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Had Powerstop Z26 installed by Paul Koerner on my Z51 at 4300 miles. He insisted on turning the rotors because he did not want me to have any issues with uneven braking. He took minimal material off them and I have even braking and they are noise and dust free. I have to say I notice a very slight amber tint to the rotors with these pads. For me they were well worth it because I'm not cleaning the car of brake dust after every drive.
Just ordered the Z-23 pads for my G.S. Z-23 1405 front and Z-23 1718 rear. $89.00 from Autoanything. Same pads as the Z-26 but has rubber backing instead of stainless. I have heard that some brake shops will refuse to install pads without turning the rotors. My car only has a few hundred miles on it so good timing. I will be doing the pad change myself. Seems like a very simple process. Don't even need to remove the calipers. easy peasy.
Thanks Jerry. Anything in particular I should be aware of when I talk to the tech installing them? I'm pretty sure I won't have them turn the rotors based on what forum members are saying. I will make sure they prepare the rotors properly. The tech doing the pads is their brake and alignment specialist so I'm pretty confident he will do the right thing.....but I will be watching.
It's easy. When I changed to ceramic pads after ~9 months on my C7 Z51 I used two 60 grit sanding pads to remove the old OEM pad residual coating. Only spent 5 minutes per rotor so removed no metal just old pad material. You could see the pad was dirty.
I would also follow the Powerstop simple recommended bedding procedure. Not hard.
Note: I put a small amount of lub on the pad backs. They and GM say to put it on the metal pad sides. That is probably what the tech will do. Mine make zero noise.
I use these to clean my wheel barrels. Non Z07, can get all the way around the wheels without moving the car. Only thing I'd like better is if they had a thicker handle, I may have to modify. But other than that they work excellent.
Now that I have the power stop pads I just wash the wheels every 500 miles maybe. I hose them down, wash them with soap and these brushes, rinse with water, blow dry and then detail the rest of the car with my detail spray. Goes pretty quickly.
Just ordered the Z-23 pads for my G.S. Z-23 1405 front and Z-23 1718 rear. $89.00 from Autoanything. Same pads as the Z-26 but has rubber backing instead of stainless. I have heard that some brake shops will refuse to install pads without turning the rotors. My car only has a few hundred miles on it so good timing. I will be doing the pad change myself. Seems like a very simple process. Don't even need to remove the calipers. easy peasy.
Just out of curiosity, why did you choose rubber backing instead of stainless?
Just out of curiosity, why did you choose rubber backing instead of stainless?
Cost. The pad is the same material. I researched the different pads on this forum. Several GS and Z-06 owners have gone with the Z-23 pads and have not had any issues.
First you can not cut or turn slotted rotors. Second i put on Powerstop Z26 ceramic pads last year and yes they are low dust and no noise but they turned the rotors brown. I have been in contact with Powerstop and they said it is not their problem !!!! I am going to get Carbotech pads
Had a thought! Did you bed the pads as Powerstop recommended? That puts a thin layer of pad material on the rotors. If you don't, the pad material will adhere to the surface BUT not uniformly.
In fact one report I read said you must occasionally use performance brakes aggressively or pad material will build up in spots and cause pulsing etc. No problem for me I use them aggressively about every trip-for fun!
Took some pics of my Grand Sport Rotors. Note, one shows a brown color in the slots but the rotors are shinny. I also put a pic of the wife's BMW SUV rotors. FWIW.
So I had the Powerstop pads installed today, along with the 4 wheel alignment.
I requested that the rotors not be cut but simply cleaned and roughed up sufficiently to seat the pads. They did as I asked and I immediately took it out on the road to perform the bedding process as most of you have suggested. It's easy to get it up to 60 and brake hard down to 25 in Phoenix since everyone drives at least 60 on the surface streets here. I'm pretty sure I did the process correctly.
When I got home I looked at the rotors and this is what they looked like. Can someone tell me if this is normal (as a result of the rouging up process) or should they look smoother? And will they smooth out over time with more braking and wear? Keep in mind, this is after I bedded them.
Had to load them individually for some reason. Ignore the water spots on the wheels. The dealer "courtesy" wash isn't very detailed. Also, while I only put about 20 miles on it so far, there is much less dust but there is some dust. And I know the tech test drove the car adequately after the install because he drove it 10 miles. I plan to have a discussion with the dealer tomorrow about that and the lousy courtesy wash.
Oh, and one more thing. The ceramic brakes are nice and quiet but they are not as sensitive as the factory brakes. The pedal feel is a bit softer. I barely had to touch the factory brakes to stop the car. I'm not complaining, it's just different.
Looks like they used some kind of air tool too clean the rotors we just used 400 sandpaper. Our rotors dont look like that ours has a very even finish.
I put PowerStop Z26 pads on my GS at about 1800 miles, did not cut, clean, or sand the discs....no "bedding procedure" either.....reused all the original hardware (pins & springs)....put high-temp silicone grease on the pad backs, and the edges that slide against the caliper.....now at about 3000 miles....works fine for me...and I have not noticed any disc discoloration. No noise, much less dust, similar pedal-feel / response.
Last edited by ersatz928; Jul 12, 2017 at 11:46 AM.
