So, I like the looks of the colored brake calipers. On my 08 the fronts are grey, which is ok, but the backs look like they came off a chevette? Knew this when I bought the car, just wondering, are the z51 rear calipers bigger? Paintable? If not which ones are.
Because, there would be no point in painting my rear calipers.
I have seen many with nice big calipers in the rear. And at some point would like that look.

 

The Z51 calibers are the same but the rotors are larger diameter. Therefore the brackets are different too.

I had my fronts and rear powder coated.

If you want the enclosed look of the front calibers you need to get after market kit and usually they will not fit inside stock rim. So new rims are necessary or spacers which would be the wrong approach.

There are calibre cover's available but look cheesy.

So in short you will need to purchase a new rear aftermarket brake kit and probably new rims too, and to have it all match figure doing all four corners....$$$$$

Of course you could use GM parts (GS-Z06) but still will have the need for rims with more offset, or the cheap and problematic wheel spacers.

Then you have to decide how much compromise you will need to deal with in purchasing new rims, a whole other set of decisions with varying pros and cons.

Figure $1,000 plus per rim for anything decent, weight and manufacture wise.

 

SO.....I am starting to like my calipers a little more now!
Anybody have pics of the standard rear calipers , painted or powder coated?
Thanks

 

Standard calipers, painted red.
1LT, 2LT and 3LT have no effect on brakes...all the same.

 

Thanks for the pic, that does look good!

 

http://www.tpsmotorsports.com/galler...08-C6/IMG_5170

Try this link..

 

And yet the antelope in the background seem uninterested...

 

Does anyone make a direct replacement rear caliper that fits with the stock wheels and matches or is a close match to front stock caliper?

 

There is always one thing that gets missed when threads here talk about the rear calipers looking small. This factor is the performance of the braking system. The rear calipers are smaller for a reason. This reason is that the rear end of a car does not need or want to have nearly as much braking as the front end. I saw someone on this forum who wanted to buy two more front calipers and modify the rear end in order to put them there. Automotive engineers are banging their heads on the desk at this point. They have expended tremendous effort to get the car as light as possible and make the brakes function as well as possible, then someone comes along and wants to change the calipers to something bigger and heavier that also severely damages the function of the system.
The brakes look the way they do for a reason...because they work best that way.

 

Understood. just looking for something that looks better

 

Then a big brake kit for 4 grand and all new rims for another 4 grand and you will be styling.

Could spend more too very easily.

Maybe add color to the fronts and keep the rears stock not to draw attention.

 

Well thats not going to happen. Thanks for the info!

 

I can't say that I do not blame you.

Also as mentioned earlier if you go bigger in the rear, 4 piston, then you need to go 6 piston up front.

Just no cheap way, other than the covers and they look just like what they are, covers.

This is one reason the Corvette is affordable as compared to the cars that have all the sexy components.

Just except the cost cutting and enjoy the style and performance it does offer, with little maintenance as compared to the sexy exotics.

 

Now I see the lite..... I never thought about the brake balance issue.
And then the cost to "improve" the brakes.
So, some paint, cause I like the look on CCLIVES car.(sorry but I didn't see the antelope) And that leaves money for other goodies!
Thank you all.

 

You could always get those covers for you calipers.

Not for me, but others like them.

http://rpidesigns.com/shop/item.aspx?itemid=1772

 

There is one standing and one sitting down in the field directly behind the car in that picture. Can't believe they missed the opportunity to check out a new Corvette...

 

Here are some pictures of my old 2005 Coupe (now owned by my brother-in-law).

It had the base brake setup:

Front




Rear




I kept the stock calipers - but I painted them DSOM to match the car, with silver brackets and pad backing plates.

I also swapped on a set of Baer two piece rotors. The fronts are stock base rotor size, but the rears are Baer Eradispeed +2 rotors. The stock base rear rotor is 12 inches in diameter (the Z51 rotor is slightly larger), so the +2 rotor is 14 inches in diameter. It comes with a bracket that just moves the stock caliper out to the correct distance to work properly with the big rotor.

I think they look great - they fill up the rear wheel a lot more and I never felt a need to get any bigger caliper for cosmetic reasons:

Front




Rear




I also lowered the car, and it looks a lot better without the huge gaps between tire and fender that you can see in the before pictures:




Overall, I liked the brake mod very much. Like Chris (cclive) said, you need to be concerned about the front/rear brake bias. A much larger caliper on the rear might start to stretch the capability of the car's brake system. I never had any problems at all (and my b-in-law hasn't either) with the larger rotor on the rear, but I never tracked the 2005.

The C6 has automatically adjusting brake bias. The 2005-2008 have an ABS made by Delphi and the biasing system is called DRP (Dynamic Rear Proportioning), and in 2009 they went to a Bosch ABS and the system is called EBD (Electronic Brake Distribution).

So, as long as you don't mess with things too much, the automatic front/rear biasing system will take care of you. If you run the car hard on the track you might more quickly run into problems.

Bob

 

Bob would be a great brother-in-law to have....My brother -in-law is great but he doesn't race his ZR1 or his Z06 and I never get to buy his lightly used Corvettes.....nice guy though...

 

Hi Chris

Actually my b-in-law Jeff is a great guy to have in the family - he's in the tire business!!!

Here is my Z06 visiting his 2005 in New Jersey - the 2005 has a nice new home!!:







And here is his house in Virginia, 60 miles northeast of VIR, so I have a nice place to hang out a few days before and after the Nat'l Corvette Museum HPDE every June:




Bob