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My friend has my sway bars on his C7 Z51, now. Who knows, if I feel like the suspension needs help, I could get another set, too, but I'm hoping OEM sways will be sufficient. In another note, if I ultimately end up needing sway bars, I might also try GS Z07 front bars first, since I love the dual brake ducting, and I don't think it'd work with aftermarket sway bars : ) IIRC, that sway bar is 32mm vs. my 30mm bar.
So I currently have the OEM Z06 brakes with OEM pads (pads are take-offs that I've sourced for cheap), with better rotors and track cooling installed. As such, it feels exactly like the OEM iron brakes.
I personally like pads with much higher initial bite and less compression, so I don't like it as much as the CCB brakes that had great initial bite, but I'm still trying to complete the break--in period, and it's fine for the time being. Once I switch to my ST43 pads, I'll likely never switch back. They're not corrosive like the Hawk race pad offerings, so you can keep them on regardless of the weather.
If only they could last much longer at the track, I'd love to keep the CCBs. The company that manufactures the carbon clutch that I've used on my Miata now manufactures REAL CARBON CARBON BRAKES FOR C7 CORVETTE. They don't list the price, but this gives me the feeling that we might finally see street applications of such brakes: http://www.carbon-brakes.com/pages/C7%20Corvette.html
Such brakes are usually not good for street since they need higher temps to work well, and are very expensive (I think F1 rotors are $30,000 each). I don't know if these hurdles are addressed, but I'm guessing this company is manufacturing them for much cheaper. For one thing, they're piecing it together from smaller blocks of carbon, which should cut the cost drastically. Anyhow, if anyone has these brakes, please let us know! (Thanks clarkkent06 for the link).
Why did you not try the CCB calipers with their iron replacement and just decided to go straight to the z06 brakes? I've also seen that they had some issues with the hat design and the st43 pads rubbing, do you still have that problem or did they solve it?
The hub design/clearance of Girodisc rotors is improved since May 2018, and I have the new design that doesn't come as close to the pads.
Regarding iron rotors for CCB calipers (my 2 cents):
Carbon-ceramic brakes are excellent at retaining their surface fiction coefficient, yet they're not really as good at dissipating heat. To mitigate this issue, the CCB brake manufactures increase the diameter as much as possible, and even more importantly, the annulus is also wastly increased, further increasing the braking surface.
This is all good when the material used is very light, since the added weight through this process is almost negligible.
However, when you switch to iron rotors, you end up having to come up with a massive iron rotor, even after downsizing the dimensions as much as the caliper design would allow, which is quite a bit overkill for the application. As such, you end up replacing a 13.5 lb rotor with a 28.5 lb one; per corner!
Smaller OEM iron rotors definitely seem to be better sized for the application.
Bottomline: The CCB setup properly designed for the same application will always have to be much larger in size, due to differences in materials' heat dissipation, etc. As such, if you just replace the rotor with iron, you end up having rotors that are much larger and heavier than you'd actually need.
Gearing: The gears are much taller than my Z51. I always thought the differences would be small (closer rations vs. more spread) since all M7 C7s have the same final ratio (3.42:1), but not at all; this feels completely different. No wonder, I looked it up, and this car has a much taller 2nd and 3rd. Looking forward to seeing how it works out at the track. Looks like I can keep it at 2nd gear for any slow turn, or ride the torque wave with the 3rd and save from shift/downshift time. We'll have to test it out and see which approach would fare better.
Track dash: The new track dash layout is beautiful. C7s should have been shipped with this dash option from the beginning. Oh well, better late than never. I honestly don't like the over-compressed RPM bar, but somewhat remedied it by switching the HUD display to the round "Sport-dash-like" setup.
Comfort: It feels busy on railroad track passes, and on surfaces with too many issues, but I think it's OK. Yes, my truck is more comfortable, but I could easily see myself daily driving this and not suffer much.
Daily-drivability: Speaking of which, the increased height (from my Z51 with coilovers and 1.1" height drop) makes it easier to drive around town. I have so far made almost 700 miles driving around town, and I'm yet to hurt anything. The front cameras also a must, but what's up with the image resolution? $49 Yi Cameras have 10x better image quality than these; very much unacceptable. It would be amazing, if an aftermarket company provided upgrades to these crappy cam sensors.
Done:
Oil change: Changed the oil at ~460 miles and took a sample to be sent to Blackstone. I am wondering if the car indeed came with the new 0W-40 ESP, and we'll learn. I will send another sample after a few track days (at around 3K miles perhaps), and see how it fares. My last oil change report at 3000 miles with the Z51 (and European Formula 0W-40) had perfect results.
Power steering cooler: I've also installed the power steering cooler while changing the engine oil. This concludes the aero/cooling pieces to be installed.
Tire/wheel sets: My track wheels are ready, and standing by: BC Forged wheels RZ39s 18x11 ET38 front, and 18x12.5 ET55 at rear. I literally can't wait to try the car at the track. I need another 4-500 miles at least, though.
BMS air filter: Finally installed it! We'll see if it makes a difference when I get a dyno run at Drift-Office in Auburn, WA. It made a big difference on my Z51, but I dynoed right after installing it (without letting the engine learn and pull back timing). Here's hoping they already have the baseline C7 Z06 numbers at that dyno, so we can speculate the filter's impact.
BC Forged RZ39s look beautiful with these more aggressive offsets (than the narrow body).
Had to sell my beautiful ATC all-aluminum enclosed trailer, since HOA does not allow me to store it in my property (unless I can hide it, which I can't).
Switched to an Aluma 8216 tilt trailer. It is their special edition, fully loaded with alloy wheels, front shield, etc. I really wanted the shield, since the tow vehicles usually throw stuff at cars. One other benefit is that the empty towing MPG jumped from 15 MPG to 26 MPG with my diesel truck!! I expect 20+ MPG when I finally get to tow my car to Oregon in early spring.
The new trailer nicely fits under my deck in the backyard, not visible to HOA eyes : )
Installed my magnetic phone mount (that little circular ball) for daily use. It works great.
I realized Mobil1 0W-40 ESP is only available in 1 quart bottles. Found the oil cheapest at Speedway motorsports, at $50/6-bottles. I'll definitely stick with this oil, since I don't want to clog my cats prematurely, and it's a real issue (check C6ZR1 threads about this). This is a bigger issue with FI engines.
Here is the link to order: https://www.speedwaymotors.com/Mobil...ts,371931.html
Track dashboard is better than other options. I still don't like the over-compressed RPM bar. It didn't have to be that compressed in my opinion.
I had to play with the babies quite a bit during the holidays, and as a result, have not yet had time for the race harness and the bar. Oh well, it's going to be installed, soon!
Installed the BMS filter! I did not notice much of a difference to be honest, but we'll see when I can finally visit Drift-Office for a dyno run.
Another shot of the additional brake ducting; looks great!
Finally got to install the power steering cooler as well.
The oil was actually pretty clear.
90% of my driving has so far been under rain, sometimes heavy, sometimes sprinkling. I think the car behaves just fine with the PSS ZP tires, but since it's also rather cold (usually around 35-50 degrees F), I am being very cautious.
FYI, the comparison of the gear ratios. The shortest is Z51, regular model is in the middle, and Z06 gearing is the tallest.
Nice looking open trailer. I especially concur with the tow vehicle throwing stuff up on the car. I used an open trailer this past year and the front of the vette took a major toll. Especially since the road to the track was grated, tarred and graveled. I have rock chips on front fascia, hood, a pillars and roof..... Rock guard a must.
Question, have you tried loading the car on this trailer? Do you have to use additional ramps to keep splitter from hitting?
I'm yet to try loading onto the trailer. With my lowered Z51 and its longer APR splitter, back when I had a tilt trailer I was using a 1.5"x6"'x4' board to help out IIRC. I already bought the boards from home depot, and I'll use them if I need to. This Z06 sits higher, and the OEM splitter is shorter, so I might be fine even without the help of boards; we'll see!
On a related note, I'm also looking forward to using the forward cameras while loading. If the guide lines can help me properly center the car, it might turn loading into "always success at first attempt".
I have the camera's but still found I needed a spotter, However, I was using ramps and not a tilt feature. I borrowed a featherlite trailer, Now, I have to invest in my own.I have the APR splitter. The tilt feature is interesting, if you can load without boards, even better!
Gearing: The gears are much taller than my Z51. I always thought the differences would be small (closer rations vs. more spread) since all M7 C7s have the same final ratio (3.42:1), but not at all; this feels completely different. No wonder, I looked it up, and this car has a much taller 2nd and 3rd. Looking forward to seeing how it works out at the track. Looks like I can keep it at 2nd gear for any slow turn, or ride the torque wave with the 3rd and save from shift/downshift time. We'll have to test it out and see which approach would fare better.
Track dash: The new track dash layout is beautiful. C7s should have been shipped with this dash option from the beginning. Oh well, better late than never. I honestly don't like the over-compressed RPM bar, but somewhat remedied it by switching the HUD display to the round "Sport-dash-like" setup.
Comfort: It feels busy on railroad track passes, and on surfaces with too many issues, but I think it's OK. Yes, my truck is more comfortable, but I could easily see myself daily driving this and not suffer much.
Daily-drivability: Speaking of which, the increased height (from my Z51 with coilovers and 1.1" height drop) makes it easier to drive around town. I have so far made almost 700 miles driving around town, and I'm yet to hurt anything. The front cameras also a must, but what's up with the image resolution? $49 Yi Cameras have 10x better image quality than these; very much unacceptable. It would be amazing, if an aftermarket company provided upgrades to these crappy cam sensors.
Done:
Oil change: Changed the oil at ~460 miles and took a sample to be sent to Blackstone. I am wondering if the car indeed came with the new 0W-40 ESP, and we'll learn. I will send another sample after a few track days (at around 3K miles perhaps), and see how it fares. My last oil change report at 3000 miles with the Z51 (and European Formula 0W-40) had perfect results.
Power steering cooler: I've also installed the power steering cooler while changing the engine oil. This concludes the aero/cooling pieces to be installed.
Tire/wheel sets: My track wheels are ready, and standing by: BC Forged wheels RZ39s 18x11 ET38 front, and 18x12.5 ET55 at rear. I literally can't wait to try the car at the track. I need another 4-500 miles at least, though.
BMS air filter: Finally installed it! We'll see if it makes a difference when I get a dyno run at Drift-Office in Auburn, WA. It made a big difference on my Z51, but I dynoed right after installing it (without letting the engine learn and pull back timing). Here's hoping they already have the baseline C7 Z06 numbers at that dyno, so we can speculate the filter's impact.
BC Forged RZ39s look beautiful with these more aggressive offsets (than the narrow body).
Had to sell my beautiful ATC all-aluminum enclosed trailer, since HOA does not allow me to store it in my property (unless I can hide it, which I can't).
Switched to an Aluma 8216 tilt trailer. It is their special edition, fully loaded with alloy wheels, front shield, etc. I really wanted the shield, since the tow vehicles usually throw stuff at cars. One other benefit is that the empty towing MPG jumped from 15 MPG to 26 MPG with my diesel truck!! I expect 20+ MPG when I finally get to tow my car to Oregon in early spring.
The new trailer nicely fits under my deck in the backyard, not visible to HOA eyes : )
Installed my magnetic phone mount (that little circular ball) for daily use. It works great.
I realized Mobil1 0W-40 ESP is only available in 1 quart bottles. Found the oil cheapest at Speedway motorsports, at $50/6-bottles. I'll definitely stick with this oil, since I don't want to clog my cats prematurely, and it's a real issue (check C6ZR1 threads about this). This is a bigger issue with FI engines.
Here is the link to order: https://www.speedwaymotors.com/Mobil...ts,371931.html
Track dashboard is better than other options. I still don't like the over-compressed RPM bar. It didn't have to be that compressed in my opinion.
I had to play with the babies quite a bit during the holidays, and as a result, have not yet had time for the race harness and the bar. Oh well, it's going to be installed, soon!
Installed the BMS filter! I did not notice much of a difference to be honest, but we'll see when I can finally visit Drift-Office for a dyno run.
Another shot of the additional brake ducting; looks great!
Finally got to install the power steering cooler as well.
The oil was actually pretty clear.
90% of my driving has so far been under rain, sometimes heavy, sometimes sprinkling. I think the car behaves just fine with the PSS ZP tires, but since it's also rather cold (usually around 35-50 degrees F), I am being very cautious.
FYI, the comparison of the gear ratios. The shortest is Z51, regular model is in the middle, and Z06 gearing is the tallest.
The lt4 gearing is 100x Better than lt1. 4th gear in lt1 is a huge bog. Literally twice as long.
Also my friend made me notice something today. I was driving around town in the wet on my new DBA front rotors. They were way colder than the rear stock rotors. I wonder if that is because of the 2nd brake duct or the rotors are that much better at cooling.
Could you take some temp readings if you have an IR gun or just touch your finger to it and see if yours is the same? (Oh just noticed you don't have the stock gm steels, still should be good to know)
Last edited by BrunoTheMellow; 12-30-2018 at 08:06 PM.
12-13-2018, 11:43 PM
