00 Trans Ram

iTrader: (5)

OK - looks like a bit of misinformation going on here.

First, the Z06 brakes are probably pretty good, if you can get the biases and other stuff ironed out. But, for that money, you can get better. If you want the ultimate, I'd suggest Movit. They make ceramic rotors and 6-piston calipers that will be the best you can buy. Of course, they cost a few grand. But, they'll last the lifetime of your car and stop you faster than anything else on the market.

Second, 19s and 20s won't hurt your car, if you take steps to make them work. Just sticking a set of 20s on there, with some low-profile tires, can hurt you, though. They weigh more than what the car was designed with, and that weight is farther out from the hub. This will hurt both braking and acceleration. Not horribly, but it could add a few feet to braking distances. How many of us have had to make a panic stop and had less than 10 feet to spare before hitting the car in front of us? Add some larger brakes, or better pads, and it should mitigate a lot of this. Perhaps some clearance issues, and probably some issues with the sidewall being less compliant. Suspension can help that, though.

Third, the stock F-body (LS1-style) brakes are NOT bad at all. Well, not the rotors and calipers. If you put good pads and fluid, you can hang with some pretty impressive cars. I've got stock-design Baer calipers on Corvette rotors. It's basically the Baer C5 kit. Carbotech XP12 pads and Wilwood brake fluid. I can outbrake almost everything on the track. For a direct comparison, my brakes are better than a Wilwood 6-piston package on another F-body I race against (similar weights, similar tires, etc.). I outbrake him after almost every high-speed section of the track.

As has been said before on here, the best brake package for the money is the C5 conversion. If you want a bit more bling, try the CTS-V route. I wouldn't get anything more exotic than a Wilwood or similar 6-piston, and then only for the bling factor (they don't perform any better). If I win the lottery, I'll buy the Movits.

Hugger Z

iTrader: (4)

That is not true. Was that article referring to older carbon brakes used on race cars that needed to be hot? The pads used on the ZR1 are the same Ferrari and other OEM's use with the ceramic rotors. The ZR1 brakes are more than enough on the street. They just need to be properly broken in as in numerous stops to build up a transfer layer on the rotor. Once you have bedded the pads and rotors they work great! And they are not at all bad straight from the factory. They just get better with use. They do need to be heated up for a proper brake in. That is all. After that initial break-in and heat cycle they will NEVER fade. And will last a long time if only used on the street. I read an article that stated the ZR1 brakes would easily go 100k without having to change pads. Track usage will reduce that but a simple pad swap and you are back to having fun. You need a lot of track usage to wear out the rotors.

It doesn't matter to everyone. My car runs whatever it runs. I built it to be a fun to drive car, not set any records. And it puts a grin on my face every time I drive it. So I succeeded.

Big_Bird_WS6

iTrader: (7)

but smart tech wont garrenty the rotors and pads for life. these from brembo are.


________________________________

i am planing on doing these rotors and calipers on my CETA. i love the look and love the wieght factor.

i want to run 19's on all four corners so i should be fine. i hope to have them ordered within a month. waiting on rims. i have to find the right pair. i want black rims with yellow calipers. but i want the ZR1 rotors on all four corners.

Paul Huryk

You really don't need more than a 13.5" rotor with a 4 or 6 piston caliper on any car - most race cars run just that. Sure 15" rotors look cool, but they really dont add anything to the braking (besides some fade resistance) because the tires can't handle all the deceleration.

And the worst part is the 19" or larger wheel you need to run to stick those big brakes under. A 19" tire has too little sidewall to be compliant over anything but a pool table smooth road and they weigh a lot. Couple that with a car that needs a bigger sidewall and you get a lot of bump steer and skippung when hitting even minor bumps. The new camaro runs a 29" tire (on a 20" wheel) and is equivalent to running a 17" on a third or 4th gen.

My 2 piston Baer Track kit hauls my car down from 60 to 0 in 105ft (it was tested) without ABS - not like you are going to drop 20 feet with the ZR1 brakes...

Big_Bird_WS6

iTrader: (7)

ok you said Pure Performance. like road coarse donest take performance. hell if putting on upgraded brakes wasnt performance. GM wouldnt have wasted the money. A ceramic rotor is perfomance all on its own.

and what the **** is "donk"?

i like 19s on f-bodys. with the right rims. they look great. i agree with you i think 20 is to much. but hell.

____________________

side note. the ZR1 is 15.5 and has to have a 19" rim

if you could find a 15" rotor you could use a 18" rim. just like us guys are doing on the CTS-v stuff. i should have the "v" calipers on my other car in about a week.

108dragon

iTrader: (5)

Not my point brother. I very rarely hit the drag strip either. I built my car to do what it does on the street too. That is where my money is made. But I didn't do ANYTHING just to say "I got this or that". There are a lot of guys who wouldn't know they had dicks if they didn't **** out of them every now and again. You have a dick and KNOW what its for. You built your car the way you wanted to and you KNOW what for.
Why on hell's creation would you go through all the trouble to build a nearly 500hp engine just to brag about your 20"s, gold teeth, and brake systems that won't work in your application, and other misengineered bullshit. You have to GET to 60 quickly enough to brag about how efficient your stock *** brakes drag to 0. But hey, if thats your idea of fun...
The only problem with the Z06 PBR 6 pistons sets is they require regular maintenance to maintain thier level of performance. You could put a full set and bias valving in your Gen4 ride for less than $1500. They are heavier than Willwoods calipers, but I can tell you from experrience that they will stay in the fight a LOT longer and be a LOT more effective doing it.
Our cars look stupid on 20's to begin with. But that is what it would take to mount 15.5" rotors on a Gen4. And 20" wheels are WAY outside the design considerations of the Gen4 platform anyhow. Just a bad idea all the way around.

108dragon

iTrader: (5)

"Donk" is the name given to the ridiculous practice of putting the biggest wheels you can find on the car that can benefit from it the least. ala camaro boyz action. Please see http://www.myspace.com/maroboyz
You need to consider the brackets required to mount those 15.5s on the Gen4 platform and you'll be needing those 20"s. I'm not saying it can't be done. But you'll spend more money than it is worth in performance upgrade.. especially in balance of what is currently available to us.
GM PURPOSELY DESIGNED its new cars for fitment of the ceramic 15.5 brake system. It was NOT afterthought. "Wow. Those would look pretty on the car we just spent millions designing.." NOT! GM didn't waste thier money. But some of us certainly do. You, of all people, I would expect would know the difference.

WS6TransAm01

iTrader: (13)

just throwing it out there...

the best handeling/breaking race cars in the world, run an 11" rotor [278mm] that is 1-1/8" thick 28mm with 13" rims...

Sure the breaks are made from Carbon, and the rims are forged magnesium alloy but the sizes remain the same... they do weight 1322.77 lbs though... so that may be part of it... LOL

Just a thought lol...

Talking about Formula 1 cars BTW

00 Trans Ram

iTrader: (5)

Yeah - F1 brakes are a good example.

All ANY braking system does is transfer kinetic energy (forward motion) into thermal energy (heat). That's it, end of story.

So, if you put on 5" diameter rotors, they will work fine. As long as they are made from a material that can handle 5000* temperatures!

Obviously that was a goofy example, but technically correct. My point is that even 100% stock rotors and calipers will work for 99% of people (including track days) as long as you put on good pads (that can handle the heat) and good fluid.

108dragon

iTrader: (5)

^^ I can live with that. Anyone that can get the 15.5 carbon or ceramic Brembo brake system, at $2k a wheel (that would be $8k just for the parts), to work well on a Gen4 and not make the car look stupid is good and has WAY too much spending money. I'll leave it at that.

Black_Z28

iTrader: (1)

You're a helluva a reader that's for sure.

I never once said I didn't care about performance, I merely said I didn't give a **** about ETs. Why, because I don't enjoy drag racing.

I'd love for you to post more, so I can laugh a bit more.

And why do I care about what you've done to your car, so why are you telling me what your plans are, or what you've done to it?

As for your statement on Fbodies being underpowered, why don't you tell that to almost every one out there running LSXs because they're one of the best power plants on earth. Or tell that to the guys running 12s on basically a stock LS1 motor. Yeah, it must be underpowered to be capable of running 12s.

Yet again, I never once said I was going to run the carbon brakes, I was the one that first stated that it wasn't worth it. So, why would I care if they fit under my 18s?

Wow....

ae13291

iTrader: (8)

ceramic rotors, and pads will last pretty much the life of the motor, 200,000 miles. wayy to pricey in my opinion, the stock brakes are not that bad.

DoubleTapDrew

iTrader: (1)

Doesn't leverage play a part as well? Seems your calipers would have to apply a hell of a lot more clamping force to that 5" rotor than to a 12" rotor to stop a 3500lb car...but then again I got an F in physics.

WS6TransAm01

iTrader: (13)

you are not that far off...

yes, less force has to be applied with a longer lever in order to get the same force on the other side of the fulcrum. BUT, that is only if you need the same force as an outcome.

don't forget that with a larger diamiter rotor, you have more rotating mass further from the center threfor you have more moment of inertia. so a bigger roter will require more force to stop on itself, unless it is lighter which is possible with a ceramic rotor over an metalic one. i am not sure on the weights of the stock vs ZR1 rotor so I can only speculate...

00 Trans Ram

iTrader: (5)

You're right - but that's a different point. Not related to temperature.

You need bigger brakes so that you can apply more force to stop the tires. But, as soon as you have enough force to lock up the tires, you have enough braking force. For most of us, the stock brakes will lock up tires under hard braking (ABS kicks in).

Now, there are more reliable things than stock brakes. Occasionally, with repeated heavy use, the stock calipers will spread. And pistons have been known to mess up. But, this can happen with almost anything. About the best advantage of a big, $3000 system is that you probably won't exceed it's capacities for a while.