4 Piston Brembos, ZO6 Rotors, and You.
06-21-2013, 05:45 PM
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4 Piston Brembos, ZO6 Rotors, and You. This thread is merely to archive this explanation. It seems I type it out at least once a week. Now I can just link to this thread.
It seems to be common knowledge that when swapping Camaro SS / CTS-V calipers you use the C6 Z06 14" rotors.
Some history. I believe this all started when the first gen ('04-'07) CTS-V came out. The brakes on these cars are cheap and effective 4 piston Brembo calipers on 14" rotors. The problem is the gen I CTS-V rotor is 6 lug. So people started looking around for a suitable 14" 5 lug option and found the C6 Z06 14" rotor.
The problem is the annulus (height of friction surface) of the Z06 rotor is smaller than the height of the pads for the Brembo calipers. For some reason I seem to be the only one who has noticed this. It just shocks me how you can assemble these and not realize the issue. I see people all over the internet (3rd gen, 4th gen, Pro Touring) making this mistake.
If you run the 4 piston Brembos on the Z06 rotor, you will either have pad overhang (pad extends beyond the outside edge of the rotor friction surface), underhang (pad extends beyond the inside edge of the rotor friction surface), or both. This depends you have design the conversion bracket. In my opinion the underhang is the worst (and most common) situation because as the pad wears and conforms to the curved metal on the inside edge of the friction surface (see pictures), it begins to wear away the only metal that holds the friction surfaces to the rest of the rotor. Not a good situation. With that said, there is no way I would run this combination with either underhang or overhang. The best solution if you insist on using the Z06 rotor is to machine off the pad friction material that does not make contact with the rotor friction surface. Not an ideal solution as the 4-piston pad is already modestly sized, but at least it is safe.
The better solution is to just run 2010+ Camaro SS rotors which are also 14" and of course have a large enough annulus. The only issue is the offset of the Camaro rotor is around 5/32" greater than the Z06, so that needs to be accounted for in the hub and/or bracket.
John
Overhang:
Underhang
shamelessly stolen from 87350IROC on TGO
It seems to be common knowledge that when swapping Camaro SS / CTS-V calipers you use the C6 Z06 14" rotors.
Some history. I believe this all started when the first gen ('04-'07) CTS-V came out. The brakes on these cars are cheap and effective 4 piston Brembo calipers on 14" rotors. The problem is the gen I CTS-V rotor is 6 lug. So people started looking around for a suitable 14" 5 lug option and found the C6 Z06 14" rotor.
The problem is the annulus (height of friction surface) of the Z06 rotor is smaller than the height of the pads for the Brembo calipers. For some reason I seem to be the only one who has noticed this. It just shocks me how you can assemble these and not realize the issue. I see people all over the internet (3rd gen, 4th gen, Pro Touring) making this mistake.
If you run the 4 piston Brembos on the Z06 rotor, you will either have pad overhang (pad extends beyond the outside edge of the rotor friction surface), underhang (pad extends beyond the inside edge of the rotor friction surface), or both. This depends you have design the conversion bracket. In my opinion the underhang is the worst (and most common) situation because as the pad wears and conforms to the curved metal on the inside edge of the friction surface (see pictures), it begins to wear away the only metal that holds the friction surfaces to the rest of the rotor. Not a good situation. With that said, there is no way I would run this combination with either underhang or overhang. The best solution if you insist on using the Z06 rotor is to machine off the pad friction material that does not make contact with the rotor friction surface. Not an ideal solution as the 4-piston pad is already modestly sized, but at least it is safe.
The better solution is to just run 2010+ Camaro SS rotors which are also 14" and of course have a large enough annulus. The only issue is the offset of the Camaro rotor is around 5/32" greater than the Z06, so that needs to be accounted for in the hub and/or bracket.
John
Overhang:
Underhang
shamelessly stolen from 87350IROC on TGO
06-22-2013, 04:40 PM
#3
Thanks for the research. However, what are some of the issues that could come up with running the 4pots and ZO6 rotors. People have been running this set up without any issue from what I have seen. I know this issue is not normal but I haven't read anything yet that was bad about this set up.
06-23-2013, 02:13 AM
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Thanks for the research. However, what are some of the issues that could come up with running the 4pots and ZO6 rotors. People have been running this set up without any issue from what I have seen. I know this issue is not normal but I haven't read anything yet that was bad about this set up.
06-23-2013, 02:19 PM
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Just to add a little more info to your last comment about the Camaro rotors being a different offset. If you use the Z06 rotor you must space the caliper out away from the spindle(approx. 4mm). If you use the 5th gen Camaro rotor then you must open the center of the rotor about 3mm to clear the hub. But the when using the Camaro rotor the caliper does not need to spaced. The caliper will bolt up and be in the proper location.
I do agree that the 5th gen rotor does have better annulus.
I do agree that the 5th gen rotor does have better annulus.
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06-24-2013, 08:41 AM
#8
This isn't anything new.
When I was looking at this, I was going to Racing Brake for the 2010 Camaro Rotors on C5 hats. Since it's a 2-piece design, they can mate up whatever rotor to whatever aluminum hat. It's an expensive way to go at $966 for the front set, but it's also like 8lbs lighter per rotor than the Z06 or 2010 Camaro rotor and is more like what you'd find in a Brembo BBK that costs $3k.
With that said, most folks just buy 2010 Camaro rotors and have the hat machined to meet the bore of the spindle. That saves a few mm when trying to find wheels, as the calipers aren't spaced even further away from the hub, thus causing more issues with rotor to spoke face interference.
When I was looking at this, I was going to Racing Brake for the 2010 Camaro Rotors on C5 hats. Since it's a 2-piece design, they can mate up whatever rotor to whatever aluminum hat. It's an expensive way to go at $966 for the front set, but it's also like 8lbs lighter per rotor than the Z06 or 2010 Camaro rotor and is more like what you'd find in a Brembo BBK that costs $3k.
With that said, most folks just buy 2010 Camaro rotors and have the hat machined to meet the bore of the spindle. That saves a few mm when trying to find wheels, as the calipers aren't spaced even further away from the hub, thus causing more issues with rotor to spoke face interference.
