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CTSV Brake swap for track/daily use vs stock brakes
I daily drive my car and do an autocross/ track day about every month or so. I have completely stock brakes down to the stock pads and rotors. The car only has 23k miles on it. My front rotors have warped from an autox run, so instead of buying new rotors, I was thinking of just upgrading to the CTS-V calipers and z06 rotors. For those that have done the CTS-V brakes and and tracked the car, how much better is it than a stock ls1 brake setup with good pads, rotors, fluid, and stainless lines? I already have the wheels to support the larger caliper and rotor so that is not a issue. My local track has a few corners where you have to slow down from 100+ mph to 40 mph on corner entry so I was thinking that the larger calipers will help.
Last edited by nascardude56; 10-09-2015 at 04:10 PM.
The CTS-V brake upgrade is a worthwhile mod, even if you track infrequently. They're stylish, functional, and superior to the floating caliper setup in many ways. If you can afford them, go for it. You won't regret it.
I would pass on the slotted/drilled upgrade. Replace often with the Centric replacements and swap to track pads when needed.
The silver calipers will turn gold with some good track day heat cycles.
I installed the CTS-V 4 piston fronts on my 2001 ws6 at the start of this season and i can say it's a pretty massive upgrade from stock. I'm using the z06 rotors for now (I'm swapping to 2010+ camaro ss rotors soon to fix pad wear issue) I would get quite a bit of brake fade after a couple laps with hard braking and i can say these brembos fixed that 100%. Now i've done autocross, track and a shitload of hard braking on the street and they are holding up awesome with no brake fade at all, all this with stock cts-v pads. They feel just like stock until you push your foot down hard and then it feels like your insides are coming out.
Your next biggest concern will be curing the rear wheel hop under hard decel when coming to a turn on a road course. (f-body specific)
I've yet to experience any rear wheel hop even under repeated full braking from 100+ MPH using the 6 piston CTS V fronts and stock rears. I have modified suspension though (Coilovers) and I don't have the nose dive you would get with the sloppy stock setup under hard braking. You will experience vastly improved braking over the stock fronts.
The cost of under $1000 for a full 6 piston setup is worth it in just the looks alone.
I've yet to experience any rear wheel hop even under repeated full braking from 100+ MPH using the 6 piston CTS V fronts and stock rears. I have modified suspension though (Coilovers) and I don't have the nose dive you would get with the sloppy stock setup under hard braking. You will experience vastly improved braking over the stock fronts.
The cost of under $1000 for a full 6 piston setup is worth it in just the looks alone.
The people on here who do the large, multi-piston caliper REAR brakes (for 'looks') WOULD have a wheel hop issue IF they went to a road course, even with a decent suspension set up.
It is WAY TOO MUCH brake power on the back, even with a bias adjuster cranked all the way to the front.
i track and autoX my CTS V front brakes (gen1 4 piston)
they are amazing.
my stock brakes boiled and turn the calipers gold from so much heat. lost all braking on several occations on track.
CTS V i hardly have to use 25% brake pedal they are so amazing. no heat issues either, even after 24 minutes of 130-140 mph stopping.
besure to use the 5th gen SS rotors, not the Z06 rotors. read the whole sticky thread at top. the first pages are dated info telling you to use z06 rotors, but they are too narrow and the CTSV pads over hang the rotors.
do NOT upgrade the rear brakes, just some stock pads back there.
i have no rear wheel hop. running BMRs and Konis with sticky Dunlops.
The people on here who do the large, multi-piston caliper REAR brakes (for 'looks') WOULD have a wheel hop issue IF they went to a road course, even with a decent suspension set up.
It is WAY TOO MUCH brake power on the back, even with a bias adjuster cranked all the way to the front.
Yes. Once you play with the rears its a new ball game. You would need a brake bias adjuster and would need to drop the ABS. In other words you would have to change the brake bias toward the front more which would make having the bigger rear brakes null and void.
For some reason I thought the 6 piston brembos only had the pad wear issue, I was wrong. I ordered the z06 rotors so I would run them for now, but will get the SS rotors eventually.
10-09-2015, 02:13 PM
CTSV Brake swap for track/daily use vs stock brakes 
