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Congrats! I am not sure you could have picked a better set of brakes. They are amazing. I put the older Essex / AP set up on a C6Z and I think they are the best brakes I have ever used on any car.
I sent an email response to the OP, but I'll post here for the benefit of others in the same position.
In this situation, I would consider the wider CP9668 calipers on the front of this car. It definitely doesn’t need the wider CP9668 kit. If it were a base or Z51 car, I’d definitely push the owner towards the narrower CP9660. The CP9660 pads have plenty of mass/thermal capacity, and he's never going to fade them or have any troubles. In this case however, the stock wheels will accommodate the wider 9668 caliper, and they offer 40% more pad thickness than the 9660’s at roughly the same price across most pad brands. That will dramatically reduce consumable costs when one looks across the next five years, and the difference in initial purchase price between the two kits would be made up by the time he's run through his second set of pads. The rate of pad set consumption is going to be considerably slower with the 9668’s. Keep in mind that pads burn more quickly the thinner they get. In other words, if one uses 1mm of pad material per 20 minute session with a brand new set of pads, that number is likely going to be something like 1.5mm or 2.0mm of wear per session as one gets closer to the backing plate.
The weight difference between the 9668 and 9660 isn’t so great (less than a pound for the caliper), and I wouldn’t worry about that difference unless you were chasing hundredths of a second under tight racing conditions. The pad savings will be more meaningful to the typical HPDE enthusiast or club racer, when compared to the small weight savings.
Conversely, looking down the road to when you sell your car, the buyer pool would be slightly larger for the CP9660 kit since it will fit behind OEM wheels on base and Z51 cars.
Weighing all of the above, I think the pad savings of the CP9668 will pay dividends in this particular situation. If it were my car, that’s the route I’d go.
In terms of the OEM blue calipers changing color, I think that is a valid concern. Blue doesn’t tend to have the best color retention. Black is best, followed by red, then yellow, blue, etc. We’ve had some F80/F87 M2/M3/M4 guys with some fairly major color shift on their blue calipers after a very short bit of track time. They start turning an ugly shade of green, check out the inner caliper half in this blog post:
If I remember correctly, the owner had only two track days on his blue OEM calipers!
Our CP9450/365mm rear kit is the perfect complement to the above, and it retains the parking brake, etc.
I’m not familiar with the StopTech SR-33 pad compound (they started offering those after I left the company), but the Ferodo DS1.11 is a perfect starting point on pad choice. It’s a moderate mu pad, and gives a great baseline setup. It lasts a fairly long time, and it’s much easier on discs than some of the competing pads our customers have tried. One can skip the titanium shims with our setup. The StopTech calipers use aluminum pistons, and the Ti shim is good crutch on that setup. Our system uses stainless steel pistons however, and we don’t see the same type of fluid boiling issues with it. Our pistons are also ventilated, which allows more air behind/into them. That, coupled with the Radi-CAL design flows considerably more air through and around the pistons. The large 372mm discs also absorb and shed more heat than what this customer has been running on his M3. We just don’t see fluid fade issues. To my knowledge, we’ve never had anyone fade our 372mm system thus far, and that’s on big power cars on tough braking tracks.
If budget is an issue, I’d suggest starting with the fronts now and adding the rear later when budget allows. The front brakes take far more abuse on these cars than the rear. I always tell people to invest in the fronts, as that is where the greatest ROI will be. The temps you’ll see on the rear will not be as high, and the likelihood of caliper damage/color degradation is not nearly as high in the back. I’d suggest starting with the front kit only. That will save the OEM parts in their pristine state, and prevent the need to waste money on new OEM parts when the car is passed along on the used market (hopefully to me...I love this model! ). The OP be able to cash out on the brake kit at that time. The net result will be that he is bringing a couple thousand dollars in for the AP BBK, rather than spending that much on fresh OEM parts that he'll simply hand over to the new owner. We have matching Ferodo pads for the OEM rear calipers, so he'll be able to have a properly balanced setup. That setup, coupled to some good fluid will do everything you need it to do (we suggest AP Racing R2 to R4 range). Also of note, the Ferodo DS2500 sport pad can be swapped in with the Ferodo DS1.11 without having to re-bed everything, and one doesn't have to worry about cross-contamination, uneven pad deposits, and judder. The DS2500/DS1.11 combo is our most popular, and seems to work great on just about every type of car we deal with.
2) page XIV = learn about the Siloxanes (This is what makes the Ferodo DSUNO and the DS1.11 true fully ceramic pads). This makes them better than any other pad I’ve ever researched.
As I continue to learn more about this platform I’ve discovered that Z06’s come standard, and GS’s can be optioned with “performance brake ducts” with “wheel blockers”. All of which mount to the lower front control arms and direct air toward the inner rotor faces, relatively close to the rotor hat which is how you’d properly set up custom brake ducts! Good job chevy!
Do I need these with my AP kit? Will they even fit?
As I continue to learn more about this platform I’ve discovered that Z06’s come standard, and GS’s can be optioned with “performance brake ducts” with “wheel blockers”. All of which mount to the lower front control arms and direct air toward the inner rotor faces, relatively close to the rotor hat which is how you’d properly set up custom brake ducts! Good job chevy!
Do I need these with my AP kit? Will they even fit?
Yes, I have them on my 2017 GS and both items fit perfectly with my APRacing BBK.
The rotor and caliper sizes have no impact on the fit of either of those items. Just think of the "wheel blockers" as an oversized rotor dust-shield that extends almost out to the barrel of the wheel, and finishes with a 90 degree radius, funneling all outwardly moving air towards the rotor.
The "wheel blockers" will only fit with 19" or larger wheels.
Thanks - do you think they actually do something worth the investment? Has anyone done any measurements?
I haven't measured before/after temps as I put this equipment on before my first track day.
The "performance brake ducts" are an amazing show of CAD design, the way they weave throughout the control arms. They clearly deliver a concentrated air flow exactly where you need it, at the center of the rotor.
It would be difficult to imagine that the wheel blockers don't make a significant contribution as they "corral" all of the non-PBD air from the normal brake cooling airstream onto the rotor.
The relatively low cost and easy install made it a no-brainer for me from a performance perspective as well as a savings in brake pad costs (due to the lower temps).
I haven't measured before/after temps as I put this equipment on before my first track day.
The "performance brake ducts" are an amazing show of CAD design, the way they weave throughout the control arms. They clearly deliver a concentrated air flow exactly where you need it, at the center of the rotor.
It would be difficult to imagine that the wheel blockers don't make a significant contribution as they "corral" all of the non-PBD air from the normal brake cooling airstream onto the rotor.
The relatively low cost and easy install made it a no-brainer for me from a performance perspective as well as a savings in brake pad costs (due to the lower temps).
Our owner’s book does a lousy job describing these on page 172.
Although the thread suggests the part numbers, another poster, as well as my dealer said those numbers aren’t the correct ordering numbers. I’ve listed the correct part numbers here:
1) Front Brake Cooling Kit: Proposed number - 23412348; actual ordering number - 84057829 (list price: $98.25, discounted by my dealer: $75.00)
2) Front Wheel-Blocker: Proposed number - 84038185; actual ordering number - 84102084 (list price: $67.60, discounted by my dealer: $48.00)
The Chevy dealer at post #42 seems to have the best price of $99 (reg. $118.54) for both the cooling kit AND the wheel-blocker. However I believe you will have to request the special forum price of $99. See: http://stores.revolutionparts.com/tr...57829-84102084
If you have a GS don’t order the above. Those are the ducts that come with the car. I already went through it. This is the correct link for the additional air cooling ducts. They pull air from undearneath the car as opposed to from the stock front bumper air ducts. They work great by the way!
If you have a GS don’t order the above. Those are the ducts that come with the car. I already went through it. This is the correct link for the additional air cooling ducts. They pull air from undearneath the car as opposed to from the stock front bumper air ducts. They work great by the way!
04-21-2018, 10:46 AM
). The OP be able to cash out on the brake kit at that time. The net result will be that he is bringing a couple thousand dollars in for the AP BBK, rather than spending that much on fresh OEM parts that he'll simply hand over to the new owner. We have matching Ferodo pads for the OEM rear calipers, so he'll be able to have a properly balanced setup. That setup, coupled to some good fluid will do everything you need it to do (we suggest AP Racing R2 to R4 range). Also of note, the Ferodo DS2500 sport pad can be swapped in with the Ferodo DS1.11 without having to re-bed everything, and one doesn't have to worry about cross-contamination, uneven pad deposits, and judder. The DS2500/DS1.11 combo is our most popular, and seems to work great on just about every type of car we deal with.
