c6 z51 brakes
 

Will the stock z51 brakes hold up to track days. I'm doing my first hpde in this car in april and I don't want any surprises. Has anyone had problems with fade or cracked/broken rotors? I plan on putting in high temp dot 4 fluid and maybe stainless steel lines, anything else? Thanks for your input.

How frequently will you be tracking it? I used the stock Z51 rotors for 1 weekend with good pads (pf01) and good fluid, and they held up fine. They do have quite a few "heat checks" in them so I suspect they won't last much longer than the C5 rotors.

I went ahead and changed out the caliper brackets so I could run the less expensive C5 rotors. My understanding is that raybestos will have a C6 Z51 sized non drilled rotor available later this year-if it becomes economical to do so I will switch back to the larger rotor.

The first time out they should be fine if you have never done evemts before. If you have and ypu punish the system expect fade with stock pads inshort order.

I changed my front Z51 rotors to C5's this weekend tho I admit I was on the fence for a few weeks about making the chnage. Changed em for 2 reasons's. 1. Its cheaper to replace $84 Raybestos vs. $282 stock ( no other replacements in that size available) and by the way spider cracked rotors look like Sh_t. 2. My 17" track wheels will now fit. I will have to have the fronts rebalanced as the wheel weight on the rim just rubs a bit against the control arm when the suspension is fully lowered ( probably wouldn't be a problem on the track).[IMG]

What did you need to change them over? Did you leave the rears stock z51 or did you change them as well?

To change them you just need C5 Caliper Mounts (Fred Beans has'em) and the Raybestos rotors. That's it. I have the rear C5 setup too, I guess for balanced braking front to back, but that's your option or try them both and see what works for you..

While I was at it, I changed the front caliper pistons to Stainless Steel and painted the calipers Red. Will add stainless steel lines next weekend.

Any recommendations on replacement pads. I don't want to have to change them at the track. A good street/track pad would work I guess.

Hawk makes a nice street pad and race pad. You will be amazed at the difference over stock.

I run the HP Plus. They are a bit loud and really dusty for normal street use. The regular HPS would be better for all around.

http://www.hawkperformance.com/performance/hps.php

NO. There are no good double duty street and track pads made. The pads are designed for different purposes. You know street pads. I ran Hawk HPS aand these provided better brakeing than OEM, tho a little too dusty..personally I'm going to be looking for a ceramic street pad. ON THE TRACK: The pads need to be much more aggressive since you're braking from triple digits hard and often. Street pads don't cut it, by a long shot. Hawk HPPlus are better than street pads, but the real thing Wilwood H, PFC 01 Carbotx 10, 11 give serious braking ability and is needed for saftey and fun. These pads can stand the high temps generated under frequent hard braking from speed. This is the cheapest and #1 best thing you can do to prepare your care for the track.
Change them at the track is an easy 30 minute job. The track pads will tear up the rotors if used on the street (I've done this once or twice and regretted it very very much)

I have a Z-51 and over 100 track miles in one weekend. The only thing I did was change to Motol600.......worked PHENOMENAL!

I used the stock pads for 3 seasons on my 97. After adapting my braking style a little I could get several sessions with pretty good braking. After that the pads would taper quite severely and I would get a very long brake pedal that required double pumping the pedal when braking for a turn. I could usually get 2 days out of a set of OEM pads. I used the same set of rotors that came on the car when it was delivered from the factory and had no problems with brake rotors over those 3 seasons since they didn't get hot enough to check or crack. I used Ford DOT 3 fluid which has a 550 degree dry boiling point and flushed the system before each track event. It was simple to prepare the car and once the track event was over I would just use the same pads on the street. After several days of local driving the pedal would start to come back up as the pads seemed to wear differently on the street and the taper reduced.

Once I started getting into racing pads I still had the pad taper and long pedal problems but I could stop a little better. But there was a price to pay, cracked rotors. Now I spend a lot of time replacing rotors and pads for a few less seconds around the track. I spend a lot of money, work my butt off and have started to think it is not worth it. The purpose of the HPDEs is to have fun and learn how to drive your car at high speeds. The stock equipment will let you do that quite effectively for several seasons before you really start to push the envelope brake wise. Use the money saved to pay for more track time (a set of race pads and rotors will easily cost as much or more as a two day school at Watkins Glen). Besides you can learn how to manage your brakes and still keep an excellent pace which is a very valuable lesson.

Bill

Tried the HPS pad, hated it. More noise than stock, still got pad fade (pedal still firm, but the car wasn't braking) at the track

I didn't crack my rotors in the one track event I went to last fall. But it was nice and cool. I waiting for a someone to finally make a set of floating rotors for the Z51...

As for double duty pads, check out carbotech's Panther Plus compound. Definately more dust, but it washes right off and doesn't eat your wheels. And they definately stand up just fine to track day events, especially if you are new at it. If you are new at HPDEs you shouldn't be concentrating on braking at the last possible nano-second. You will either over brake (over worked brakes) or you will miss your turn in point. Remeber, "Go slow to go fast."

Thanks guys I really appreciate the suggestions. I'm doing my first track event in this new c6 and I don't want any suprises at 120mph. Thanks again.