Z06 Brakes - Track upgrades
Discussion
a Client we are importing a new 2008 Z06 for (very reasonable by the way at £54000)is likely to want to enjoy a fair few track days and wants some opinions of the various brake upgrades out there- any body with suitable experience care to share their views? Any views much appreciated (well almost any views Le Man!!)
The AP racing system looks good but someone stateside swears by the Brembo GT package.
Thanks in advance!!
The AP racing system looks good but someone stateside swears by the Brembo GT package.
Thanks in advance!!
You can go two ways with brake upgrades depending on your needs and bank balance!
In the first case you can stick with the standard calipers and change the rotors to lightweight aftermarket pieces
Stoptech and Hardbar make replacement discs in the standard configuration - these are two-piece with aluminium hats and thus save on unsprung weight.
http://www.stoptech.com/products/rotors.shtml
http://hardbarusa.com/hardbar/product_info.php?cPa...
LG spindle ducts will help too
http://www.lgmotorsports.com/catalog/product_info....
With these,you could try uprated pads - Hawk DTC-70 or Cobalt GTS - and braided brake lines.
This setup may well be enough to satisfy your occasional trackday needs
In the second case you are looking to upgrade to a big brake kit - Brembo,Stoptech,and APracing are all well publicised - and it is then just a question of budget and application.
In a quest to improve track times, wheels,tyres,brakes, and suspension all have an impact to make on the final take, and all these standard Z06 components can be improved upon with aftermarket products.
The standard Z06 wheel and tyre combination is quite heavy and much lighter combinations are available offering much more grip and reduced unsprung weight as well
The 'caveat' when upgrading wheel/tyre/brake/ combinations, from the standard issue is - will it all fit together?
Will the new wheels and tyres fit under the arches without rubbing? - will there be enough space for the uprated brake calipers to fit inside the new wheels without having to use large wheelspacers.
If you are a keen trackday man, you may wish to have two sets of wheels and tyres - one for road use and one for track use - will both sets of wheels clear your uprated brakes??
I've been caught out on a number of occasions in the past with previous projects - and it can prove quite expensive and very frustrating if you get it wrong
Stoptech and Brembo both do 14 and 15 inch 6pot front kits and 14 inch 4pot rear kits
Stoptech 14inch kit will fit behind the standard Z06 front wheels without wheel spacers
Brembo 14inch kit requires a 3 or 4mm spacer to give clearance behind standard Z06 front wheels - that is nothing to worry about.
If you want to go to 15 inch fronts, then you will have to watch you wheel sizes and offsets.
Beyond these kits you can of course get Stoptech's 'carbor rotor 'setup - for mega mega bucks - and then of course the new ZR1 brake setup or something like it will no doubt be available in due course - for mega mega mega bucks!
But you will be able to afford it because you will have already spent mega bucks, having previously bought coilovers, uprated antiroll bars, and suspension bushings etc.
Credit Crunch!! - what credit crunch!
In the first case you can stick with the standard calipers and change the rotors to lightweight aftermarket pieces
Stoptech and Hardbar make replacement discs in the standard configuration - these are two-piece with aluminium hats and thus save on unsprung weight.
http://www.stoptech.com/products/rotors.shtml
http://hardbarusa.com/hardbar/product_info.php?cPa...
LG spindle ducts will help too
http://www.lgmotorsports.com/catalog/product_info....
With these,you could try uprated pads - Hawk DTC-70 or Cobalt GTS - and braided brake lines.
This setup may well be enough to satisfy your occasional trackday needs
In the second case you are looking to upgrade to a big brake kit - Brembo,Stoptech,and APracing are all well publicised - and it is then just a question of budget and application.
In a quest to improve track times, wheels,tyres,brakes, and suspension all have an impact to make on the final take, and all these standard Z06 components can be improved upon with aftermarket products.
The standard Z06 wheel and tyre combination is quite heavy and much lighter combinations are available offering much more grip and reduced unsprung weight as well
The 'caveat' when upgrading wheel/tyre/brake/ combinations, from the standard issue is - will it all fit together?
Will the new wheels and tyres fit under the arches without rubbing? - will there be enough space for the uprated brake calipers to fit inside the new wheels without having to use large wheelspacers.
If you are a keen trackday man, you may wish to have two sets of wheels and tyres - one for road use and one for track use - will both sets of wheels clear your uprated brakes??
I've been caught out on a number of occasions in the past with previous projects - and it can prove quite expensive and very frustrating if you get it wrong
Stoptech and Brembo both do 14 and 15 inch 6pot front kits and 14 inch 4pot rear kits
Stoptech 14inch kit will fit behind the standard Z06 front wheels without wheel spacers
Brembo 14inch kit requires a 3 or 4mm spacer to give clearance behind standard Z06 front wheels - that is nothing to worry about.
If you want to go to 15 inch fronts, then you will have to watch you wheel sizes and offsets.
Beyond these kits you can of course get Stoptech's 'carbor rotor 'setup - for mega mega bucks - and then of course the new ZR1 brake setup or something like it will no doubt be available in due course - for mega mega mega bucks!
But you will be able to afford it because you will have already spent mega bucks, having previously bought coilovers, uprated antiroll bars, and suspension bushings etc.
Credit Crunch!! - what credit crunch!
Nice write up Songman!
You do need to do something to upgrade the brakes, I only upgraded the pads and after about a year of trackdays I think I may have warped the rotors, at least the brake pedal seems to fight me once up to any decent speed
Stoptech Aerorotors look good to me, can't see a price though. I wonder if a UK reseller could supply them, they only seem to supply Jap cars...
You do need to do something to upgrade the brakes, I only upgraded the pads and after about a year of trackdays I think I may have warped the rotors, at least the brake pedal seems to fight me once up to any decent speed
Stoptech Aerorotors look good to me, can't see a price though. I wonder if a UK reseller could supply them, they only seem to supply Jap cars...
I think songman rapped it up pretty nicely there. You're changing the entire dynamic of how the car handles. If your guy wants to do trackdays then he'll really need a tyre change too. Stickier rubber will increase the wear on suspension bearings and you're into a whole new project you didn't want to start.
On another note I wouldn't advocate just changing the pads and discs either. I've seen what the extra heat does to the calipers.........not nice.
You're very welcome to check if my credentials are credible enough
As I recall I'm using AP Racing 380mm floating iron discs all-round, J-cuts front and grooved rears, with six piston monoblock calipers. I can definitely recommend those if not the extreme price........
On another note I wouldn't advocate just changing the pads and discs either. I've seen what the extra heat does to the calipers.........not nice.
You're very welcome to check if my credentials are credible enough
As I recall I'm using AP Racing 380mm floating iron discs all-round, J-cuts front and grooved rears, with six piston monoblock calipers. I can definitely recommend those if not the extreme price........Not sure if it is true for the C6 Z06, but certainly for the C5 Z06 if you decide to change to AP Racing brakes you will need to change your wheels too as the factory ones don't fit with the AP racing calipers!
I have the Wilwood 6 pots on my C5 Z06 on the front and they are okay but would really like to upgrade all the brakes again to AP Racing but would also need the wheels and tyres so looking at a total bill in excess of $10,000!
I have the Wilwood 6 pots on my C5 Z06 on the front and they are okay but would really like to upgrade all the brakes again to AP Racing but would also need the wheels and tyres so looking at a total bill in excess of $10,000!
Songman's epic tome seems to cover it.
A couple of points on the standard system:
Although very good for road use, on track the system has a few major flaws.
The 20 padlet system means there is very little choice of decent pads out there. (Virtually none at all here in the UK.)
Their small size means they wear quicker and overheat more easily.
The discs/rotors are left handed only, i.e. they only draw cool air in correctly on the left hand side! GM saw fit to save a few bucks per car by not making right handed rotors. Unforgivable on a track-oriented car.
I went with the Brembo GT system (14" front) and it is in a different class. On track I can nearly always leave braking until the 100m board on most corners and always have confidence in them.
Buy them in the US and ship them with the car would be my advice.
A couple of points on the standard system:
Although very good for road use, on track the system has a few major flaws.
The 20 padlet system means there is very little choice of decent pads out there. (Virtually none at all here in the UK.)
Their small size means they wear quicker and overheat more easily.
The discs/rotors are left handed only, i.e. they only draw cool air in correctly on the left hand side! GM saw fit to save a few bucks per car by not making right handed rotors. Unforgivable on a track-oriented car.
I went with the Brembo GT system (14" front) and it is in a different class. On track I can nearly always leave braking until the 100m board on most corners and always have confidence in them.
Buy them in the US and ship them with the car would be my advice.
Brakes are rather like tyres in that they are somewhat misunderstood. Godzilla quite rightly pointed out that the multi-padlet system isn't ideal but there is also a second issue which is the depth of pad material. When racing we bin pads once they are half worn as the outside surface area of the pad material is crucial to cooling. The exception is the 24 Hours of Silverstone where you leave everything on the car till it dies.....
C5RagTop said:
mitch_ said:
.............The exception is the 24 Hours of Silverstone where you leave everything on the car till it dies.....
As I've booked a B&B for the weekend, if it's going to die can you make sure it happens after 24 hours and not before please? 
Le Man said:
And bearing in mind the investment in a tonne of burgers and a mile of sausages, we'd expect nothing less than 24 hours of entertainment from the driving team please...
I was actually referring more specifically to individual components. I have every faith in the car, she's a good old dear. Thank you all for you support though and I'm hoping that David will be able to keep the pasta coming. Not sure burgers and sausages are that good for the energy I'm going to need.....I probably won't be able to help myself anyhow.Out of interest going somewhat back to topic we're expecting to use no more than 4 complete sets of pads during the race and hopefully finish on the same set of discs.
Hallo,
evt. try these people in Germany, website in English,too, they are very
helpful.
http://www.movit.de/home.htm
Regards,
Rainer-CH
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