Brembo, also has some very nice features for not to much more money.

I am always more than happy to speak one on one with anyone that needs some help deciding on what they need, and what will fix their specific issue that they are having.

We carry, Wilwood, Brembo, StopTech, and can get just about any model of each. Full race calipers are also available on special order basis.