strausor

I'm looking to cheaply improve the brake performance/petal feel of my 96 z28.
I thought the brakes were fine until I took the car to the autox this past weekend. When I stop quickly, the petal feels firm and linear up to a point then no matter how much harder you press the petal the car doesn’t stop any quicker. The brakes don’t have enough stopping power to lock up the wheels or engage the ABS system until the car has almost come to a complete stop. ~15-20mph. The car only has 50k and I believe they are the stock pads and rotors (I bought the car last summer). I flushed the brake fluid but the brakes don’t feel any better.

Where would be a good place to start to improve the brake performance? brake lines? pads? rotors?

Edit: The car has C5 18x9.5 OEWheels at all four corners with old and hard 275 Nitto NT555's. If that makes a difference

armyinfantry3id

i had the same problem, so i installed brakemotives drilled and slotted rotors, new pads, and stainless steel braided brake lines. it made a major difference in the braking of the car. the stainless line are one of the best things to do to the brake system IMHO, where as the stock rubber flexable lines can expand while braking the stainless steel braided lines wont expand and will help to exert more force on the piston in the caliper and cause more clamping force.

ThoR294

iTrader: (6)

Idk about cheap, but getting ls1 brakes will help... Check out the conversion kits. They are on my to do list

94LT1TA6spd

You can do a C5 brake upgrade for not too much $$, that along with steel lines makes a huge difference. Thats what I am working on...

BigBadWhitey

iTrader: (3)

I did the c5 brake swap using my lt1 spindles and Kore3 mounting brackets. Works great and wasnt to expensive as i picked up the calipers, rotors and pads locally from a wreck.

ZeeSNuttS

THIS^ ^ ^ find them at a pick n pull, low cost. FIXED!!!

ThoR294

iTrader: (6)

Im debating on sinking the money for all new schtuff... or maybe I can get a good price on new repalcement LS1 calipers... I know people at parts stores

strausor

What would ls1 spindles, calipers and rotors cost at a pick and pull?

SparkyJJO

iTrader: (11)

It'll depend on which one you go to, the area you're in, etc.

FWIW the 98+ V6 cars got upgraded to the same brakes the LS1 cars have, so it doesn't have to be an LS1 car at the junkyard. And some junkyards don't know this so you can get the same parts for cheaper because they are the "inferior" v6 parts lol.

strausor

armyinfantry3id what pads and lines did you get? also, when you replaced the lines how do you remove the air from the system? regular bleeding?

SparkyJJO: I did not know that. thanks for the info

ZeeSNuttS

Pick n pull has a web site to, so you can see what they have and get a idea on prices, the one in Cali does.

leadfoot4

iTrader: (1)

Stainless braided hoses (Earls), and Porterfield Racing, HP street pads for me. Put them on the car 15 years ago, still working well...for an LT1 car, of course.

nitroheadz28

iTrader: (3)

I have the same exact issue, once I hit the max braking threshold I can't even engage the ABS. After doing several 110mph+ mile an hour panic slow downs on the stock stuff, I noticed how horrible braking performance is. I also bought Brakemotive's setup after reading through tons of pages worth of positive reviews.

I have a reman A1 Cardone MC just for preventative maintenance, and I'm waiting to buy SS lines. Then I'll install everything+ the Brakemotive setup and see how I do. If I'm still not satisfied, I'll go CTS-V in front. Seems like the C5 swap doesn't add much braking performance at all from the research I did.

If you want the best pads though, go with EBC red stuff.

armyinfantry3id

i ordered my lines from hawks third gen, the pads are EBC yellow stuff, and brake motive drilled and slotted rotors. i completely removed all the fluid out of my lines and abs block while doing my ls swap, so when i install all my new brake components i filled the master cylinder and open the bleeders one at a time starting with the right rear caliper then left rear caliper, front right caliper, then finally left front caliper. i had my wife pump the brakes while i bleed the lines.