LG Motorsports C5 Bracket review...Long
04-24-2010, 07:22 PM
#1
LG Motorsports C5 Bracket review...Long Well, I bought the C5 conversion brackets from LG Motorsports and thought I'd take some time to provide some feedback in case anyone else was considering a similar upgrade. Obviously if your going to run 18 inch rims, you should go straight to the CTS-V brakes, but for those of us that want to stay on 17s this may be the best option for the dollar.
Ok, here's the good:
The bracket itself...Very Impressive!! I was really excited to find out that once bolted up the brackets actually fit into the spindle rather than simply attacheing to the spindle. What I mean to say is, underhard braking, the bolts aren't the only thing holding the braket in place, the spindle itself serves as back stop for the brackets. With road course driving in mind, I felt very comforted by this fact.
Fitment of the brackets were also perfect. Bolts went in easy, the caliper went on just like stock, and easily cleared my after market 17" wheels.
Rotors, I went with NAPA Ultra premium rotors for the track and some ebay slotted/drilled cheapies for the street. They both fit perfectly into the caliper.
Speaking of calipers, I kept my stock calipers, something not too many of the C5 conversion brackets allow you to do. This is a definitely plus, so I didn't have to spend a whole lot of money all at once to do the ocnversion. I figure brackets now and maybe down the road, I'll get the C5 calipers.
Performance. With the limited driving I've done, I can already feel a dramatic difference in stopping power. Truthfully though, I wasn't unhappy with the stock brakes stopping power, heat was a greater problem something I hope the larger rotor will help remedy. I'll provide an update next month after I hit the track on these and let you know how they worked there.
Ok, the bad:
LG Motorsports website. I was very, very, unhappy to find out that the website essentillay falsley advertised what I was getting. It doesn't have a spot to simply order the brackets, you have to go into the kit and select options. Well I selected brackets only for -800, pads none for no change in price, and rotors slotted for no change in price. The total was $295 plus $67 shipping. Which seemed high, but rotors are heavy so I paid it. Unfortunately, when I got my package I only had brackets. I called LG Motosports and they apologized and said the website was wrong, it should be no rotors, since they are actually $120 per rotor. They offered to accept the brackets on return and refund my money but refused to send the rotors despite the fact that my invoice indicated they were included. I then complained that I shouldn't have to pay $67 for a 2.1 pound shipment which he readily agreed and indicated he would refund the difference between the $67 and the actual cost of shipping the brackets alone. Which I accepted.
Hardware: The kit includes four M12x25 1.25 bolts...I know this because I had to go to ace hardware and get four more, because the four bolts that come off of your stock calipers are too long to be used with the brackets. When I attempted to use them in various different mounting locations, the bolt ends either came to close (maybe 2mm) to the rotor itself (for my comfort anyway) or they contacted the new bracket and wouldn't thread all the way in. Not a big deal, but would have been nice if they included 8 bolts instead of 4. Now it's possible I did something wrong, I really can't say for certain, which leads me to my next compliant.
Instructions: There weren't any! The brackets seemed to fit only one way though so after about 30mins of test fitting, then an hour of trying bolts in different locations, then another hour out to the store, I had it all pretty well sorted out, or so I think anyway.
Price: For $295, the brackets and Rotors was one helluva an awesome deal...just for brackets seems a bit steep, but I'm not sure there is anything else that matches the quality and design advantages of the LG Motorsports bracket.
Conclusion:
So I spent a grand total of $635 for brackets, two sets of rotors (ebay/Napa), and Hawk HP+ pads (Byunspeed), had I just gone with one set of rotors for the street, I could trim $120 off of that price for a total C5 upgrade (using stock calipers) of $505.
In the end, I'm happy with the results despite the bads I described above. I'm glad I went with these brackets over the other options. And although LG Motorsports customer service was helpful, I feel like the right answer should have been to eat the loss and send me the rotors, then fix the website so it doesn't happen again. Had they done that, they would have had a diehard customer for life. Don't get me wrong, I totally understand them not wanting too and that's why I didn't push it, but I probably wont use LG Motorsports for any of my other F-body needs as a result, unless of course they have some other awesome product I can't get anywhere else.
TRACK UPDATE here: https://ls1tech.com/forums/13390573-post18.html
Ok, here's the good:
The bracket itself...Very Impressive!! I was really excited to find out that once bolted up the brackets actually fit into the spindle rather than simply attacheing to the spindle. What I mean to say is, underhard braking, the bolts aren't the only thing holding the braket in place, the spindle itself serves as back stop for the brackets. With road course driving in mind, I felt very comforted by this fact.
Fitment of the brackets were also perfect. Bolts went in easy, the caliper went on just like stock, and easily cleared my after market 17" wheels.
Rotors, I went with NAPA Ultra premium rotors for the track and some ebay slotted/drilled cheapies for the street. They both fit perfectly into the caliper.
Speaking of calipers, I kept my stock calipers, something not too many of the C5 conversion brackets allow you to do. This is a definitely plus, so I didn't have to spend a whole lot of money all at once to do the ocnversion. I figure brackets now and maybe down the road, I'll get the C5 calipers.
Performance. With the limited driving I've done, I can already feel a dramatic difference in stopping power. Truthfully though, I wasn't unhappy with the stock brakes stopping power, heat was a greater problem something I hope the larger rotor will help remedy. I'll provide an update next month after I hit the track on these and let you know how they worked there.
Ok, the bad:
LG Motorsports website. I was very, very, unhappy to find out that the website essentillay falsley advertised what I was getting. It doesn't have a spot to simply order the brackets, you have to go into the kit and select options. Well I selected brackets only for -800, pads none for no change in price, and rotors slotted for no change in price. The total was $295 plus $67 shipping. Which seemed high, but rotors are heavy so I paid it. Unfortunately, when I got my package I only had brackets. I called LG Motosports and they apologized and said the website was wrong, it should be no rotors, since they are actually $120 per rotor. They offered to accept the brackets on return and refund my money but refused to send the rotors despite the fact that my invoice indicated they were included. I then complained that I shouldn't have to pay $67 for a 2.1 pound shipment which he readily agreed and indicated he would refund the difference between the $67 and the actual cost of shipping the brackets alone. Which I accepted.
Hardware: The kit includes four M12x25 1.25 bolts...I know this because I had to go to ace hardware and get four more, because the four bolts that come off of your stock calipers are too long to be used with the brackets. When I attempted to use them in various different mounting locations, the bolt ends either came to close (maybe 2mm) to the rotor itself (for my comfort anyway) or they contacted the new bracket and wouldn't thread all the way in. Not a big deal, but would have been nice if they included 8 bolts instead of 4. Now it's possible I did something wrong, I really can't say for certain, which leads me to my next compliant.
Instructions: There weren't any! The brackets seemed to fit only one way though so after about 30mins of test fitting, then an hour of trying bolts in different locations, then another hour out to the store, I had it all pretty well sorted out, or so I think anyway.
Price: For $295, the brackets and Rotors was one helluva an awesome deal...just for brackets seems a bit steep, but I'm not sure there is anything else that matches the quality and design advantages of the LG Motorsports bracket.
Conclusion:
So I spent a grand total of $635 for brackets, two sets of rotors (ebay/Napa), and Hawk HP+ pads (Byunspeed), had I just gone with one set of rotors for the street, I could trim $120 off of that price for a total C5 upgrade (using stock calipers) of $505.
In the end, I'm happy with the results despite the bads I described above. I'm glad I went with these brackets over the other options. And although LG Motorsports customer service was helpful, I feel like the right answer should have been to eat the loss and send me the rotors, then fix the website so it doesn't happen again. Had they done that, they would have had a diehard customer for life. Don't get me wrong, I totally understand them not wanting too and that's why I didn't push it, but I probably wont use LG Motorsports for any of my other F-body needs as a result, unless of course they have some other awesome product I can't get anywhere else.
TRACK UPDATE here: https://ls1tech.com/forums/13390573-post18.html
Last edited by z28ss4me; 05-27-2010 at 06:36 PM.
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04-26-2010, 11:42 PM
#8
Yea, LG wanted $120 per rotor for the stop tech, I spent $63 per rotor at Napa for the blanks and $100 for the set of slotted and drilled of ebay. I've heard people say they found vette rotors for $20 each, but I haven't seen that yet.
04-27-2010, 12:07 AM
#10
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Contrary to the many anecdotes around this forum, inexpensive isn't necessarily bad. I've actually tried the same kind of 40 USD Wagner 12" rotors that mitchntx runs for a full year in CMC, and have actually heat stress tested them up to ~875*F and their resulted grain structures are quite well. On the other hand, I've tried the Brembo blanks manufactured within the last year and the results were not nearly as good as the Wagners. It's possible that they were from a bad manufacturing run, but they still weren't like the ones I've tried from 4 years ago.
Just my .02 cents.
04-30-2010, 12:04 AM
#14
More cool? Are you referring to looking cool or actually staying cooler? If staying cooler, I sure hope so, that was a big reason I went with the bigger rotor so my brakes won't heat up quite as fast or as much on the road course. I'll no for sure the end of may, I'm going back on a road course and I'll post up my thoughts.
6 Liter eater design, UMI, and BMR setups all appear somewhat similar to one another and are all totally different from LG's setup . Although when I was doing my research, 6 liter eater desgin was the only other one that allowed you to use both stock calipers or C5 calipers. I also seem to remember it didn't require modifying the spindle. That was big for me, I hate the idea of cutting away metal from a part of the car that hold my brakes and wheel in place, ya know what I mean.
Ultimatley I went with LG, the design (based solely on pictures) just gave me a bit more confidence for track use. It was a really tought decision, but I'm glad I went with LG.
05-20-2010, 01:46 PM
#16
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Wow, I don't know how I missed this post! It's almost comforting to know that someone has had the exact same trouble as I have had. 
I agree that the website is misleading, and I told them about it, and it still doesn't look like they've changed it. Also, I am currently confused on what size/grade bolts to use (they sent me 4 bolts that are way too small). And don't you reuse the stock caliper mounting bolts? Any input here on what was used in the install would be appreciated. This is a major part of the brake system, so I don't want to use anything that's gonna break!
I agree that the website is misleading, and I told them about it, and it still doesn't look like they've changed it. Also, I am currently confused on what size/grade bolts to use (they sent me 4 bolts that are way too small). And don't you reuse the stock caliper mounting bolts? Any input here on what was used in the install would be appreciated. This is a major part of the brake system, so I don't want to use anything that's gonna break!
05-27-2010, 06:23 PM
#17
Wow, I don't know how I missed this post! It's almost comforting to know that someone has had the exact same trouble as I have had.
I agree that the website is misleading, and I told them about it, and it still doesn't look like they've changed it. Also, I am currently confused on what size/grade bolts to use (they sent me 4 bolts that are way too small). And don't you reuse the stock caliper mounting bolts? Any input here on what was used in the install would be appreciated. This is a major part of the brake system, so I don't want to use anything that's gonna break!
I agree that the website is misleading, and I told them about it, and it still doesn't look like they've changed it. Also, I am currently confused on what size/grade bolts to use (they sent me 4 bolts that are way too small). And don't you reuse the stock caliper mounting bolts? Any input here on what was used in the install would be appreciated. This is a major part of the brake system, so I don't want to use anything that's gonna break!
Question for ya, are you sure you've got the brackets lined up right on the correct side of the car? If the bolts the sent are too short you might just have things not quite lined up right. Feel free to post up pics.
05-27-2010, 06:35 PM
#18
TRACK UPDATE:
So I finally had a chance to track the car at Thunderhill last week and in short, I'm very satisfied with this setup:
LG Motorsports conversion brackets
F-Body Calipers
Napa Ultra Premium Rotors (blanks)
Hawk HP+ Pads
Home made brake ducting
With my stock setup on Thunderhill last time using HPS pads, and WS6 Store Rotors, I used up 100% of the pads, had significant pad material transfer to the rotors, a good bit of fade, and ended the day with heat cracked rotors after just three 20 Minute sessions.
This trip, I did three 20 minute sessions and two 25 minute sessions. I had absolutely zero brake fade, just a touch of pad transfer, some light grooving of the rotors (HP+ pads are hard on rotors), and ended the day with more than half of my pads' life remaining, and pretty good looking rotors, again just some light grooving. But no significant pad transfer or warping, brakes still stopped nice all the way home from the track.
The next day, I pulled everything off the car and inspected, the brackets looked great, the bolts were all still very snug. I did opt to put a new set of HPS pads on with my slotted/drilled street rotors because they make much less dust and since the HP+ grooved my track rotors, I didn't want them to groove my street rotors. So I'll save the HP+ for the track from now on.
In any event, I give the overall setup a solid A for performance at the track.
BTW, the HP+ definitely have more bite than the HPS, going back to HPS is a noticeable drop in stopping power.
So I finally had a chance to track the car at Thunderhill last week and in short, I'm very satisfied with this setup:
LG Motorsports conversion brackets
F-Body Calipers
Napa Ultra Premium Rotors (blanks)
Hawk HP+ Pads
Home made brake ducting
With my stock setup on Thunderhill last time using HPS pads, and WS6 Store Rotors, I used up 100% of the pads, had significant pad material transfer to the rotors, a good bit of fade, and ended the day with heat cracked rotors after just three 20 Minute sessions.
This trip, I did three 20 minute sessions and two 25 minute sessions. I had absolutely zero brake fade, just a touch of pad transfer, some light grooving of the rotors (HP+ pads are hard on rotors), and ended the day with more than half of my pads' life remaining, and pretty good looking rotors, again just some light grooving. But no significant pad transfer or warping, brakes still stopped nice all the way home from the track.
The next day, I pulled everything off the car and inspected, the brackets looked great, the bolts were all still very snug. I did opt to put a new set of HPS pads on with my slotted/drilled street rotors because they make much less dust and since the HP+ grooved my track rotors, I didn't want them to groove my street rotors. So I'll save the HP+ for the track from now on.
In any event, I give the overall setup a solid A for performance at the track.
BTW, the HP+ definitely have more bite than the HPS, going back to HPS is a noticeable drop in stopping power.
05-27-2010, 09:05 PM
#19
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The problem with the bracket mounting bolts is that they were too small to thread into the threaded portion of the LG bracket and also too short-kind of a problem. I think they were 10 mm diameter and should be 12 mm. I was planning on reusing the stock caliper mounting bolts tho-that's what the guy at LG "thought" we were supposed to do. Sounds like that will be something I figure out when I get there.
Good to hear that they held up well at the track. I'll probably never push mine that hard since I'm mainly doing this as an appearance thing. I really just needed new pads and rotors up front...and then one thing led to another, and now I've got C6 calipers, brembo blanks, Hawk HPS pads, and Goodridge brake lines. Over $1000 instead of maybe $200. Oh well.
05-30-2010, 10:15 PM
#20
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You should replace the ace hardware bolts with good grade bolts (10.9)
OR just grind the stock bolts down to the right size.
Dale
OR just grind the stock bolts down to the right size.
Dale
Last edited by 76LS1BIRD; 05-30-2010 at 10:25 PM.