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GMHTP's 6-piston CTS-V Setup

Old 10-10-2010, 07:58 PM
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Default GMHTP's 6-piston CTS-V Setup

Ok, call me crazy but i have been compiling parts to do this very swap and i noticed what i think to be a pretty major issue with the swap done by them.

The new CTS-V caliper was designed by GM for a 15.5 in rotor NOT the 14in Z06 rotor that they used.



it seems to me like you will be utilizing only about 50% of the possible braking force and some really crappy pad/rotor wear. Tell me if i am wrong but this seems like a terribly unsafe thing for a national magazine to publish. what are the measurments on the new 5 lug CTS-V rotor??? will they not fit? and why publish something cheap when it's obvious that you would need a custom rotor or better rotor sourcing.

That is all
Old 10-10-2010, 10:21 PM
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i have no idea?? i think they shoulda went with a ZR1 front brake setup!
Old 10-10-2010, 10:37 PM
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The contact to rotor and pad is sufficient
If you were to go with the larger rotor you will need to move the calipers out more.
Old 10-11-2010, 12:27 AM
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Originally Posted by 96RamAirTA
i have no idea?? i think they shoulda went with a ZR1 front brake setup!
that's like a 4k brake job lol, carbon ceramic ain't cheap

Originally Posted by tillery
The contact to rotor and pad is sufficient
If you were to go with the larger rotor you will need to move the calipers out more.
Nope, i have one of the calipers and i measured the distance from a Z06 rotor out, with the caliper bolted directly to the spindle it clears the 15.5in CTS-V intended size, if i could get my hands on a passenger caliper and a set of rotors i'd do the conversion, but without good rotor measurements i am flying blind, every measurement i can find online says that the CTS-v rotor should fit on the fbody spindle with maybe 1 extra washer and you can have HUGE brakes
Old 10-11-2010, 06:39 AM
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ya it may be 4k but how many fbodys would have carbon ceramic brakes.
Old 10-11-2010, 01:12 PM
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So long as the pad fully contacts the rotor it's fine. You cannot tell in that picture if it does or not, if the bracket was properly made than I'm sure it does. Even if the pad doesn't fully cover the rotor, you still have the same clamping force, just less pad and yes bad pad wear which could cause issues if you let it get too bad. This can be both safe and dangerous depending on the distance of the pistons and edge of rotor, and likewise the full pad size relative to its contact patch on the rotor. By the looks of a later picture (looking from bottom up) on how the caliper is seated on the rotor, it looks like the pad will make full contact. A circle is a circle. If you put a smaller circle in place of a larger circle, the smaller circle has to sit deeper into the object (caliper in this case) to fit properly. Looks to me like this was done.

Old 10-13-2010, 10:42 AM
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Originally Posted by TheBearJew
Ok, call me crazy but i have been compiling parts to do this very swap and i noticed what i think to be a pretty major issue with the swap done by them.

The new CTS-V caliper was designed by GM for a 15.5 in rotor NOT the 14in Z06 rotor that they used.

it seems to me like you will be utilizing only about 50% of the possible braking force and some really crappy pad/rotor wear. Tell me if i am wrong but this seems like a terribly unsafe thing for a national magazine to publish. what are the measurments on the new 5 lug CTS-V rotor??? will they not fit? and why publish something cheap when it's obvious that you would need a custom rotor or better rotor sourcing.

That is all

Sorry for the late response, I have been out of town for a couple of days. In the photograph below you can see the pad/rotor wear after a full day of road course testing. With the 14-inch Z06 rotor and the 6-piston CTS-V caliper, the pad covers nearly 100-percent of the rotor surface, with no overhang on the leading or trailing edge of the rotor (you will note that the inside "hat" of the rotor has a little tiny bit of slight wear, but it isn't anything to worry about, that surface is flat)

A 15.5-inch CTS-V rotor would be great, however I am not sure you could even run a 19-inch wheel, and surely not an 18. For the racing many of us do, and especially the racing we plan on doing, a 19-inch wheel just wouldn't work.

In terms of price, we chose to do the best upgrade possible using stock GM parts and felt we have accomplished that. A custom rotor wouldn't have offered any benefit to us, although in certain applications I am sure it might.

Anyway, glad to see this topic being discussed, and please post up any further questions you have. Also, since you are planning to do a similar swap, please post pictures as you go along, it would be great to see another perspective on this particular install. We are here to help!
Attached Thumbnails GMHTP's 6-piston CTS-V Setup-cts_v-coverage.jpg  
Old 10-13-2010, 11:13 AM
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I'd love to do the swap with an AP 2 piece full floating rotor
Old 10-13-2010, 12:02 PM
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aren't cts-v's 6 lug anyways??
Old 10-13-2010, 12:28 PM
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ec_nova, the first generation CTS-V's are 6-lug, although GM did change to a 5-lug design on the new ('09-11) CTS-V. Either way, the 15.5-inch rotor is simply too large for a standard wheel size.
Old 10-13-2010, 05:50 PM
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Originally Posted by Justin@GMHTP
ec_nova, the first generation CTS-V's are 6-lug, although GM did change to a 5-lug design on the new ('09-11) CTS-V. Either way, the 15.5-inch rotor is simply too large for a standard wheel size.
oh cool. good to know, thanks
Old 10-14-2010, 09:03 PM
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deff going to be going this route, save a few $$, what about the rear? love to see a BB build up on the rear!!!!
Old 10-14-2010, 09:08 PM
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Does anyone know if this caliper and rotor will work with 15 inch Racestar wheels? I highly doubt it...but I'd like to do this prohect on my car!
Old 10-21-2010, 10:39 PM
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Can someone clarify exactly what we need to do this. I want to give all the parts to my local shop and get this done. I got the caliper part #'s. (6 piston) So I can get some Hawk Pads from 09-up CTS-V? Then what is the pin kit part # Also exactly how many spacers and washers do I need? Thanks guys! The calipers dont come with pads do they?
Old 10-22-2010, 03:01 AM
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Zeckhausen lists Hawk HPS and HP+ pads for the 09-10 CTS-V. I am wanting the part number for the pin kit also. I was also wondering if the 6 piston calipers use the same Flynbye brake lines as the 4 piston?
Old 10-22-2010, 07:33 AM
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The pads used are for a Vette. Cause the Vs are for a larger rotor and the Vettes roter used is smaller.
Old 10-23-2010, 09:18 PM
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Originally Posted by tillery
The pads used are for a Vette. Cause the Vs are for a larger rotor and the Vettes roter used is smaller.
That is incorrect, you use the pads for a CTSv because you have to put them in the CTSv calipers.

I have the 4piston CTSv and used the hawk pads for the CTSv and it works fine, the vette pads will not fit into the caliper.

And for the previous post, not sure about the pin kits, you can try and talk with the parts department at the dealership to get p/n.
Old 10-24-2010, 03:58 AM
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I'd just like to know what other wheels would fit these brakes. It sucks because you just don't know unless your willing to seize them yourself. Thats the only thing holding my back from this. I have stock wheels and plan on going 18'' but I don't want C6 Z06 wheels.
Old 10-24-2010, 04:30 AM
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If your just wanting other OE Wheels 18" wheels you will be fine, I wouldn't think their manufacturing process would change in regards to dimension, just shape. Any other 18" wheel.. hmm that is a good question. I know it will have to be at least 18".

There's the whole Race Star/Greg Weld original wheel not fitting the LS1 brakes, but the new versions fitting the brakes. Meaning that not all 18" wheels, or wheels in general, dimensions are going to be near the same..

What this means is for the people choosing the 6-piston setup, what works for some might not work for you.
Old 10-24-2010, 04:06 PM
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[QUOTE=peterlawl84;14030347]That is incorrect, you use the pads for a CTSv because you have to put them in the CTSv calipers.

I have the 4piston CTSv and used the hawk pads for the CTSv and it works fine, the vette pads will not fit into the caliper.

Cool. Thanks for the clarification. On the pads needed.

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